Pressure from government to build at pace may compromise quality, warn MPs

The government must take further steps to ensure new homes built of high quality amid pressure to increase delivery, a committee of MPs has said.

Florence Eshalomi, chair of the housing, communities and local government committee, wrote to housing minister Matthew Pennycook this week to voice her concerns.

She wrote: “We are concerned there is mounting pressure on the industry to build new homes at pace and that this may compromise standards.” She added that previous expansions in housebuilding “have coincided with a drop in customer satisfaction with the quality of new builds.”

The government, which has a target of building 1.5m homes in this parliament, is urging the sector to build homes quickly.

The committee believes the government needs to take further steps to ensure there is a regulatory framework that can ensure the quality of new homes.

It is calling on the government to ensure it has set up the proposed new ombudsman for homebuyers by the end of 2028/29 “with all developers signed up”. It said it would welcome further clarity on the steps the government is taking to establish the ombudsman and the single consumer code, including the content of the code and the timeline and support for SMEs to sign-up.

Eshalomi also said the committee is disappointed that the government is not planning to introduce a national minimum percentage of new homes that should be wheelchair accessible. She said it is not convinced the government’s proposal for 40% of new homes to be built to comply with Part M4(2) will deliver an increase in accessible homes.

She also said new homes are being built that do not mitigate the risks of overheating and said the ongoing technical review of Part O in building regulations should rigorously stress-test whether the requirements are sufficient for the higher temperatures that the UK could be exposed to as a result of climate change.

The committee also said a more structured approach to regulatory change could help minimise the impact of new regulations on the industry.