and Taylor Wimpey won’t buy it back.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/couples-brand-new-350000-dream-20332525
Category Archives: Taylor Wimpey
Trump, Obama, Netflix – and Taylor Wimpey in Cranbrook?
Owl is not just interested in East Devon, oh no. Owl has relatives in the United States and has been known to cast its beady eyes over the pond to see what the owls over there are up to.
Imagine Owl’s surprise when reading about President Trump’s latest spat with ex-President Obama about Obama’s contract with Netflix to see this Google “push” advert pop up:
Now, Owl knows this is a targeted, personalised ad – but who would have expected it to turn up here? And why does Taylor Wimpey think Owl wants one of their little boxes in Cranbrook?
Obviously desperate times for Taylor Wimpey and Cranbrook!
“Property giants pay bosses £63m while ‘exacerbating housing crisis’ by sitting on enough land for 470,000 homes”
“Property giants have been accused of rewarding bosses for “exacerbating the housing crisis” after spending £63.6m on chief executive pay last year while sitting on more than 470,000 unused plots of land.
The chief executives of Britain’s 10 biggest housing developers raked in a combined £63.6m, earning a median sum of £2.1m, according to figures compiled by the High Pay Centre. Four FTSE 100 companies handed £53.2m to their top bosses in total, a median pay packet of £5.7m.
The 10 firms completed and sold 86,685 homes last year, but hold planning permission for 470,068 other plots of land on which homes have not been built. The UK needs an estimated 340,000 new homes a year to meet demand.
Councils have repeatedly complained of developers taking longer to build on sites which have been earmarked for housing, with the Local Government Association calling for powers that would allow local authorities to seize unused land.
The High Pay Centre said its findings raised questions about whether executives “should receive such vast sums of money, particularly given the many criticisms levelled at the big housing developers regarding the extent to which they are exacerbating the housing crisis”.
Luke Hildyard, the think tank’s director, told The Independent: “Homes are a public good and housing companies are charged with quite an important social responsibility. If the housing companies don’t play their part in delivering enough homes then we have real problems.
“There is something particularly unseemly about people who are supposed to be providing a public good raking in millions or even tens of millions.”
The 10 companies, which are all FTSE 350-listed, paid a combined £150m to chief executives and other directors last year. The four FTSE 100 house-builders – Barratt, Berkeley, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey – accounted for £131.1m of that sum.
The average UK construction worker is paid £24,964 a year, 89 times less than the median pay packet of the 10 housebuilders’ chief executives, according to the union Unite.
The pay disparity was greatest at Persimmon, where chief executive Jeff Fairburn earned £39m – equivalent to the average pay of 1,561 construction workers – last year. He was forced out of the firm in late 2018 after a public outcry over his £75m bonus.
The pay ratio between Berkeley’s chief executive and the average construction worker was 331:1, at Taylor Wimpey it was 126:1, and at Barratt it was 113:1.
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Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh, who cited the figures during a debate in parliament on Thursday, said the “vast scale of inequality” showed “the British housebuilding industry is broken”.
She added: “In the midst of a national housing crisis, how can it be right, just or fair, for the top housebuilding CEOs to walk away with such astronomical sums while there are workers are seeing their salaries stagnate?
“These companies have a land bank of a simply staggering 470,068 plots but completed just 86,685 homes between them. Is that really a record worth rewarding?”
Barratt, Berkeley and Taylor Wimpey all declined to comment.
Persimmon did not respond to a request for comment.”
Big developer CEOs offloading large blocks of their shares …
“Barratt Developments’ boss follows Berkeley founder’s lead and sells more than a third of his shares for £3.3m.
Barratt Developments’ boss has sold more than a third of his shares for £3.3 million.
David Thomas sold 500,000 shares for 660p each. He still has 823,000 Barratt shares worth £5.3 million.
The move came just weeks after Berkeley founder Tony Pidgley cut his stake in his company by a fifth – cashing in £37.2 million of shares.
The sales raise concerns that housing bosses believe the market has peaked.
And Taylor Wimpey warned rising costs and ‘flat’ house prices were putting pressure on its profits.
It reported first half sales of £1.7 billion, almost unchanged from the previous year, and said profits fell from £301 million to £299.8 million. The firm has proposed a 2019 dividend of 18.34p per share.”
