21st Mar 2019 15:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed housebuilder Persimmon PLC said on Thursday it has launched a house buyer's retention initiative, as part of its customer care improvement plan.
Among the UK's major housebuilders, Persimmon, in particular, is facing growing pressure from buyers and the government to increase the quality of new homes.
The company has been criticised for paying out huge bonuses to senior executives and enjoying a substantial rise in profit on the back of the UK government's Help to Buy scheme - while doing little to improve the quality of the homes it constructs.
In its 2018 results published in February, the housebuilder said it was looking to increase the quality of its customer service, citing the National New Homes Survey run by the Home Builders Federation.
For 2018, Persimmon's rating was 79%, just below a four star rating for which the threshold is 80%. The group said that improved levels of customer satisfaction would be one of its key objectives.
Also in February, it was reported that Persimmon's right to sell Help to Buy was under the scrutiny of Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, on concerns over the housebuilder's behaviour, with the company generating almost half of its home sales as a consequence of the taxpayer funded scheme.
"Leasehold, build quality, their leadership seemingly not getting they're accountable to their customers, are all points that have been raised by the Secretary of State privately," said a source close to the minister.
Persimmon will write into its standard contract that 1.5% of the total value of a home, which is also equal to around 6% of the build fabric costs, will be retained by the buyer's solicitor until any faults identified up to the point of key release are resolved.
Based on Persimmon's current selling prices, the average amount withheld will be GBP3,600 per home.
Persimmon said it expects the policy to be implemented by the end of June.
"Persimmon is listening hard to all of its stakeholders and we hear the message that we need to continue to raise our game in customer care," said Chief Executive Dave Jenkinson.
"The initiatives we have already announced, including the action taken in the new year to deliver greater accuracy of anticipated moving in dates by adopting a more targeted approach to the phasing of sales on specific sites and the improvements and investments that we have made in our customer care team, operations and technology over the last few months are beginning to take effect," Jenkinson added.
Shares in Persimmon were down 1.0% at 2,190.00 pence on Thursday.
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