The Code

	General
1	When did the code come into effect?	The Code Requirements came into force on the 1st April 2010 and will apply to all home buyers who sign a Reservation agreement on or after this date where both the Home and the Home Builder are registered with one of the Home Warranty Bodies supporting the consumer code scheme. It does not apply retrospectively.
2	Who wrote the code? Where did it come from?	The Code was written by a consortium of industry bodies in answer to concerns expressed by the Office of Fair Trading in their Market Study published in 2008.
3	Do builders registered with supporting Warranty Bodies have to sign up to the Consumer Code?	No. By virtue of their registration with one of the participating Warranty Bodies, Home Builders are required to comply with the Consumer Code through their respective rules of registration.
4	What are the extra benefits for Home Buyers under this scheme?	Until publication of this Consumer Code, a Home Buyer who felt that they had a claim against their builder for out of pocket expenses for example, as a result of their builder’s action or inaction, would have had to take a case to court if the matter was not covered by their Home Warranty scheme. Under the Consumer Code, not only are the builder’s responsibilities more clearly laid out, there is also a low-cost, speedy, independent dispute resolution scheme that can decide a builder’s responsibilities, without the customer having to take to legal action.
5	Is extra guidance going to be made available to home buyers?	Home Buyers will be able to see the guidance (the Builder Guidance document and these FAQs) provided to builders on how to meet the requirements of the code. Both the Code Requirements and the Builder Guidance documents are downloadable from the Downloads page of this web site.
6	Who is paying for all of this?	The costs of setting up and running the scheme are paid for by the participating Home Warranty Bodies. It is intended that these costs will be recovered by them in the charges they make to their registered builders.
7	If Home Builders are paying for this scheme, what are they going to get out of it?	Home Builders will benefit from having self regulation rather than Government imposed regulation and a levy to pay for it. There will be a speedy, low-cost resolution of disputes which might otherwise result in expensive litigation. Ultimately, Home Builders should benefit from higher levels of satisfaction that Home Buyers will have with their new home and the service provided by their builder. Also, there will be feedback to House Builders about customer satisfaction and the issues that regularly cause disputes.
8	Under clause 4.2 what responsibility exists to supply Health and Safety advice to customers where there is a Management Company and the properties are rented or leased?	The requirement for providing information does not change. It must be given to the owner of the building, but they have responsibility for informing the residents – not the Home Builder.
	Availability
9	The Consumer Code Requirements are downloadable from this web site; would this then be the Home Buyer’s copy?	Yes it could be, if that is how the Home Builder wishes to fulfil this Code requirement. Home Builders may, as an alternative, incorporate the Code Requirements into their own documentation.
10	Do the Home Warranty Bodies intend supplying printed copies of the Consumer Code Requirements for Home Builders to buy?	It is not currently the intention of the Home Warranty Bodies to print off stock copies of the code for builders to use. The code documents are available in various formats for download from this web site
11	Clause 1.2 suggests that Home Builders should consider providing the code requirements in other formats. Is there further clarification on this; is something going to be produced that Home Builders can use?	It depends on the market to which the Home Builder is selling. There is a “Clear Print” version of the Code that complies with the RNIB guidelines. There is also a Welsh language version available. If a Home Builder regularly sells to a particular set of customers who only speak a particular language for example, then they should consider preparing a translation.
	Displaying the Code
12	Requirement 1.2 says that the Home Builder must ‘display’ the Code. How should this be done?	This can be satisfied by one or more means such as reproducing the Code in brochures, on web sites, or displayed in sales offices.
	Zurich Building Guarantees
13	Are properties registered with Zurich covered by the Code?	The code applies to homes reserved on or after 1st April 2010 that are registered with NHBC and Premier Guarantee & LABC New Home Warranty, currently the only Home Warranty bodies supporting the Consumer Code scheme. Zurich Building Guarantees, who stopped registering new properties in 2009, are not one of the supporting Home Warranty Bodies and properties that are registered with them are not covered by the Consumer Code.