When is a public footpath not a public footpath? At Plumb Park, Exmouth
Owl has been passed a copy of a letter (from the writer) sent to EDDC:
“Dear Sir/Madam – I have recently made several visits to this development (EX8 2JB) with a view to our family buying at least 2 purchases there.
On Wed 10th July at around 1230 I attended to see how work was going on and walked the public footpath through the site.
The public footpath runs SSE from Buckingham Close to the vicinity of Green Farm and is marked on OS maps as a Public Right of Way. The building works are all to the south and west of this boundary path.
There was no statutory notice saying that the pathway was closed nor was an advised diversion promulgated. Both these requirements are, I believe, legal requirements, to advise closure.
There were numerous signs warning about the adjacent building site, but from the safety of the public path I was better able to see the areas of build I was interested in. At no time was I in any danger from works vehicles. I passed several workers going to lunch – none of whom commented on my presence.
When I got to the end of the path/works I was rudely shouted at by an operative in a dumper truck who demanded to know what I was doing. I simply replied I was looking at the works from a public footpath. He became more authoritative and aggressive so I walked away on the way back. He then had the effrontery to demand a worker escort me “off the premises”. This chap showed me lots of notices such as “Do not enter site”, “Report to site office” but nothing regarding the public footpath. I pointed out to him the several small statutory yellow discs displaying “Public footpath”. But all to no avail.
So what is the position about this footpath? Why are there no statutory notices closing it – the developers Taylor Wimpey surely cannot unilaterally close it. Indeed is the footpath legally closed at all?
I would have thought a clear notice one way or the other is required.”
[author’s name and contact details given]
Developers holding Help to Buy purchasers to ransom
Just when you think all the juice had been extracted from buyers, another scandal pops up.
“Contracts for new-build homes and the industry-led code of practice that informs them are heavily weighted in favour of the developer. The Consumer Rights Act does not include new builds, giving buyers less protection than high-street shoppers, and each year hundreds of purchasers are left in limbo when a home is not finished in time. They can’t pull out and reclaim their deposit until building works look likely to exceed what’s known as the “long-stop” date – the final date by which a property can be finished, which is often buried in the small print.
This can be up to six months later than the legal completion date cited in the contracts, and the legal completion date is often months later than the estimates given when contracts are exchanged. Most mortgage offers are only valid for three months.
While purchasers are legally bound to the developer’s timetable for the exchange and completion of contracts and face substantial penalties if they delay, developers allow themselves generous leeway.
A completion date only becomes legally binding when the home is ready and a “completion notice” is served, after which purchasers have seven to 10 days to pay up or else face interest charges on the balance.
Nor are developers obliged to pay compensation for delays, unless the developer exceeds the “long-stop” date. Purchasers who have to proceed with the sale of their old home after exchanging contracts, or to rearrange a mortgage when their offer expires, can be left heavily out of pocket. …”
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jun/23/new-build-homes-buy-delay-bill-developers?
Leasehold houses: promise of fix … one day, maybe
“Housebuilders are to be investigated over the mis-selling of thousands of leasehold properties after a U-turn by the competition watchdog amid pressure from ministers.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would examine the scandal surrounding new-build homes sold on leases that were subject to substantial increases in ground rents and the charging of “permission fees” for home improvements. Developers and freeholders could face legal action if the watchdog finds evidence of leasehold mis-selling. The watchdog said it would decide whether the practices constituted “unfair terms”, a breach of consumer contract law.
James Brokenshire, the housing minister, has previously called on the CMA to use its influence to tackle the “culture of consumer exploitation rife in the housing industry” with an inquiry into the estimated 100,000 homes sold with “extortionate” leases.
However, in November, the CMA told the minister it would not investigate the issue, citing the legal complexities surrounding historic cases of mis-selling. In a letter seen by The Times, the watchdog also noted it does not have the power to fine companies using its consumer powers and blamed Brexit preparations for it not being able to prioritise problems in the housing industry.
The U-turn comes after the Commons housing committee published a damning report on the scandal in March, calling for the law to be changed to help people stuck in leasehold properties with crippling fees that they are unable to sell on. It also criticised solicitors for failing to warn clients about the unfair deals, accusing some of being too close to developers.
The leasehold scandal emerged as developers began to sell houses on leasehold rather than freehold, often without the buyer fully understanding the contracts. In many cases the freeholds were bought by offshore investors who demand large sums from homeowners to buy out the contracts.
