OUR HOME IS A DEATH TRAP!

Troy and Bec are left footing a $100,000 bill to fix up what was meant to be their dream home

When Aussie battlers Bec Herning and Troy Campbell got the call to appear on Seven’s House Rules they thought it was a dream come true, but almost a year on their dream has turned into a living nightmare – one that could end up costing them around $100,000. “We went on the show thinking we were walking into a new home, but we’ve been left with a dump,” says Bec. Far from finishing last season’s House Rules with a renovated house, Bec says it was in a disgusting state. “It was pretty much still a worksite – there was crap everywhere,” says the mother-of-two. “There was asbestos behind the shed, a gas leak and there’s exposed wires out back. “When we turned the lights on the whole house would trip – I’ve even been given an electric shock.” Add to that a “really bad sewer smell”, tiles dropping off the walls and no shower screen, and the family bathroom is a no-go. “The first time we used the ensuite it flooded the bathroom and the walk-in wardrobe, so we’ve had to build a little hump so the water doesn’t flow into there.” Naively perhaps, Bec and Troy assumed since the house had been renovated from top to bottom they’d be able to move straight in, but 10 months on they’re struggling to make ends meet. They have to cover the mortgage on Bec’s house – where they currently live – and Troy’s house, which is the reno site.

“We’re looking at rough figures in excess of $100,000 to fix the house and we’re finding more and more problems,” the couple say.

“We spend our weekends at the house, but no sooner have we saved up the money to fix one issue we find another.”

Bec says Seven are not being helpful. They asked for a list of faults – there were two A4 pages’ worth – but now the pair claim they have been all but cut off.

“They fixed one or two things but then stopped answering our calls and emails,” says Bec.

“I must have sent 30 or 40 emails and called hundreds of times, but they either refuse to get back to you or they respond and promise to call you back, but they never do.”

It’s not just the couple who are struggling. “We heard rumours a contestant from a previous season has pretty much had to demolish the whole interior of his house because it was unsafe,” says Bec.

“The emotional toll on us has been massive. We wish we’d never gone on the show. We regret it massively every single day.”