What is a Consumer Code?

For the owners of new and newly converted homes, it is important they have the security of knowing that their home and rights are protected should any issues arise with structural defects. Various Consumer Codes have been established to advance and maintain standards of practise in the construction industry. Developers and builders who have purchased structural defects insurance, who subscribe to a Code must adhere to a strict code of practice which states that any activities engaged in marketing, selling practices, processes involved in purchasing, and duty of after sales service must be carried out in a fair and transparent manner.

Promotors of these various Trading Standards approved Codes have a responsibility to educate and monitor developers and builders as to their practising of the code and educate consumers as to the standards that they should expect to receive. If in breach of the Code, the promotor would, under its responsibilities enforce a range of consequential measures which could have damaging implications on the developer.

Various Codes that are promoted by different structural warranty providers ensures protection to the consumer by ensuring that they have access to ADRS’s (Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes) should any issues arise in the first two years that the developer is refusing to take responsibility for before the period of liability to the insurer begins. Consumers are provided with a clear and easily accessible complaints process should anything go wrong, giving them added security and increasing their confidence in the purchase. As with structural defects insurance, the Code is transferrable upon sale of the property to a new owner within the first two years after the build is complete.

Adoption of the Code throughout the industry will ensure that standards of construction and levels of post-purchase customer service are raised and maintained which will not only give better protection to the consumer but boost buyer confidence in the market.

Compariqo has developed its own Consumer Code which has achieved Stage One approval from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and is now working towards Stage Two Approval to ensure that standards are upheld and consumers’ rights are respected.  You can download a copy of our Code here

For any questions about Compariqo’s Consumer Code, contact us on hello@compariqo.com.