Taylor Wimpey, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, has set aside £130 million to help its customers escape unfair leases it sold. More than 40 property developers and freeholders this year signed a government-backed pledge to help homeowners affected by the scandal by changing the terms of leases for those with onerous clauses.
Sebastian O’Kelly, of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, said: “We welcome the CMA looking into this. It’s long overdue and will be welcomed by the 12,000 owners of new leases with doubling ground rents, and 88,000 where the ground rent is above 0.1 per cent of the sale price and whose properties are unsellable.”
The investigation comes as the industry attempts to improve its public image after criticisms of build quality as well as punitive hidden charges.
Countryside Properties this week became embroiled in a row with Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, who reportedly told residents he would ban the housebuilder from building in the city due to historic cases of selling leasehold homes with “doubling clauses” for ground rents.
Countryside said it no longer sold leasehold homes, had signed up to the leasehold pledge and took action to fix the doubling of ground rent leases that were in place two years ago. A spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said: “The industry has made huge progress to identify and address the issues raised on particular aspects of leasehold sales.”
Source: Times (pay wall)
Read this before buying a new home (particularly from Taylor Wimpey )
Owl says: surely developers building shoddy or dangerously constructed new homes should be banned from tendering for new schemes and banned from using government subsidies from Help to Buy schemes to sell homes already constructed forever?
“It took seven families two years, but a group of homeowners in Scotland has taken on a housing giant in order to have their “crumbling” new-build homes repaired. It’s part of a broader, UK-wide issue – this is their story.
Sheila Chalmers moved to Peebles with her husband 10 years ago. Her three-bed home was one of 250 built by developer Taylor Wimpey on a new site in the Scottish borders.
For eight years, life went on as normal. Then something strange started to happen. Overnight, families at the top end of the estate started to vanish. But there were no for sale signs and no-one new was moving in. “It became almost a ghost street,” she says. “Houses were empty. People were disappearing.”
Sheila later heard that the properties had been bought back by Taylor Wimpey after problems were discovered. The owners had signed non-disclosure agreements so they could not speak out.
Taylor Wimpey confirmed it did buy back a “small number of homes” to start with. It later sent a letter to all the remaining residents, saying that some houses did have a problem with the mortar holding together their bricks.
Sheila thought she did not have anything to worry about, but she went outside and checked anyway. Patches of mortar were clearly eroding, she says, and in other places it could be scraped out with a fingernail.
She paid for assessments by two different structural engineers, who both said the house needed extensive repair work, though Taylor Wimpey said its own inspections found that was not the case.
Mortar is made up of two key materials: cement and sand. The more cement in the mix, the stronger the mortar, though the more brittle it can be.
The family paid to have their laboratory tests on the mortar carried out by a specialist firm.
The results suggested that there was far more sand in the mix than you would expect for a home in that area, although Taylor Wimpey says the type of chemical test used was “not appropriate” and the results could not be relied upon.
Our investigation in 2018 found similar complaints about weak mortar across at least 13 estates in the UK all built by different companies.
Three doors down from Sheila, live Pete and Jill Hall with their 13-year-old son. Like Sheila, they first learned about the problem two years ago when Taylor Wimpey were buying back the individual houses. They paid for their own tests, which showed only one in eight samples taken from their home met industry guidelines, although again Taylor Wimpey says the test used was “not appropriate”.
“On the garage the tests came back showing it was just sand,” said Pete.
A video filmed by the family after a rainstorm clearly shows the mortar on the back wall falling out when a screwdriver was run gently along it.
Handmade signs
In the end, seven core households became involved – passing on details to a wider community group on the estate. The families worked together to build their case, paying for their own structural surveys and using Freedom of Information laws to demand internal documents from the local council.
They made handmade signs and protested outside the showroom of another Taylor Wimpey estate in the area.
In 2017, they presented their findings to Taylor Wimpey’s lawyers, saying that they would go public if their properties were not fixed, demolished or bought back. They were surprised at the response.
The families’ solicitors received a letter back saying they had decided not to report the group to the authorities under the Proceeds of Crime legislation. “It was accusing us of bribery, effectively,” said Pete. “It took me about 10 minutes to stop laughing. But it was intimidation, a threat.”
By then, Pete and Jill had hired their own engineers to examine the house. They recommended that the couple should stop using the garage because it was at risk of collapse, although Taylor Wimpey denies that there was a structural problem.
