elphinstone homes article local paper

[cunningelphinstone]

By ADAM MORRIS Edinburgh evening news feb 8th 2008

(Elphinstone are currently are developing The mansions at cunning park Ayr)


IT was supposed to be their dream home, for which they'd saved for years. M P and J W set their sights on the £285,000 luxury flat on Edinburgh's Waterfront and were overjoyed when they finally paid the deposit.
But their dream was to slowly turn into a nightmare.

The couple claim they were made homeless for months as the development at Corinthian Quay, Granton, and faced delay after delay.

And when they did move in to the Elphinstone Homes development, the problems didn't stop.

The couple say they have been forced to contend with dozens of defects ranging from missing door handles and poor workmanship to major problems with dampness and a faulty boiler.

They eventually contacted their MP Mark Lazarowicz, who was so moved by their story he had their case taken up in parliament during a housing debate this week.

Mr P who runs a removals firm, said: 'I would say in all we had about 60 issues we had to raise, from the very minor upwards.

'In my work I'm in and out of people's new homes all the time and I've never seen anything like the problems we have had.'

He said the couple put down a deposit in February 2005 and were told they would be able to move in the following February.

'Then we were told it would be delayed by three months, so we sold our flats in accordance with it, and then we were told pretty much month on month that it was delayed again.

'There was even a time when we turned up to get the keys to be told the flat wasn't ready. The whole thing caused us sleepless nights and cost us more than £10,000 by the time we'd rented property and delayed other things.'

When Mr P and his partner Ms W eventually got the keys in March last year, he said the problems continued.

'There were paint streaks on the windows, some of the doors and windows to the balcony didn't have handles, faulty appliances, intercom, electrics, and most of the windows need replacing as well as glass balustrades, the boiler broke down for a week and there was dampness, list too many to mention

'The window in the kitchen is so low that, if you open it, you could easily step out into the street. The problem is we are 60 feet up and still Elphinstone didn't seem to think they had to put in safety bars. It's just unbelievable some of it.

'The staff were very unhelpful and rude, and would say things such as 'there are people in worse situations than you' but that's not the point. You pay a lot of money for something and you expect a product at the end of it.'

``Elphinstone tell us all new properties have snagging issues`, well I don’t recall when we signed the missives agreeing to have the contractors in our flat almost a year after moving in and probably longer the way things are going, that’s a lot of days just waiting around and arranging access, they were very late with the build, it wasn’t ready when we moved in, as far as I was aware we entered into a contract with them for a finished product, it still isn’t. It seems everything is in the developers favour.


He is now demanding compensation from the housebuilder and says he has unsuccessfully tried to take the case to Trading Standards. He added that he believed others in the block were reluctant to come forward.

He said: 'A lot of them are older people and not really the type to take action, and probably don't want to draw attention to anything. I know the guy upstairs has had his balcony replaced several times. Some of them have had compensation, but we've had no joy.


'I made a buyer beware sign and put it outside in an attempt to warn people.'

Mr Lazarowicz, Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, feels a change in the law is needed to help people in similar situations.

He told MPs: 'Many people buying newly constructed homes often find themselves in a situation when their homes are not built or available when they are meant to be.

'Many also find defects in the building work, or that the defects are not rectified.'

He wants to extend to new home buyers similar rights to those available under the Sale of Goods Act to consumers. He also wants a standard builders' contract which is fairer to buyers.

An Elphinstone spokesman said: 'Mr P home was handed over seven months later than our anticipated completion date. We were unhappy with some sub-contractors and had to appoint replacements. Regretfully, this led to delays in work and in turn delays in some owners taking possession of their homes.

'Every new development requires snagging repairs and the problems with sub-contractors exacerbated the situation here. We're active on site and fully committed to dealing with snagging work as quickly as we can.

'We're sorry if Mr P felt t
hat staff were unhelpful, we try to ensure that anyone representing the company is sensitive and considerate when dealing with complaints.'


DEVELOPER WITH COMMERCIAL FOCUS

GLASGOW'S Elphinstone controls more than 3000 acres of land in Scotland and boasts of having a £175 million 'war chest' to invest in projects.

Corinthian Quay is one of two residential developments the company has, the other being the mansions at cunning park Ayr. Commercial ventures are the firm's main focus, and it is currently working on the Elphinstone Place development in Glasgow which will become the country's tallest building.

The Corinthian Quay project was the company's first such exploration into the Capital. On the official website it says: 'Finding a home that reflects your lifestyle and exceeds your expectations may seem like an impossible task. That is, until you discover Corinthian Quay.'

