Summary
Relevant sections of the New Homes Quality Code
Part 1: Selling a new home
Investigation outcome
Partially upheld. The customer was awarded £1,000 in compensation and directed the developer to issue a full and sincere apology.
Recommendations for developers
- Ensure brochures and marketing materials accurately reflect plot‑specific specifications.
- Clearly state when features shown or highlighted do not apply to all homes on a development.
- Review sales communications to ensure transparency and avoid ambiguity that could mislead customers.
Issue
The customer complained that their newly built property was marketed as having photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, but these were not installed at completion. The customer said this caused confusion and disappointment and amounted to a lack of transparency in the sales process.
Circumstances
- During the sales process, the customer was provided with a marketing brochure in which PV solar panels were listed as a “property highlight”. The property was a show home, and neighbouring homes on the development had PV panels installed.
- Following completion, the customer discovered that no solar panels had been fitted to their property. They raised the matter with the developer but were unable to reach a resolution. The customer said that the marketing materials created a reasonable expectation that PV panels would be included and that this omission influenced their purchasing decision.
- The developer acknowledged that the brochure had incorrectly listed PV panels as a feature but relied on general disclaimers within the brochure and on the fact that the contract and reservation documents did not refer to solar panels. The developer stated that PV panels were installed only on selected plots and that the absence of panels was visible when the customer viewed the property.
Ombudsman’s decision
The Ombudsman found that while the customer had not obtained written confirmation or contractual inclusion of PV panels, the developer’s marketing materials created ambiguity. By highlighting solar panels as a feature without clearly excluding them for the customer’s property, the brochure gave rise to a reasonable expectation that panels would be included.
The Ombudsman concluded that the developer had not intentionally misled the customer and that contractual documents did not support full reliance on the brochure alone. However, the marketing materials did not meet the required standard of clarity and transparency set out in the New Homes Quality Code.
Learnings
- Marketing materials must clearly distinguish between standard features and plot‑specific specifications, including details of items not included in the standard specification, as required by Section 1.2 of the New Homes Quality Code Version 2 (March 2026).
- Disclaimers do not remove the need for clarity where specific features are highlighted.