The couple bought a giant shipping container, covered it with warning stickers and left it on their front lawn.
That, they say, got Taylor Wimpey’s attention and – two years down the line – an agreement has now been reached for their home to be fixed. “It falls short of where we think a full repair should be, but they have said it’s that or nothing – so we have accepted it,” Jill says.
‘Someone has to stand up’
In December 2018, Taylor Wimpey sent out letters saying all 130 houses in the estate built with the weaker mortar would now be offered “remediation” work.
Properties are being dealt with one at a time. Construction crews are scraping out the old mortar and replacing it with a stronger material.
Taylor Wimpey said it “sincerely apologises” to the all the homeowners affected, is “fully committed to resolving matters” and has “a clear plan in place to remediate affected homes”. “This is a localised issue and falls short of the high-quality standards we uphold,” it said.
The firm has now apologised to Sheila and, even though its own inspections found a full repair is not needed, said work to replace the mortar in her home will start this summer. It will refund the £16,000 she has spent on legal costs and technical reports, most of which she had to borrow.
Repair work on Pete and Jill’s property, which may involve the demolition of the garage, is due to start in mid-July.
Both families say the fight has been time-consuming, stressful and put them off ever buying a new-build home again. “These developers, these companies, cannot be allowed to continue the destruction of people’s lives with building shoddy homes,” said Sheila. “Somebody has to stand up and show them that they cannot get away with it.”
What went wrong?
Maps drawn up by Taylor Wimpey show about half of the 250 homes were built with far weaker mortar than recommended under industry standards
A memo sent to all developers in the UK by the National House Building Council (NHBC) in 2013 warned about this problem
The local council in Peebles says the mortar used was not the type in the original building warrant and was changed later without its knowledge
Taylor Wimpey says the material was “of sufficient strength to meet structural requirements” as “supported by an independent review” by the local council, but accepts it may be “less durable under prevailing exposure conditions”
It says it has now offered to repoint “any home which was constructed with the same mortar, regardless of whether our inspection found this was necessary or not”
“Growing complaints about new-build houses”
” … Research from the organisation, which represents the interests of homeowners to the house building industry, suggest that only two-thirds of new homeowners are happy with the way their builder resolved any defects with their home.
And even the developers themselves acknowledge the problem.
The Home Builders Federation own satisfaction surveys show a rise in the number of customers reporting snags – from 93% in 2015 to 99% in 2018.
That data comes just weeks after the government said they were considering removing Persimmon from the Help To Buy scheme after increasing concerns over the quality of its building work.
‘Major failings’
And there is rising alarm from consumers and experts about the severity of these so-called snags.
Timothy Waitt has become a specialist on construction cases at Anthony Gold solicitors. “I’m not talking about dodgy kitchen units – I’m talking about major structural failings that affect health and safety.”
Mr Waitt is getting enquiries on a near-daily basis on these kinds problems and is fearful a skills shortage in construction means that is just the tip of the iceberg.
“I do not think we’re talking about deliberate decisions to miss out on key expensive structural elements,” he explains.
“This is about carelessness. I think that is arising is that people are making mistakes, potentially because they do not realise the significance of what they are doing, due to a lack of training, a lack of experience and a lack of supervision.” …
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson says the government wants to see more good quality homes: “We know more needs to be done to protect consumers, and our New Homes Ombudsman will protect the rights of homebuyers and hold developers to account.”
Taylor Wimpey making nearly as much profit as Persimmon (£811 m)
“… The strong results came a day after rival Persimmon reported a £1.09bn profit for last year, the biggest ever made by a UK housebuilder. For every home sold, Persimmon made a profit of £66,265, compared with £53,073 at Taylor Wimpey.
Housebuilders have profited hugely over the past five years from the taxpayer funded help-to buy-scheme, which allows buyers to put down a deposit of as little as 5% on a new build home, while the government lends the buyer up to 20% of the value of the property (40% in London), interest free for the first five years.
More than a third of the homes sold by Taylor Wimpey last year were through the scheme, at 36%, although this was less than the 43% in 2017. The average price of a private home sold by the company was £302,000 – up 2% – while the overall average selling price, including social housing, was flat at £264,000.
Taylor Wimpey’s profits have trebled since the beginning of help-to-buy in 2013. It defended use of the scheme, noting that 77% of sales made through it were to first-time-buyers.
