On 22 October 2024, the UK Government published its formal response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recent market study on housebuilding. Read The Property Institute's views on the Government response here.
On 22 October 2024, the UK Government published its formal response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recent market study on housebuilding.
Commissioned by the previous administration, the study is accessible here, with the Government’s MHCLG response available here.
Centred around the study’s 11 key recommendations, the Government response addresses a range of issues, from the management of public amenities on housing estates to the quality of new homes and the standards of service provided by housebuilders.
The Property Institute (TPI) welcomes the recommendations in the market study and the Government’s detailed response to each. TPI particularly supports the commitments outlined under Recommendation 1.3 (Enhanced Consumer Protection Measures for Households Living Under Private Management), which aim to introduce greater transparency, accountability, and accessible avenues for redress - all of which TPI fully supports.
However, there is both a need and an opportunity to further enhance transparency, enabling prospective homebuyers, leaseholders, and tenants to make fully informed decisions about their prospective home, their rights and their responsibilities - an essential and fundamental consumer right.
Additionally, TPI remains steadfast in its call for regulation of all those performing a property management role, firmly grounded in mandatory qualifications, a compulsory code of practice, and oversight by an independent regulator with the authority to enforce these essential standards.
This regulatory framework would align with the recommendations in Lord Best's Working Group Report (July 2019) on the Regulation of Property Agents. As a practical first step to elevate standards and improve residents’ lives, TPI advocates for mandatory qualifications and ongoing professional development for all building managers, mirroring the requirements for social housing managers under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.
For more details, along with two additional proposals on net zero and building safety remediation, refer to the TPI 2024 Manifesto. Together, TPI's four key asks—transparency, regulation, net zero in leasehold blocks, and building safety remediation – aim to improve the lives of residents in tall buildings.
