MY NEW COUNTRYSIDE PROPERTIES HOUSE

Updated: 16 February 2010

I am offering the following statement relating to my experiences with regard to the above:

Experience with the heating boiler

Although not a specialist heating engineer I became aware that the drain pipe to my boiler was not installed in accordance with the Building Regulations and Defra Guidelines; this in my opinion, led to the interrupted running experienced during the winter heating cycle.

Countryside replaced this drain pipe late in 2008; although they did not follow my preferred method, the defect was fixed. A blockage to this pipe occurred this winter and Countryside reimbursed me for the cost of this repair.

I have recently paid for other repairs to the boiler but as I do not consider them to be associated with the initial installation I have not and do not intend to approach Countryside for re-imbursement.

Other Works

Other defects became evident with regard to my property, these included:

Cut down roof trusses
Roof tiles incorrectly fixed
An incomplete and badly constructed party wall
Omission of cavity wall fire stops
Omission of acoustic insulation to the floors
External rendering bridging the damp course causing rising damp
Loose stair hand-railing
Rainwater down-pipes omitted resulting in overflowing guttering

My wife & myself were moved out of the property early in 2008 by Countryside and repair works were carried out by Countryside during the following 9 months (although initially the work period was estimated to be 4 months).

Outstanding Issues

Unfortunately the following defects still exist:

The stair hand-rails soon became loose again and my Independent Chartered Surveyor has questioned the effectiveness of the repairs (three repairs so far), it now appears a complete replacement stair might be necessary.
The roof tiling was not repaired as per written industry guidelines. Countryside refused to accept my Independent Chartered Surveyor’s observations and have now refused to carry out any more repairs.

I referred the matter to Zurich, the providers of the 10 year structural insurance policy. Although initially accepting the claim, they later withdrew cover. As a consequence I referred the matter to the FSA Insurance Ombudsman Service, an Adjudicator at the Ombudsman found in my favour but Zurich has refused to accept the Adjudicator’s decision. It now seems an actual Ombudsman has to review my case and deliver a final verdict.

The Wider Issue

The National Consumer Council famously stated that a buyer has more rights when buying kettle than when buying a new home. The House Builders Federation disagreed with this statement by stating the 10 year warranties (such as the one provided by Zurich) ensure high standards of quality, from the above it can be seen this was not my experience.

The Building Regulation inspections by the Local Authority, if correctly carried out should have identified many of the defects prior to my purchase, but a Completion Certificate was still issued to Countryside by South Cambridgeshire Council.

The Office of Fair Trading launched an enquiry into the national situation including the provision of insurance warranties in 2007 with the aim to consider legislation but as yet, to my knowledge, no recommendations have been forthcoming.

My local MP, Andrew Lansley CBE, offered valuable support during my experience which moved things along considerably. He has referred the matter to the Shadow Housing Minister so that he can take these views into account when formulating future Conservative policy.

From my experience it is abundantly clear that:

Building Regulations are not being adequately enforced
The new homes industry’s self-regulation by using insurance policies is failing
There is no consumer protection for the new home buyer

In addition to improved building regulation enforcement, my experience clearly demonstrates consumer protection legislation is now the only option. In my opinion there has to be legislation along the following lines in the very near future:

All defects are to be rectified by the supplier of the new home within (say) 3 months of their identification by a Chartered Surveyor.
Should the total cost of rectification exceed (say) 25% of the purchase cost or involve the removal of the buyer from the home then the supplier will offer a full refund

The adoption of measures such as these would protect new home buyers and prevent a whole generation of low standard housing stock being produced, thereby avoiding Lord Rogers’ prophecy, made in March 2008, of the house builders building the slums of tomorrow from shoddy, toy town houses.

Geoff Doran, sueandgeoff@countrysideproblemities.co.uk