Greg Beales, campaign director at Shelter, said: “Taylor Wimpey joins Persimmon as the next developer making massive profits funded by taxpayer cash whilst doing very little to address the housing crisis in this country….”
Clinton Devon Estates and Taylor Wimpey forced to halt construction at Plumb Park Exmouth due to foundation problem
“Construction work has been halted in one area of a new homes development site after foundation issues were discovered.
Work began on the Clinton Devon Estates and Taylor Wimpey’s Plumb Park development in Exmouth back in November 2017 with planning permission granted for 264 new homes. Work is expected to finish by the end of 2022.
However, it has emerged one plot – which is currently unoccupied – has foundation issues, but it has not been confirmed what they are.
Taylor Wimpey have stated the plot will not be sold until investigations are complete, or until any subsequent remedial work is carried out to the foundation.
The developer is currently is working closely with consultant engineers to carry out ongoing ground investigation works in the vicinity of affected plot.
It means construction work has been postponed in the area while those investigations take place.
Taylor Wimpey confirmed there are no issues in any occupied homes.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We are investigating a foundation issue that relates to one unoccupied plot at our Plumb Park development.
“This issue was identified as part of our ‘pre-construction testing of ground conditions’ on subsequent plots, and as part of our stringent quality checks. We can confirm that no occupied houses nor any public areas are affected.”
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/work-stopped-taylor-wimpey-homes-2573195
Have we reached ‘peak industrial estate’ in East Devon? Seems so
If industrial estates are essential sites and supposedly we don’t have enough of them, why is Taylor Wimpey being allowed to build more than 200 houses on the former Parkhurst Close Industrial Estate in Exmouth – the largest town in East Devon?
“Persimmon expects higher profits as help-to-buy props up prices”
“… Persimmon is one of the main beneficiaries of the taxpayer-funded help-to-buy scheme, first launched by George Osborne in 2013. When the scheme was extended in 2017, a report by Morgan Stanley found that the £10bn of taxpayers’ cash had mainly benefited housebuilders, rather than buyers, by pushing up prices.
Persimmon said it was in an “excellent market position” ahead of the key spring selling season, despite “increased levels of uncertainty” due to Brexit. It had £1.39bn of forward sales reserved at the end of last year, up 3%. Rival Taylor Wimpey was also upbeat about its outlook last week.
Both housebuilders are more cautious when it comes to buying land. Persimmon said it was taking a “selective approach” and Taylor Wimpey revealed that it had walked away from or was trying to renegotiate 2,000 plot purchases – amounting to about 11% of the total land it bought last year. …”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/15/persimmon-profits-help-to-buy-prices
“New homes ‘crumbling due to weak mortar’ : affected householders gagged about repairs
“Hundreds of new properties have been built using weak mortar that does not meet recommended industry standards, the Victoria Derbyshire show has found.
There are reports of homes with the fault on at least 13 estates in the UK.
The full extent of the industry-wide problem is hard to measure as some homeowners have been asked to sign gagging orders to claim compensation.
The industry says mortar performance is a complex issue and can be affected by a number of factors.
One of those homes was owned by Vincent Fascione, 70. He says he was watching football on TV one evening in 2016 when he heard a loud cracking noise from the external walls of his house.
The next morning, he found a sand-like substance all over his front path and driveway. Photographs and video from the time appear to show growing cracks in the mortar holding his bricks together.
Mr Fascione, from Coatbridge outside Glasgow, bought his semi-detached property in 2012 for £112,500.
He complained to the homebuilder, Taylor Wimpey, and to the NHBC, the industry body that signs off and provides the warranty for most new-build houses.
‘Disastrous’
Under NHBC guidelines, mortar in most areas of the UK should be made of one part cement to 5.5 parts sand.
In severe weather areas such as Coatbridge, there should be even more cement in the mix to make it stronger and more durable.
Laboratory tests on samples taken from parts of Mr Fascione’s home showed the amount of sand was almost three times higher than recommended.
“I’m the guy who retired and decided to buy a new-build house,” he said. “I’ll never buy a new-build house again – never. It’s just been disastrous for me.”
After 18 months of complaints, the NHBC bought back Mr Fascione’s home at the market rate and he is living in alternative accommodation.
