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Housebuilders will be required to commit to specific delivery timeframes before they get planning permission and will face financial penalties if they fall to meet them.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has today announced a range of proposals intended to increase the speed at which sites with planning permission are built out.

Developers of 50 or more homes will be required to provide a 鈥渂uild-out statement 鈥渨ith their planning applications setting out a timeframe for the scheme.

They will also be required to provide a commencement notice when they start work and submit an annual progress report. These measures will be set out in a technical consultation paper and will be brought in using powers under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

MHCLG is also proposing in a new working paper to introduce a 鈥榙elayed homes penalty鈥�. The department says this will be a 鈥渓ast resort鈥� for councils to use where a developer has fallen 鈥�10% or more鈥� behind the build-out schedule agreed in its planning permission. The plan will require primary legislation and will only apply to future planning permissions.

MHCLG said the penalty will be 鈥渨orth thousands per unbuilt home鈥� and paid directly to local planning authorities.

The working paper, which is titled 鈥楽peeding up build out鈥� and due to be published tomorrow, will also set out other measures designed to speed up build out as the government aims to deliver 1.5m homes by the end of the parliament. It will confirm a plan to de-risk the use of compulsory purchase orders on stalled sites and reform completion notices councils can issue to cancel a planning permission if a development is unlikely to complete within a reasonable time period.

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e going even further to get the homes we need.

鈥淣o more sites with planning permission gathering dust for decades while a generation struggle to get on the housing ladder. Through our plan for change, we will deliver 1.5 million homes, fix the housing crisis and make the dream of home ownership a reality for working people.鈥�

The measures have been announced despite the Competition and Markets Authority鈥檚  finding housebuilders do not sit on land without attempting to build on it.

It said: 鈥漌hile large housebuilders hold large amounts of land in absolute terms, they do not appear to hold onto this land without attempting to develop it for an amount of time that is disproportionate, given our understanding of the features of the planning system.鈥�

Reacting the announcement, Rachael Williamson, director of policy, communication and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: 鈥溾�淲e welcome the government鈥檚 focus on increasing the speed and delivery of new homes, especially the emphasis on mixed tenure developments which evidence shows can accelerate build-out rates.鈥�

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However she added: 鈥淪tronger accountability measures for developers must go hand in hand with continued investment in affordable and social housing, if we are to meet the scale of housing need.鈥�

Adam Hug, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association welcomed the move to make it 鈥渆asier for councils to penalise developers and acquire stalled housing sites or sites which have not been built out to timescales contractually agreed.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he ability to apply a 鈥榙elayed homes penalty鈥� is a power that councils have been asking for and means that local taxpayers are not missing out on lost income due to slow developers, but it must be set at a level that incentivises build out.