Rydon Homes blocked from Help to Buy

Rydon Homes has been blocked from the Help to Buy scheme with immediate effect following concerns over “unacceptable business practices in their company group” which have come out of the Grenfell inquiry, housing secretary Michael Gove has announced.

It means the firm no longer has government support and cannot market its properties to first time buyers with the offer of government backed loans.

Gove has warned the construction industry there will be consequences for those who are responsible for the building safety crisis and those who are failing to help fix it.

A DLUHC statement said: “The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is considering worrying evidence of potentially unacceptable practices by Rydon Maintenance Ltd – the lead contractor for the refurbishment of the Grenfell Tower – before the tragedy that occurred in 2017, in which 72 people lost their lives. Rydon Maintenance falls under the same parent company as Rydon Homes Ltd and has directors in common.”

Gove has written to the chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee and to Homes England, which oversees Help to Buy, to inform them that it would be against public interest to allow Rydon Homes to sell homes via the government scheme, given …