The organisation said it had done so because the performance of the company it had employed to repair the property had not been good enough and “in consideration of Mr Fascione’s personal circumstances”, not because of the original issue with the mortar.
‘Widespread and serious’
The Victoria Derbyshire Programme has heard about new build properties in at least 13 estates from Scotland to Sussex, built by different companies, with what appears to be a similar problem.
In one single estate in the Scottish borders, it is thought Taylor Wimpey has agreed to replace the mortar in more than 90 separate properties. The homebuilder says an assessment by engineers found “no structural issues” with the homes.
“This is both widespread and serious,” says Phil Waller, a retired construction manager who has blogged about the problem.
“It cannot be explained away by the industry as a few isolated cases.”
Exactly why the weaker building material may have been used is unclear.
In some cases, the housebuilder may have simply used the wrong type of mortar. In other cases, errors may have been made mixing and laying the material on site.
Some construction experts also blame the switch to a new type of factory-mixed mortar, which might pass a different strength test in the laboratory but not always be strong enough in the real world.
Non-disclosure agreements
Faced with what could be an expensive repair bill, many homeowners have been told by their own solicitors not to go public until the issue is resolved.
In some cases, customers have ultimately had their houses bought back by either the homebuilder or the NHBC.
In others, it appears repairs have been made and compensation paid as part of a deal that involves the signing of a non-disclosure agreement or gagging clause.
One homeowner in the north-west of England told the programme: “The only comment I can make is no comment. I’d like to speak out but at the end of the day I have to protect my investment.”
A gagging clause may stop the property owner talking not only to the media but also to neighbours in the estate who may be facing similar problems.
“It’s going on, it’s just not being talked about,” says Mr Waller.
“Non-disclosure agreements should be banned full stop. If it’s all covered up, more victims are likely to be drawn into the net and make the same mistakes.”
An NHBC spokesman said it included a confidentiality clause in a “small number of rare circumstances” but declined to disclose the number.
He added: “We work with builders to help them improve the construction quality of the homes they build. However, it is the builder who is ultimately responsible for the quality of the new homes they build.”
Taylor Wimpey apologised to Mr Fascione for the issues experienced with his home.
A spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering excellent quality homes and achieving high levels of customer satisfaction. On those occasions where issues do arise, we endeavour to resolve those issues as soon as practically possible.”
Developers (“Cranbrook Limited”) still seem to hold all the cards in the town
From Town Council website:
“For distribution – question: What is “Cranbrook Limited” referred to in the last line?
Town Council site:
“The Town Council has been advising previously that we have been chasing the Consortium to release householders from the rent charge deed and yesterday we received the following statement:
“The development partners, Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Hallam are continuing to work with their agents to conclude the Estate Rent Charge audit process and Deed of Release on final payment of balances due from each household. Please bear with us as we complete these tasks. We will continue to liaise with the Town Council on this and update you further in due course.”
Whilst we are doing all we can to help progress this matter, the Town Council is not responsible for the development and distribution of the documentation which removes the rent charge deed from individual households – it is and remains the responsibility of Cranbrook Limited.
The Town Council will continue chasing this matter on a regular basis.”
“Help to buy” – or help to rip off?
“Britain’s biggest housebuilders have doubled the average profits they make from each home since the Help to Buy scheme was launched.
Analysis by The Times reveals that the top five builders in Britain are making an average profit of £57,000 on each house they sell, compared with a mean average of about £29,000 in 2007.
Barratt, the biggest builder, is making almost double the amount of profit compared with ten years ago but is building only 411 more homes. Another builder, Bellway, is making more than £58,000 profit a house compared with a little more than £30,000 in 2007 but is building 2,000 fewer homes.
At the time of its launch in 2013, it was hoped the scheme would stimulate house-building. When it was extended in 2014, Mark Clare, then chief executive of Barratt, said: “Britain urgently needs more homes and by setting out a longer-term framework for Help to Buy this announcement will enable the industry to deliver just that.” Yet figures show that the total number of new houses delivered has barely changed since the introduction of the scheme.
The profits last year have been compared with 2007 because this was the last full year that housebuilders were at their peak before the financial crash. Annual pre-tax profits were divided by the number of homes built in each year to reach a “profit per house” figure.
Britain is facing its worst housing crisis in generations, with ownership at a 30-year low and a record 1.8 million families with children renting privately.
