Warranty

• Choice Home Warranty is a leading home warranty company headquartered in Edison, NJ.
• Choice Home Warranty has covered more than 1 million homes across the country and handled more than 3 million service requests.
• Choice Home Warranty prides itself on being the industry leader, with proprietary automated dispatching and tracking technology.
• HomeWarrantyReviews.com was created back in 2006 with the purpose to provide objective and candid reviews of home warranty companies.

• According to the lawsuit, the ABS modules and HECUs remained charged with an electrical current even when the car was not running.
• According to Elizabeth A. Fegan, founder and managing member of consumer-rights law firm FeganScott, defendants knowingly waited to release recalls and disclose the defect despite the manufacturers claims to have industry leading warranty programs.
• FeganScott is a national class action law firm dedicated to helping victims of consumer fraud, sexual abuse, and discrimination.
• The firm is championed by acclaimed veteran, class action attorneys who have successfully recovered $1 billion for victims nationwide.

This briefing paper considers the building control regime and customers’ means of redress when faced with defects in newly built housing. It summarises the findings of the All-Party Parliamentary Group's 2016 inquiry and recommended actions and explains the Government and industry response.

Download the full report

Concerns about the quality of new build housing

• A good deal of political attention is focused on the need to increase the rate of house building, but alongside this there have been growing concerns about the quality of new developments.
• MPs are encountering owners of newly built homes who are struggling to achieve satisfactory resolution when defects are reported to builders.
• The role of building control officers in ensuring compliance with the Building Regulations was the subject of Westminster Hall debates in 2015 and 2016.
• A Westminster Hall debate on 16 October 2017 focused on warranties issued by the National House Building Council (NHBC).

An inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group

• In this context, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Excellence in the Built Environment carried out an open inquiry into the quality and workmanship of new housing for sale in England and published its report, More Homes, Fewer Complaints, in July 2016.
• The APPG identified a risk around efforts to incentivise house building for homeownership if similar attention is not directed at ensuring consumers are buying new homes that are fit for purpose, are of enduring quality, perform to the requisite levels of maintenance, cost and energy efficiency and give peace of mind, pride and enjoyment to those who occupy them.

APPG recommendations

• More Homes, Fewer Complaints contained a number of recommendations aimed at:
  • improving the systems in place to check quality and workmanship;
  • developing a new quality culture within the construction industry;
  • improving customers’ means of redress through the establishment of a New Homes Ombudsman and a review of the warranty system; and
  • improving the information customers receive about their new home, including standardised contracts and a right to inspect before completion.

  
  The APPG felt that the recommendations would address the imbalance identified in the bargaining positions of builders and house-buyers.

Previous studies and industry response

• The Callcutt Review of Housebuilding Delivery (2007) noted concerns around caveats included within warranties provided on new homes.
• The Office of Fair Tradings 2008 study of the homebuilding market also considered the effectiveness of warranties.
• One response was to recommend the introduction of a code of conduct to address the consumer protection concerns.
• The industry responded with a Consumer Code for Homebuilders, now in its fourth edition.
• 75% of the 200 construction industry respondents to the call for evidence reportedly believed that the industrys current management of quality is inadequate.

Government & industry response on consumer redress

• The former Housing Minister, Alok Sharma, responded to a Westminster Hall debate on 16 October 2017 saying “it is clear that home builders need to step up and make quality and design a priority. That includes ensuring that, where something goes wrong, house builders and warranty providers fulfil their obligations to put things right.” He described the following actions which were underway:
  • The Government is “seriously considering” the APPG’s recommendations.
  • The House Builders Federation (HBF) will issue a formal response to the APPG’s report.
  • The HBF has set up a working group and “will take forward action to provide better information to customers, simplify the legal process and create a clearer and simpler process for signing off new homes as complete.”
  • The HBF working group has commissioned an independent report on consumer redress for new homebuyers.
  • The Minister said he would review the independent report “with a view to ensuring that improved redress arrangements are introduced to provide greater protection to consumers on a broad range of issues, with a greater degree of independence from the industry.”
  • On calls for a new housing ombudsman, the Minister said “I am considering that option very seriously indeed.”
  • He said that the Government would consult in 2018 and look at options to explore how the overlap between responsibilities can be improved.
  • This would help to avoid the confusion faced by consumers over where to seek help.Strengthening consumer redress in the housing market: a consultation ran between 18 February and 16 April 2018.
  • The APPG published Better redress for home buyers in June 2018 which focused on how a New Homes Ombudsman could drive up standards and improve consumer redress.

A New Homes Ombudsman

• Most standard products ship within one to two days and have an industry-leading 5-year warranty.
• Electro-Sensors is proud to be an ISO9001:2015 quality certified company and is committed to providing excellent customer service and technical support.
• This press release may include statements about possible or anticipated future financial performance, business activities, plans, or opportunities.
• For these forward-looking statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forwardlooking statements contained in federal securities laws.