Ombudsman schemes could be set to go head-to-head to become the administrator of the redress provider for new homes.

The Government announced this week that it would press ahead with plans for a New Homes Ombudsman and said there would be a procurement process that would be open to private providers.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which has previously signalled that it wants to be the only private sector ombudsman organisation, confirmed to EYE yesterday that it would apply.

Katrine Sporle, Property Ombudsman, said: “TPO believes that consumers of new homes should have access to an ombudsman as quickly as possible and TPO relishes the opportunity to bid for the role.”

Sporle told the NAEA Propertymark annual conference in 2018 that she believed there should be a single ombudsman for the sector.

This was before the Government opted instead for creating a single access point for multiple schemes rather than a single operator.

Sporle said at the time: “We have put in a huge amount of work over the past 12 months to position ourselves.

“We will be putting all of these things out there in the next few months because frankly we want to put our money where our mouth is and we want to say that we should be the single ombudsman for the sector.

“We are clear that a single ombudsman is the right answer.

“We are clear that a single ombudsman for the private sector is a better answer than one housing ombudsman for the entire social and private sector.”

However, the stage could also be set for a return to the property sector for Ombudsman Services.

It exited the market in 2018 saying it no longer wanted to officiate arbitration services as a “broken solution to a broken market”.

A spokesman for Ombudsman Services didn’t rule out making a bid for the new homes role.

A statement from Ombudsman Services said: “We played an active role as a member of the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) working group and are aware of the Government’s proposals regarding the New Homes Ombudsman.

“We will continue to work with the Government and other stakeholders to ensure consumers have access to independent, effective redress across the housing sector.”

Sean Hooker, head of redress at the Property Redress Scheme, was less forthcoming.

He said: “We await sight of the Government’s proposals on the workings of the new homes ombudsman with interest.

“We will decide whether to submit an application once we understand more about the process.”