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(Alliance News) - The UK's Competition & Market Authority on Tuesday said it closed its three-year-long investigation into Barratt Developments PLC and provided an update regarding a case involving Taylor Wimpey PLC.
The competition watchdog said that the evidence gathered against Barratt was "insufficient to support a clear legal case...to secure collective redress for Barratt leaseholders under its consumer law powers".
"This was unlikely to change with further investigation and consequently continuing with the case would not be a good use of resources. Barratt’s sales practices have changed, and they no longer sell leasehold houses," the CMA explained.
Leicestershire-based construction firm Barratt on Tuesday said it has worked constructively with the CMA on the investigation.
The probe dates back to September 2020, when the CMA launched enforcement action against four housing developers. These were Countryside Properties PLC and Taylor Wimpey, for using possibly unfair contract terms, alongside Barratt Developments and Persimmon PLC over the possible mis-selling of leasehold homes.
With regard to Taylor Wimpey, the CMA said it was engaging "positively" with companies that bought freeholds from the Buckinghamshire-based construction company, to "secure formal commitments" from them to remove any doubling ground rent clauses present in their leases.
"This follows Taylor Wimpey's commitment to the CMA to help get such clauses removed at no cost to leaseholders. The CMA will provide an update in due course," it explained.
In December, the CMA said an investigation into the historical sale of leasehold properties with doubling ground rent clauses by the company was closed, following the agreement of voluntary undertakings. At that time, Taylor Wimpey had committed to removing terms from contracts that double ground rents for leaseholders every 10 years.
The CMA in June 2021 said Persimmon has started to offer "leasehold house owners the opportunity to buy the freehold of their home at a discounted price". In September, the CMA reported that leaseholders with Countryside Properties "will no longer be subjected to ground rents that double every 10 or 15 years".
Barratt shares fell 0.7% to 483.70 pence each in London on Tuesday morning while Taylor Wimpey shares were 0.5% lower at 123.70p each.
By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com
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