Against the backdrop of the information given on this website so far, since 1970, things have definitely not improved for purchasers of defective new dwellings since the law was changed in 1972

 i.  According to the FT on 05/04/2019, Persimmon, having reported £1.09 Billion  profits for the year, announced an ‘independent review of its culture, workmanship and customer care’ adding that the FTSE 100 builder recently scored the lowest of all the major house-builders in an annual customer satisfaction survey, (said it be) an important benchmark for the sector.

ii.         The headline in the Daily Mail, on the same day, was however more revealing ‘Persimmon launches independent review as it battles [to] retain a place in the taxpayer-funded Help To Buy scheme.

iii.         The veteran developer Sir Stuart Lipton has castigated house-builders in a recent article in Building Magazine, vowing to launch a housing business in 2019 in order to shake up an industry that he says is in “crisis” and builds “shocking” homes; 

iv.         Under the heading ‘Lipton enters house building to break ‘system that is bust’’, Building magazine’s  David Rodgers reported that:

Sir Stuart described some house-builders as ‘shameful’ and that he plans to stir up competition. The developer behind what will be the City of London’s tallest tower when finished this year, Bishopsgate, said he has been moved to act because the housebuilding industry is in crisis and has no meaningful competition.

“…To me housing is in a crisis,” he told Building. “Have you seen what house-builders are building in the suburbs and provinces? They are reincarnating Victorian workhouse houses. Shameful….

 “If people had better homes, if they had better conditions, their aspirations would be greater, their medical bills would be less, their educational standards would be higher….”

He also waded into the ‘Help to Buy’ row, siding with critics that the government initiative, designed to help people onto the housing ladder, has artificially increased the profits of house-builders.

 “The [Help to Buy] money is going into house-builders’ profits; it’s not reducing costs. The majority of the big names just want to make money. The houses they are putting up are shocking. They don’t work – every week there’s another horror story.”

Sir Stuart is also stated as saying that house-builders were more interested in protecting their double-digit margins than building more homes:

“The system is bust. The government hasn’t got the guts to do anything about it. The government wants to restrict supply, so values don’t diminish, nimbys don’t get offended, so that new hospitals, schools and infrastructure isn’t required”

v.         Surely, someone of Sir Stuart Lipton’s credentials and experience should know.

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