FAMILY IN DEFECTIVE NEW HOME ANGUISH

They find more than 80 faults

T HIS is the new home which a family says is so bad they’ve been reduced to tears.

Darren Harris paid £210,000 for his four-bed home in Pembrokeshire, but says he has dealt with more than 80 defects since he got the keys.

Persimmon, the builders, say they are aware of the concerns and “are working to reach a satisfactory conclusion”.

Mr Harris says the problems started on day one: “The neighbours came over and asked me if I had seen the brickwork on the back of the house. They said to me, ‘We have been having a bit of a laugh and a giggle.’”

When Mr Harris took a look, he was confronted with wavy brickwork that wasn’t straight and looked unsafe.

The 53-year-old civil engineer was shocked: “I know all about brickwork. I’m a builder myself, and have run my own company for 36 years,” he said.

He tried his key in the front door. It wouldn’t budge.

“I thought there must be a problem and went back to the site office. A Persimmon agent came back with me and, in the end, he had to shoulder-barge the door to get it open.

“Everything is appallingly built – the workmanship is just shoddy.”

Mr Harris bought the house at Martello Park, Pembroke, before it was built. Together with his wife, who is an area manager for Greggs, he has a number of buy-to-let properties in Pembrokeshire. He had planned to rent out the house once it had been completed.

“It looked like a nice spot, with views onto Pembroke Castle, so we put a deposit down in February 2018.”

But ever since he got the keys, the reality has been far from perfect.

“As well as the poor brickwork, we have found paving slabs have been laid straight onto rubble and earth, without any cement,” he said.

“The drain covers are sticking out of the ground, and the drains are in the wrong place so water runs past them.

“None of the guttering reaches the end of the houses and water cascades down the sides when it rains.

“While I was mowing the lawn, I kicked the drain cover and broke my toe, causing me three weeks off work.

“It’s caused my wife and I no end of worry and stress.”

Mr Harris, who lives in Sutton Coldfield in the Midlands, posted pictures of his house on Facebook.

He said: “After I posted my story, I was contacted by Persimmon who said they would like to address my complaints. They sent a young guy round – he could only have been 20 years old. He spent half a day taking doors on and off, and making it worse.”

Now, after spending thousands of pounds of his own money to fix the problems, Mr Harris has decided to take the national house builder to court.

“I have been on to head office. I have been brave enough to take them on and take them to the small claims court,” he said. “The rectification work they attempted was not acceptable. I have given them the opportunity to put it right. We have been forced to get on with the retrospective work ourselves and it has cost us thousands. That’s the only way I could get the house finished and ready for our tenants.”

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes West Wales said: “We are aware of Mr Harris’ concerns and we are working to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

“We have many happy customers across South Wales and we take customer service seriously.”