The National House Building Council (NHBC) is freeing fees on products as a gesture to help Britain’s house building sector.

Fees will be frozen at current levels until at least March 2014.

This will apply to services including warranty products, building control services and registration fees.

NHBC has waived its resolution charge of £350 for each visit. This follows a drop in requests to resolve disputes between builders and homeowners.

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Charges will no longer be sought for resolutions backdated to 1 January 2013. Any charges made since then will be refunded.

The move follows news that disputes investigated by the organisation have dropped by around 60%.

The number of disputes in 2008 was 8,500, compared to under 3,500 in 2012.

NHBC’s chief executive, Mike Quinton, said: "We want to do everything we can to support the industry so NHBC has decided to freeze prices across all its key products and services for at least a year.

"We will also be removing and reducing charges and launching new initiatives designed to save our customers time and money.

"I am pleased to see a slight upturn in the number of home registrations in recent weeks, which I hope could be the first sign of sustained recovery.

"However, I know that conditions remain challenging so it is important that we offer as much help as we can at this time."

(IT)