BPF comment on retentions ban

Commenting on today’s announcement on a ban on retentions, our Chief Executive Melanie Leech said:
 
“Retentions are a vital tool to ensure that buildings are built to safety and quality standards. We support reform to prevent genuinely unjustified retentions, but a complete ban on their use is a sledgehammer to crack a nut and will undermine the ability of those funding new construction to ensure that buildings are defect-free. 
 
"This will particularly affect smaller or less experienced clients who will struggle to identify defects until it is too late and the builder is long gone. A retentions ban actively undermines the push for quality that the industry strives for and will just store up problems for the future. Government has to use the forthcoming consultation to ensure that there is a workable alternative, or risk poor-quality buildings being built”.