The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has closed its investigation into Barratt Homes in relation to the sale of leasehold homes.
The CMA says it has now “closed its case” and concluded it was “insufficient to support a clear legal case for the CMA to secure collective redress for Barratt leaseholders under its consumer law powers”.
It says this was “unlikely to change with further investigation and consequently continuing with the case would not be a good use of resources”.
Since the start of the investigation, Barratt’s sales practices have changed, and they no longer sell leasehold houses.
Meanwhile, the CMA also notes that it is “positively engaging” with firms who purchased freeholds from Taylor Wimpey.
It says this is to “secure formal commitments from those freeholders to remove doubling clauses from their leases, and any doubling terms that were converted to be based on the retail price index”.
The watchdog says it will provide an update “in due course”.
In June last year, the CMA struck a deal with Aviva to pay leaseholders whose ground rent has doubled and with Persimmon Homes, to give leaseholders the option of buying their freehold at a discounted price.
