When even a Tory Prime Minister expresses concern for the inadequacy
of modern spec-built homes, something has certainly gone very wrong in the
house-building industry. In addressing the Chartered Institute of Housing
conference on 26 June 2019, Theresa May said,
“I cannot defend a system in
which owners and tenants are forced to accept tiny homes with inadequate
storage… Where developers feel the need to fill show homes with deceptively
small furniture… And where the lack of universal standards encourages a race to
the bottom.”
May says that she wants her successor to introduce mandatory universal regulations to provide clear national standards. She is not wrong about the lack of standards. There are so called "Nationally described Space Standards" which were introduced in 2015, but these are nor mandatory. Whilst they are required by some councils before planning permission is granted, many more would appear to ignore them.
As for the race to the bottom, what does she expect? Most developers are not philanthropists, they want to make money and when the government have ensured that councils now have so few powers and are so underfunded that they can't employ people to enforce the few powers they have left.
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