On Monday, the Competition and Markets Authority released their final report into the housebuilding market. You can read the wide ranging report here.
Richard Fuller MP, commenting on the report said:
The report highlights how unpredictable and protracted planning processes are holding back housebuilding and how developers are limiting the rate and type of housing built to maintain high price levels.
Importantly, the report also calls out the growing trend for homeowners to be charged extra for public amenities: an issue we know all too well about in Bedfordshire. The CMA says that 80% of new homes being built by the largest builders are imposing these new estate management charges with an average annual charge to homeowners of £350 per year.
On Tuesday, I take my fight to eliminate this practice to the next stage with an amendment tabled in the House of Commons to the Leasehold and Freehold Bill that would ban the right for housing developers to impose charges for public amenities.
Via this bill, the government is making good progress to protect homeowners but on Tuesday, I want to hear the Minister say he will find a way to go even further and stop this rip off entirely.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in its final report on the housebuilding market in Great Britain finds that the complex and unpredictable planning system, together with the limitations of speculative private development, is responsible for the persistent under delivery of new homes.
The study also found substantial concerns about estate management charges – with homeowners often facing high and unclear charges for the management of facilities such as roads, drainage, and green spaces. Concerns have been found, too, with the quality of some new housing after the number of owners reporting snagging issues increased over the last 10 years.