Housebuilders were quick to point out that underlying growth will have boosted profits, with house prices having risen by 23 per cent across the UK since 2007. They also noted that they were paying huge amounts back in debt each year at high interest rates before the financial crash, compared with today, when they have millions in cash at the end of each year.
However, analysts believe that a large driver of profits is the government’s Help to Buy scheme, which supports about 40 per cent of housebuilders’ sales. Robin Hardy, an analyst at Shore Capital, believes that housebuilders would be making £22,000 less in profit on each house built for first-time buyers if Help to Buy was not in place. “We reckon that homes sold through Help to Buy are 53 per cent higher than in June 2013, whereas house price figures from Land Registry or Nationwide suggest that across all first homes it’s more like 19 per cent,” he said. “That suggests that someone is gaming the system.”
Neal Hudson, a housing expert at Resi Analysts, said that shareholders had become “the main priority” for housebuilders since the financial crash. “The over-arching factor has been big pressure from the City,” he said. “The priority for them is profit margin not the number of homes built.”
Persimmon, Britain’s second-largest housebuilder, made an average profit of just over £60,000 on each house it built in 2017. In 2007 the figure was £36,787. It built only 138 more homes.
The housebuilder made pre-tax profits of £966 million in 2017 and has a war chest in net cash of £1.3 billion. Jeff Fairburn, its chief executive, was paid £75 million in a bonus scheme last year, which was more than the highest paid banking executives on Wall Street.
Lord Best, vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on housing, said: “These bumper profits come at a time of growing recognition of the catalogue of failings of major housebuilders: poor design, miserable space standards, defective workmanship, delaying development to keep prices high . . . and exploiting a loophole in the planning process to renege on their obligations to include affordable homes in their developments.”
However, developers said the type of product they build has changed, with far fewer flats and a much tighter control over what type of land they buy.
A Home Builders Federation spokesman said: “House building is cyclical. After the financial downturn companies posted big losses and had to make huge writedowns on the value of their land. Many companies disappeared. Since 2013 output has increased by 74 per cent, an increase that as well as providing desperately needed homes has given the economy a huge boost.”
Source: The Times (pay wall)
Barclays refuses mortgages on controversial Taylor Wimpey new homes – and Taylor Wimpey share price INCREASES!
“Scandal hit Taylor Wimpey has suffered a blow after Barclays refused to offer mortgages at a flagship development because of fears over leaseholds.
The housebuilder is seeking buyers for its Chobham Manor site in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London but the properties come with complicated leases.
Barclays told one family looking at a property they could not have a mortgage because of a clause which might mean the lease was terminated if one of Taylor Wimpey’s subsidiaries went bust.
If that happened the bank would be unable to get its money back.
Taylor Wimpey has pledged to fix the problem but would not say how many properties were affected at the site, where prices are as high as £1million.
The firm has been criticised for selling leasehold homes with unaffordable ground rents.
Shares rose 1.1% or 1.85p to 170.65p.”
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-6108205/Taylor-Wimpey-hit-leasehold-woes.html
Do you have a Taylor Wimpey house? Check your mirrors!
“A house builder is checking wardrobe mirrors at a new development after one fell and ‘exploded’ near to where a baby normally sleeps.
Jennie and Joe Adams claim full-length wardrobe mirrors were ‘stuck on with tape’ at their new home in Gorebridge, Midlothian.
As a result, they say one of the mirrors fell off and crashed to the floor with a massive bang, leaving shards of glass everywhere. …
A spokeswoman for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland said: ‘We are very sorry to learn about the situation at our Harvieston Park development, and we have carried out a full investigation in conjunction with our wardrobe door installer to understand the circumstances.
‘We have apologised to the family involved and we have offered our assistance to resolve this matter for them.
‘As an additional precaution, and to provide comfort to other homeowners living at the development, we will conduct additional checks on similarly fitted mirrored wardrobe doors that could be affected to make sure this issue does not happen again.’
Taylor Wimpey, Archant, EDDC and red dust in Littleham, Exmouth : “fake news”?
Below is information from an Exmouth resident sent to an Archant local reporter regarding development at Littleham, Exmouth, the “red dust” it is creating and its effect on a large number of frustrated residents.
The resident has received no reply to either email and the newspaper has not balanced its original mild article to reflect the information in these emails:
“11 August 2018:
Ms Brainwood [Archant reporter who wrote original article]:
Further to my email from last week I write to inform you of the following. It has been noted by the way that you did not pay me the courtesy of a reply.
