The UK government has decided to stop being a relentless owner on its own Discord server (opens in new tab) and actually enact legislation. Announced last Friday (opens in new tab), the new amendments to the 2010 Building Regulations (opens in new tab) mean that new homes built in England will be "fitted with infrastructure and connections capable of providing gigabit broadband". I'm not speaking bitterly from personal experience or anything.

The maximum connection fee for property developers will be capped at £2,000 (about $2,400). If a developer building a new property cannot secure a gigabit-capable connection for less than that price, they must install the next fastest available connection and install the infrastructure (ducts, chambers, termination points, etc.) necessary to accommodate a gigabit connection in the future .

The government boasts that "moving into a new property without lightning-fast Internet speeds will be a thing of the past for the vast majority of people across England," but estimates that over 98% of properties will fall within this cost ceiling.

This is only for England. The rest of the UK (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) are not included in this high-speed digital bonanza. This means that unless the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish governments pass their own similar amendments, they will have to deal with the (more than usual) truly staggering egos of the English public who are rocking gigabit Internet connections.

Well, some British people are, anyway. In fact, the British have been so bad at building new houses (open in new tab) for so long that it remains to be seen how many people will take advantage of their new gigabit-equipped homes.

But there is some good news for those who will soon not be able to live in new homes. The second part of the government's announcement is dedicated to the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021 (opens in new tab) (TILPA), which allows people living in apartments in England and Wales to access high-speed Internet facilities, even if their landlords can't be bothered to answer their emails.

Previously, people living in blocks of flats had to get permission from their landlords to install connection upgrades, leaving tenants who could not contact the owner in limbo. Now, however, broadband providers in England and Wales can seek access through the courts if a landlord has not responded to an access request for 35 days. The government expects 2,100 homes to be connected each year thanks to this change.