The NEW home with 700 faults: Family hit ‘breaking point’ after series of problems with their £280,000 four-bedroom house leaves them ‘living in a building site’

A couple claim they have been left ‘at breaking point’ after discovering 700 faults in their brand new £280,000 home.

Nicola Bentley, 46, and husband Phil, 48, claim that despite complaining about the faults ten months ago, only 10 per cent of them have been fixed.

The couple used their life savings to help buy their four-bedroom dream home off plan from house-building firm Persimmon, who boasted profits of £1billion last year despite accusations of poorly-finished new builds. 

But within days of moving into the property, they claim to have found a host of problems including doors that do not fit properly and holes in the plasterwork.

They also discovered architraves which are not level, cracking around the window boards, bubbled paintwork and say the turf in their garden was ‘lumpy’ and ‘uneven’.

The furious couple pointed the finger at Persimmon, which currently faces a battle to keep its lucrative right to sell homes under the Help to Buy scheme amid criticism of executive pay and accusations of shoddy workmanship. 

+19

+19

Within days of moving into the property, the couple claim to have found a host of problems, including doors that do not fit properly (pictured left) and a ‘lumpy’, unfinished garden

+19

Pictured is damage to a window sill in the front room of the home, which the couple bought off plan from Persimmon Homes last year

+19

+19

Pictured left and right, expanding foam filler used on the front door spills out from the seals, creating an unfinished look to the new-build home

Under-fire building firm boasted £1bn profits

Persimmon, the housebuilder which is at risk of seeing its lucrative Help to Buy contract removed, saw pre-tax profits surpass £1billion last year.

Pre-tax profits rose 13 per cent to £1.091billion in 2018, on a four per cent rise in revenues to £3.74billion, it has been reported. 

Of these, nearly half, or 7,970, were sold to people using the Help to Buy scheme – some 288 more compared to 2017.

Dave Jenkinson (left) took over from Jeff Fairburn (right) after a pay dispute

The housebuilder is reportedly at risk of being stripped of its right to participate in the Government’s Help to Buy mortgage scheme.

That is allegedly because of issues including the use of Help to Buy to acquire houses with leases, the quality of Persimmon homes and treatment of customers, and its leadership in the wake of the backlash over pay.

The FTSE 100 company also recently confirmed that interim chief executive Dave Jenkinson will stay on in the role after previous boss Jeff Fairburn was forced out last year following an outcry over his £75million bonus.

The married couple, who have two children aged 10 and 15, say the home in Kippax near Leeds, West Yorkshire, was left looking like a building site.

They say they noticed problems as soon as they were handed the keys in May and it has been an uphill struggle ever since.

Financial director Nicola suffers from systemic autoimmune disease lupus.

She claims increase stress levels and airborne dust have led to recent flare-ups. 

Mother-of-two Nicola said: ‘It’s been awful and it’s taken over our lives. There isn’t one room in the whole house which is complete.

‘We are living in a building site, we haven’t been able to put any photos up on the walls and there is just a TV and sofa in the living room.

‘We don’t like to wallow in self-pity but this has dragged us down so much, it has nearly broken us as a family.

‘It’s been horrendous and the worst year of our lives. We wish we had never done it.

‘This is our life savings, we have put everything into the house. I thought we had a dream home but it’s turned into a nightmare from hell.

‘They keep apologising but apologies aren’t good enough. I just want our house finished and I want it right.’

The couple outgrew their previous home of 17 years and decided to look for a bigger property.

Nicola and Phil viewed a showroom home in September 2017 which was of a similar style to the prospective house they were looking to move in to.

After discussions, they decided to go-ahead with purchasing the new-build, which was bought off-plan.

However, they were allegedly not allowed to inspect the property to make a snagging list prior to the exchange of contracts because it was ‘against Persimmon policy’.

Dalek Graphics managing director Phil said: ‘To start with, the Monday after we moved in we received a snagging report saying there were 500 defects. I identified a further 200. 

Read more at: