HC Deb 12 May 1971 vol 817 cc364-5
31. Mr. Golding

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has yet made a decision on the introduction of legislation relating to the rights of house buyers as proposed by the Law Commission for England and Wales.

Mr. Channon

The Law Commission's proposals are still under consideration.

Mr. Golding

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that houses in my constituency, including the Loggerheads, have developed very serious structural defects within a few years of being built and that young owner-occupiers find that they have no means of redress either through the courts or through the National House Builders Registration Council to remedy them? Is not it time that builders were made to face the financial consequences of their jerry building?

Mr. Channon

Certainly I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I do not know the specific case in his constituency to which he referred. If he will send me details, I will look at them. The National House Builders Registration Scheme now covers about 95 per cent. of new house building and is a worthy safeguard to new purchasers. Certainly we have to do everything in our power to support it.

Mr. Dan Jones

Can the Minister say what is the responsibility of local authorities in the matters so properly drawn to his attention by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Golding)?

Mr. Channon

I understood the Question to be related to private house buyers. New building is a matter for the National House Builders Registration Council and its voluntary scheme. Certainly we are giving the fullest consideration to the proposals of the Law Commission, but I am not yet in a position to make a statement.

Sir D. Walker-Smith

Further to the point raised by the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Dan Jones), is not it a fact that there are some local authority powers in respect of building regulations and the like but that the safeguards and standards of the National House Builders Registration Council go considerably beyond those local authority requirements?

Mr. Channon

My right hon. and learned Friend is quite right. There are the building regulations responsibilities of the local authority, but the N.H.B.R.C. scheme goes a great deal further.