My property nightmare: flawed new house
(Filed: 17/03/2004)

How to deal with tricky situations. This week a new home turns out to be far from complete

When Claire Howard bought her terrace cottage in the West Midlands, she was delighted with the area and the price, and did not expect to find faults on moving in.

It was a new home, built by Redrow, which she had bought off-plan for £155,000 in November 2002. When she moved in, five months later, she was far from happy. "The bathroom had to be re-fitted, along with a new shower," she says, "and a new bath, to replace the leaking one that flooded the sitting-room. Then, when the boiler broke down, I was without hot water and heating for six weeks.

"They only eventually replaced the bath and shower because of my continual badgering. I was asked: 'Why don't you turn on the immersion heater?' But that didn't work either.

"The construction director told me he would like a 'snagging day' when I wasn't there, to sort out problems. When I came back from work, I found he had poured five bags of sandy material under the bath, thinking it would quieten the noise [of water trickling through the soil pipes]. The void led into the kitchen, filling up all the units with sand. When they changed the kitchen units, because they didn't match in colour, we vacuumed up five bags of sand, and it still trickles down," she says.

The faults were supposed to be rectified by June, but it was not until the end of August that Claire felt the house was habitable. "But there are still defects." The brick pointing is "awful" and the windows are scratched and need replacing, for instance.

Claire would like compensation for not being able to use her house properly for three months and for having to re-decorate, which cost her more than £3,000. She refutes the comments made below by Redrow. "I have told them I don't want builders in because I am recuperating after a major operation. I am more concerned about getting recompense for the hell they put me through."

The Sunday Telegraph contacted Redrow, which gave a statement too detailed to print in full. The main points are as follows:

• Concerns were raised by this purchaser and works were attended to "some time ago".

• There were a number of items to be dealt with, "which is not unusual in a new home, but we strongly refute the seriousness of the issues raised". Redrow says it has "attended to all items that were drawn to our attention . . . in a professional and understanding manner".

• The original bath had "a product fault" and was replaced. The position of the shower control panel was changed at the purchaser's request.

Redrow says that the bath did have a leak, but did not flood the living-room. "There were water stains on the ceiling only, which we repainted."

• The boiler did break down two or three times. However, Redrow has "always refuted the customer's claim that she was without hot water for six weeks. The immersion heater was operational and the customer had use of an electric shower."

• In response to the customer's complaint that she heard water trickling through the soil pipes, Redrow initially thought that it might be a problem with the insulation and poured Vermiculite, a specialist material, into the soil-box piping, which leaked out. It was subsequently discovered that the noise was caused by the soil pipe resting on top of the ceiling board. The problem was resolved.

• Redrow wrote in September 2003 to confirm that all the work was complete, "and did not hear from her until December, when she told us there were outstanding remedial works. Since then we have tried to contact her."

• Redrow says it has had no correspondence regarding brick pointing or scratched windows.

"Ms Howard contacted NHBC in June and July last year. We explained our free Resolution Service, designed to resolve disputes between homeowners and their builder. It relates to defects that breach NHBC technical standards; it does not deal with contractual matters or compensation. Under NHBC rules, the builder is bound to the report findings. If the builder does not fulfil his liabilities, NHBC can step in under the Buildmark cover.

"A number of alternative options include independent arbitration or the legal route.

"It appears there may still be a dispute between Ms Howard and her builder and we will be writing to her to offer our help."