Buyers’ complaints soar as nearly 300 families a week are forced to move into shoddy new builds
Families in the UK are being forced to move into unfinished or poor-quality new-build homes
NEARLY 300 buyers a week are being forced to move into properties that are incomplete or shoddily built.
Issues raised by 15,500 buyers of new homes last year include that the property came without goods installed, products had been substituted for cheaper versions, and that the quality of homes had reduced as builders rushed to finish the job.
A 2016 report found that while the number of new homes being built has risen, satisfaction levels have fallen.
Around 15,500, or 1 in 7, buyers of new-builds, were not satisfied with their new homes last year, a report by the all-party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment found.
Satisfaction levels among new-build buyers has fallen from 90 per cent to 86 per cent, meaning around 15,500 buyers a year – or 298 a week – aren't happy with their new property.
It said that a lack of competition in the market, skills shortages and an imbalance in bargaining power is short-changing buyers of new homes.
Just 10 companies in the UK build half of all new private homes.
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Some 93 per cent of buyers report problems to their builders - and of these, a third (35 per cent) report 11 or more faults with their property.
The report said: "Buyers do actually have realistic expectations, and they do not necessarily expect their homes to be perfect, but they do expect to have effective mechanisms for redress, in order to get deficiencies rectified quickly."
Housing giant Bovis has been criticised for forcing customers to move into unfinished homes.
Buyers say they were given cash incentives to move into their homes early, but faced problems including missing windows, workmen in the house, holes in ceilings and unlaid gardens.
A of angry and dissatisfied Bovis Homes customers now has almost 2,000 members.
The home building firm said last month that it would set aside £7million to repair homes and compensate customers following a "high level of customer issues" last year.
The Government wants one million new homes to be built within the course of this parliament and is investing large amounts of money to make it happen.
But the APPG for Excellence in the Built Environment said it was "imperative that increasing the quantity of new homes must not be achieved at the expense of their quality."
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