People who buy newly built houses are to get more help if they suffer delays moving into their property or find faults, after a probe into
UK house builders.  

A code of conduct and redress scheme will be set up after the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said homebuilders must give better customer protection.  

After finding that many homebuyers had faults with properties or delays moving in, the OFT concluded buyers need ‘more protection when buying a new home’.  

The OFT found that many of the faults with newly built homes were quickly fixed. But it said that some homeowners suffered ‘significant detriment, distress and inconvenience’ if there were major faults or several problems with their property, especially it they related to heating or plumbing.  

The OFT also noted that the sales process for new homes is ‘not without problems’ Reservation fees and the clarity of information given to homebuyers has prompted some concerns.  

The Home Builders Federation, the National House Building Council and the Council of Mortgage Lenders are among those agreeing to create a code of conduct and scheme to give dissatisfied owners some redress.  

The scheme will include clear guidelines to ensure that consumers can get problems fixed quickly and with minimum disruption. A statutory system will be introduced to be paid for by the industry if the voluntary scheme is unsuccessful. 

The code of conduct and redress scheme will mirror what has already been done voluntarily in estate agencies. The main homebuilder associations have recognised that further improvements in addressing customer satisfaction are still needed. 

An earlier report by the OFT suggested seven in 10 buyers of newly-built homes found faults with the property. However, most of the problems were only minor issues with decorating, glazing, plasterwork or appliances and did not cost the buyer anything to fix.

It is statistics time once again. New figures show that mortgage lending halved during August and the number of loans approved for house purchase slumped to a new record low.

Net mortgage lending dived to just £2.1 billion during the month, less than half of July’s £4.8 billion. That puts mortgage lending at the lowest level since February 2001.

The British Bankers’ Association continues to blame the slump on the combination of falling house prices, the current economic problems and lenders’ tighter lending criteria as a result of the credit crunch.

But the group also added that speculation that the Government was going to make an announcement on stamp duty also curbed demand during August as people delayed buying a house in the hope that they would not have to pay the tax.

The Chancellor finally announced in the first week of September that stamp duty would be suspended on properties costing up to £185,000 for a year.

The National Association of Estate Agents has also blamed speculation over the future of the tax for a further drop in sales in August, with agents selling an average of just five properties each during the month.

The number of mortgages approved for house purchase continued its downward spiral during August, dropping to a new record low of 21,086, 5% less than in July and 64% fewer than in the same month of 2007.

Remortgage approvals fell for the fourth month in a row, dropping to 47,765, the lowest level since February 2001 and 27.8% fewer than 12 months ago. Loans approved for equity withdrawal and buy-to-let properties were 35.3% lower than in August 2007.

Widespread expectations that house prices will continue to fall for a considerable time to come is also significantly limiting housing market activity, as is heightened concern over the economic outlook and job prospects.