Thanks for taking the time to read our post.
After some extensive online research, we stumbled across this forum and it seemed like the perfect place to share our story in the hope that we might be able to find some help and advice.
After spending 5 years in a 2-bed apartment, my partner and I started looking for a new home at the end of 2021.
We'd decided that we'd like to try and buy new, on the basis that we both work from home and we wanted something that wouldn't require renovation. We looked at numerous new build estates, and in general, we were thoroughly unimpressed. Not only were the houses small, but they seemed poorly built and badly finished. After doing some research, it quickly became apparent that this was all too common, especially amongst the much larger new build developers. After much deliberation, we decided we'd be better off finding a much smaller development from a smaller developer; our theory was that a smaller developer would be much more concerned with protecting their reputation, and be more likely to produce higher quality homes as a result.
Finally, in the beginning of 2022, we thought we'd found exactly that: a small development from a smaller developer, in an area that we loved. We were impressed by the show home as well as the site plans. The homes were modern, timber-framed designs, and fantastically energy efficient. It seemed that our theory might just have been right! Shortly after visiting, we were lucky enough to receive an offer on our apartment, and so we made a reservation for one of the final remaining plots. All seemed positive, we were excited to be on our way!
Over the next few months, things started to turn sour. The estate agent who was marketing the property on behalf of the developer was incredibly pushy. They would contact us twice daily for updates on the sale of our apartment, pressuring us to try and meet a frankly delusional exchange / completion target of the end of March. They continuously implied that the developer might "change their mind" about selling us the property if we didn't try and speed things up, and it was horrible. Fortunately, our conveyancing solicitor was able to reassure us that this is quite common with new build purchases, and that we'd be safe to ignore these pressure selling tactics. We followed her advice, and its fortunate that we did: March came and went, and we discovered that the property wasn't even scheduled to be finished until May!
Concerned as to how the developer could have expected us to exchange / complete on a property that wasn't even finished yet, our conveyancing solicitor advised us to have a professional snagging survey completed on the property before we considered exchanging. They wanted to ensure that we had a form of leverage, in the event that there were numerous defects present (likely due to its construction having been rushed). Again, we took their advice and had a professional snagging inspection conducted at the end of May, prior to exchange. The inspection revealed almost 300 issues, many of which were severe, including nearly all of the external brickwork walls being up to 35mm out of plumb.
Horrified at the results, we immediately chose to postpone the exchanging of contracts. This wasn't a decision that was made lightly: the buyer for our existing property was already very anxious to complete their move, and delaying them further was a risk. The inspector's report was shared with the developer, who "seemed" to take the situation seriously. They agreed to resolve all of the defects included in the inspector's report within approximately 1 month. They didn't pressure us into exchanging at this stage, and even offered to pay for the same snagging inspector to return after that month period in order to verify that the defects had been resolved. Whilst we were sceptical that they could resolve the vast number of issues within just 1 month, their approach to the situation seemed positive and we didn't want to lose the buyer for our existing property, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt.
That month passed, and the 2nd snagging inspection took place. This revealed that only 2/3 of the issues had in fact been resolved, despite the developer's promises. We were bitterly, bitterly disappointed. Worse still, the buyer for our existing property was now threatening to pull out due to the delay, and we were at risk of our mortgage offer timing out. On the basis that most of the outstanding issues seemed more cosmetic than serious at this point and the pressures that we were now facing, we elected to exchange contracts, on the condition that the developer agreed (in writing) to have all of these additional defects resolved by the time we completed and moved into the property. The developer obliged, and we exchanged contracts.
Approximately 2 weeks later, we moved into our new home. It was immediately apparent to us that the developer had not honoured their promise, and that nearly all of the defects they'd promised to resolve were still present. Our reporting this to their aftercare team was fruitless. We'd receive boiler plate responses such as "the issues you're reporting are not classed as defects under our 2-year warranty". The bottom part of the site was still being constructed, and kindly, the site manager would try and help us wherever he could, but found himself permanently being "told off" by the developer for operating outside of his remit or "wasting time".
After a month of turmoil, we decided to appoint a different snagging inspector to survey our property. Our hope was that they'd be able to verify that there were still defects to be resolved, and provide an impartial 2nd opinion. This inspection lead to an incredibly concerning discovery: the developer had "bodged" the external brickwork repairs. Rather than fully reconstructing the affected walls, they'd only gone as far as the eye could easily see. They'd left the original brickwork behind at the bottom and built on top of this, creating mismatched corbelling / stepping around the entire perimeter of the property. Worse still, they'd attempted to hide / disguise this by packing the respective areas full of excess mortar, and then covering them with bark chips. We immediately reported this to the developer, but again, we were all but ignored. We contacted the original snagging surveyor that we'd used in the first place, who immediately offered to come and re-inspect the affected areas of the property free of charge. We allowed him to do just that, and he was horrified to discover that he had indeed been duped and mislead by the developer.
After constant back and forth communications with the developer, they finally agreed to deal with some more of the defects that'd been reported, but continued to refuse to deal with the most severe of the brickwork faults. Over the following months, our lives were turned completely upside down; tradespeople were arriving unannounced, unprepared, and spending the entire time complaining about the developer and how badly they'd been treated. They'd go on to discover other hidden issues within our home, including an incredibly unsafe staircase, and extractor fans that weren't even routed outside. Our work schedules were horribly disrupted, and our belongings were permanently covered in dust / debris. Our health and wellbeing was seriously starting to suffer.
Cut to today, and the developer is still refusing to deal with a large number of issues at our home, including the severe brickwork faults. Anything they do agree to deal with is described as a "gesture of goodwill", and we're permanently reminded that our request is "unreasonable". We've approached our new home warranty provider, who unfortunately (being one of the smaller providers) claims that they do not handle disputes related to snagging. We've attempted to speak with the developer's senior management / board, but again, to no avail.
Truthfully, we have no idea what to do next or where to turn. We're fed up with the sleepless nights, the worry, and the disruption. All we want is the home that we paid for, built to a correct, safe and acceptable standard.
If anyone has any advice they can offer, we'd hugely, hugely appreciate it. We'll do our best to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you in advance!
