Dear Sir,
I moved into Aragon Tower (29.02) on the 7th July 2007. This is a Berkeley Homes Development in South East London. The development was awarded by the Evening Standard New Homes Awards for “Best New Apartment”.
When I moved into the apartment I was given a substantial snagging list.
On the 14th August 2006 I noticed that I had a serious water leak in my bedroom and reported it to Berkeley Homes. 6 weeks later I received 2 buckets and was told that I have another bedroom or that I could sleep on the sofa.
I was given no indication of when they would carry out the work and obviously having waited 6 weeks already and given 2 buckets realised that I could only deal with this company via the courts.
In fact the whole roof needed to be taken up apart from the plant and there was found to be at least 20 holes in the roof. After that every terrace had to be taken up and there were leaks on most if not every pitch pocket amongst other leaks. Workmen also caused further damage in the premises.
Almost every item on the snagging list took months and months of work to get done; an example is the mastic that took about 8 visits to correct and at least twice was done in both the wrong colour and to a very poor standard. Or another example is the tiles in the bathroom which were not installed correctly. (No plywood under part of the tiles). This required 3 months and approximately 10 visits and 5 no shows (no shows mean setting up an appointment to come and do the work then not turning up or calling to say otherwise.). I have a list as long as my arm of the history of the negligence they have shown over the past 7 months since I moved in.
There is a catalogue of errors and I have enclosed photos of some of the issues above. The matter is currently progressing in the courts and I have been offered 1000 as an out of court settlement which is appalling. I would like to know your thoughts as I believe the wider public would welcome the opportunity to see the problems that Berkeley Homes have caused me and maybe the making of an award should have some input by those that live there as there are often a lot of hidden agendas that the developer may try to hide.
I would be willing to discuss in more detail, please contact me at the email addres.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr Stuart Downes
spd@spdinvestments.com