Local residents are quite rightly annoyed that your article gave false impressions.
You reported the following :
1. The only residents to be affected were two elderly people in Buckingham Close.
2. The only area affected was indeed Buckingham Close.
3. Taylor Wimpey were doing everything they could to minimise the red dust site vehicles generated.
4. EDDC were happy that the red dust was “ within limits “.
5. Environmental Health Officers from EDDC were quite happy with the overall situation.
The real situation could not be further from the truth.
If you had asked local residents they would have informed you the red dust was experienced in Littleham Road, Midway, The Crescent, Jarvis Close, The Broadway, Douglas Road and Cranford Road just to name a few areas.
Local resident who I have spoken to agree your article is at best sloppy journalism and at worst, fake news.
I read on the Exmouth Journal website your Group Editor Philip Griffin tells us the paper is “ respected for it`s balanced reporting “. We all had a good laugh at that.
For you information the cycle path in Jarvis Close north of Plumb Park is being currently dug up by South West Water to lay pipes. The work will last for 5 weeks. More excessive noise, more disruption and even more dust just a couple of metres from residences in Littleham Road.
Finally, it is your prerogative not to reply to my emails, it is our prerogative not to purchase your paper. “
and the resident’s earlier email to which the resident also had no reply:
“2 August 2018
To: laura.brainwood@archant.co.uk
Subject: Red dust causes misery for residents near Plumb Park development
I would like to make you aware of a few facts regarding the current red dust problem that you reported on in the 1st August 2018 edition of the Exmouth Journal.
“ Taylor Wimpey have taken measures to reduce the impact “. This is not correct.
When I have contacted their Exeter call centre ( 01392 442617 ) they say dust suppression is taking place, but it is not. We are told a water bowser “ damp down” every day. As the site is visible from my bedroom window in Littleham Road, 30 meters from the north fence, I can inform you it never takes place. We are also told a street sweeper is used to suppress the dust. We have never seen the vehicle.
A resident who lives in Jarvis Close (his wife has a very serious case of COPD), confronted the Site Manger face to face recently and was told “damping down“ takes place in certain areas every 20 minutes. This is a lie.
I have contacted Environmental Health to complain about the red dust. I am not the only Littleham Road resident to have done this.
Alice Gill EHO did call back to inform me that Taylor Wimpy is taking action to reduce the dust. She is telling me what Taylor Wimpey is telling her. It is just not happening. Recent emails informing them again, that there is still a big problem have been ignored.
Food has to be covered to stop contamination from the dust in the kitchen. As windows are left open due to the warm weather we even have dust on tooth brushes in the bathroom. It has permeated into closed cupboards. Yes. It is inside the house!!!
In the meantime elderly resident who have COPD have to inhale red dust, along with everybody else, just because Taylor Wimpey can`t be bothered to do anything.
EDDC Development Management Committee was informed in June 2013 by many local residents that this development would blight the lives of local people. They were not interested.
Perhaps your readers would like to know a few facts regarding this issue, plus the current disinterest.”
Taylor Wimpey bonus “slashed” from £1.08 million to £827,757 after leasehold scandal
“Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has slashed 23pc from its directors’ bonuses in response to the scandal over punitive leasehold terms.
The company’s annual report shows that chief executive Pete Redfern received £827,757 through Taylor Wimpey’s executive incentive scheme (EIS), rather than almost £1.08m as originally planned.
Ryan Mangold, finance director, and James Jordan, legal director and company secretary, also received a 23pc cut in their bonuses for 2017.
Taylor Wimpey has come under fire for selling homes with leasehold terms which mean the ground rent payable by the homeowners doubles every 10 years. In some cases, this has made the houses unsellable.
The homebuilder said the scaling back of bonuses was a “meaningful and proportionate approach to take”, even though the leasehold issue had not directly inflated the bonuses last year.
Meanwhile, housebuilder Persimmon has confirmed that chief executive Jeff Fairburn will receive a total pay packet of £47m this year thanks to a generous long term incentive plan agreed in 2012 which came to maturity last year. His total bonus award was due to be around £100m over two years, although it was later reduced to £75m.
Mr Fairburn has said he will give some of the money to charity.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/03/19/taylor-wimpey-slashes-bonuses-leasehold-scandal/
East Devon Watch 