It is imperative that we protect homeowners and ensure that the dream of homeownership of new homes does not turn into a nightmare, as happens now all too often.

Up and down the country developers are creating their own management companies upon completion of newly built estates, with the intention that they be responsible for the maintenance of roads, green spaces, drainage, street lighting and property exteriors.

These estate management companies hold new communities over a barrel, with unchallengeable fees which annually increase.

Residents do have the right to request that they take over the maintenance from the company, however this process is fraught with issues.

Speaking recently with residents affected by this issue, it is apparent that some developers are not providing “as built” health and safety information on the housing and community spaces – at best only supplying original plans created before building commenced.

Naturally, during the course of building an estate, these initial plans can change, with alterations to the location of utilities and drains etc. This makes future maintenance next to impossible, often necessitating expensive surveys to find out this information.

In order to strengthen the rights of homeowners to take back control of their properties and community spaces, I have met local people with extensive knowledge of the industry and who find themselves in this predicament, who have proposed amendments to the current legislation, which I have been pleased to lobby the Government to consider.