UK housebuilders have far too much power. Now a £4.5bn lawsuit could change that for good | Peter Apps

Politics The Guardian By Peter Apps 08 Jul 2026 07:00 1 min read

A legal case on behalf of some 700,000 people against the country’s biggest housebuilders could be a catalyst for much-needed industry reform Every new government – at least for the past decade or so – has come into office with a promise to build more homes. New ministers don a hard hat, take a trip out to a recently completed development and smile indulgently as a bright young couple get given the keys to a smart-looking new-build. Then follows a speech about aspiration. The unspoken truth will

A legal case on behalf of some 700,000 people against the country’s biggest housebuilders could be a catalyst for much-needed industry reform

Every new government – at least for the past decade or so – has come into office with a promise to build more homes. New ministers don a hard hat, take a trip out to a recently completed development and smile indulgently as a bright young couple get given the keys to a smart-looking new-build. Then follows a speech about aspiration.

The unspoken truth will be that it is not up to the minister how many new homes are built in his or her term. Instead, this decision is mostly made in the boardrooms of the largest developers, who together control the land and resources to dominate the market in this country.

Peter Apps is the author of Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen

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