Bovis Homes Victims Facebook Group (BHVG) CLOSED
As announced on their website,
Bovis Homes Victims Group has closed down. Following the original
Unhappy New Homebuyers Facebook Group launched in February 2014, Dave Howard set up his "Bovis Homes Victims Group" spin-off in January 2016.
With around 3,200 members at peak, it gave a platform for Bovis buyers to collectively vent their spleens and share information, tips and tactics regarding defects in their new homes. Given the relatively low number of homes built by Bovis, around 3,900 a year, it was surprising that such a huge number of their buyers had issues, and more importantly, these weren't being addressed!
In the wake of scandal of
Bovis buyers being given cash "bribes" to move into unfinished homes for Bovis' year-end figures and the then CEO
David Ritchie "resignation" following a profit warning, many of the BHVG members were approached by the media.
The subsequent national press coverage encouraged homebuyers from other plc housebuilders to go public, indeed helping to raise awareness of the need for improved quality standards in new homes.
It remains to be seen if Dave's confidence that the government has
"taken note and will, in time, implement a truly independent Ombudsman." is well placed.
One thing is certain, removal of this group isn't going to help force through the necessary change that every new homebuyer desperately needs namely the
New Homes Ombudsman I have been campaigning for since May 2014.
In deleting the Bovis Homes Victims Group, a wealth of knowledge and consumer information has been lost forever. If as Dave says, it became too much effort and too risky legally to continue, perhaps he could have simply deleted his own membership and handed over the reigns.
I would think that glasses will be raised in the regional offices and boardroom of Bovis Homes and on many of their sites on the news that BHVG is no more.
A sad day, but the campaign will continue where it started at
Unhappy New Homebuyers Group! .