[cunningelphinstone]

After the company went into administration, not the one we had dealings with, FEB 2009 and doing a bit of checking it seems KEN ROSS O.B.E chairman of ELPHINSTONE GROUP has been a past director of around 40 companies as well as a current 37 it looks like these are set up to limit liability & very convenient for the main company to say its nothing to do with us - think that’s known as misrepresentation

What happened was we bought from a Scottish Glasgow based company under the name Elphinstone Homes (group) and every single correspondence was with them and the head office in Glasgow.

We paid the cheque for the property to holyrood services,the one and only time this was mentioned, TURNS OUT this company had no employees just 2 directors, one the chairman and one a ex director OF ELPHINSTONE GROUP

THE ''company'' we dealt with more of less washed their hands and said the only connection between the build and us was the chairman and we (elphinstone group) were only consultants for holyrood services (no employees) so are not responsible for the outstanding problems on site.

Now the NHBC has to pick up the pieces left by this company, who put on the front of having a good reputation but really trade with a disposable company name for the actual taking of money & paperwork so it limits any comeback.

This isn’t the way to do business - esp. the denials from head office denying its anything to do with them.

Im sure it may be found they do this everytime on a build, close to the 2 year fix period wind it up admin process, then NHBC come in and try and sort out the mess, then Elphinstone go off and start the whole process again with a front company and trade under the main banner...

[Tony]

At least you were covered by the NHBC, I have heard stories where people though they were covered but when they came to make a claim they found out the buiilder hadn't paid for the warranty!!!

[peteboy]

I would say never buy off plan, and possibly never buy new build unless you check everything.

[cunningelphinstone]

Originally Posted by Tony

At least you were covered by the NHBC, I have heard stories where people though they were covered but when they came to make a claim they found out the buiilder hadn't paid for the warranty!!!

I wouldn’t be too praising of the NHBC, its only valid if residents actually report their build problems inside and outside property to them but firstly the builder/developer/consultants within the 2 years period, builder having to sort it within 2 yr and nhbc out with that time and im sure nhbc will wiggle out of doing a few things as the story unfolds of the scams and counter scams of whose to blame …

KEN ROSS had the NHBC insurance under HOLYOOD SERVICES but was paid for by Elphinstone homes,who have no connection apparently... hes the chairman and founder elphinstone, Nhbc are now trying to find the link between those two companies, and who’s responsible for the mess.

With HOLYROOD SERVICES going into admin and everyone thinking they bought off Elphinstone Group, it seems the only connection, according to one of the directors of Elpish-stone Alistair Carlyle, was KEN ROSS O.B.E chairman of one and director of the other. …Holyrood, who had no employees and Carlyles Boss.... but apparently Elphinstone were their ''consultants''- so chatting to their chairman then ….maybe, if thats the case id say they should give up consulting !!

On this site there was an avalanche of claims sent into NHBC after the front company went into admin, the fools/residents thinking Elphinstone/holyrood/ross would have had customer care sorting it all out - it was obvious to anyone they were playing for time (admin just at end of financial year) ...good lessons to learn the hard way...more people shoudve been more pro active chasing them instead if pointless letters getting none responses and having mild mannered meetings, with no outside opinions, with eveyone and a few wasted none opinion positions agreeding to agree on nothing ... No REAL ACTION, toothless tigers...sadly with an attitude if i havent experienced it its not that bad...but thats another story of Dads letters ....

It’s a shocking story and how this company portrays itself as a leader of the pack esp Ken Ross OBE also chairman of Scottish BuilderS Federation and a few other bodies.

Mind you, I also think the residents have something to answer for by doing too little too late….See previous paragraph.... nothing better than hitting them where it hurts but no one seen that !!

I can sleep at night thinking I did my bit!!!

ELPHINSTONEHOMES . COM

[cunningelphinstone]

Originally Posted by peteboy

I would say never buy off plan, and possibly never buy new build unless you check everything.

Youre right -but if the laws changed to the same as a packet of crisps, we wouldnt have this problems we have encountered and would protect people from devious types we have encountered

[cunningelphinstone]

Did I show you the site made up ?

Elpishstone - Welcome

[cunningelphinstone]

TODAY a company owed money by the ''honorable'' Ken Ross OBE Elphinstone groups chairman came and cut part of our secure metal fence down, it was eventually stopped once a good 7 meters had been taken down ..when someone contacted a person whose the ''spokes person'' for the site, the one who wrote loads of letters and didnt make any headway with Ken and his team.
Actually the fence was A hollow past victory as we had proof it was supposed to be double the height and more secure than those cowboys origially did it, but thats all pointless now ..

So a truck turns up and guys start working away with angle grinders, all noise and flashing bits of metal and the first thing a resident does, it seems a lot of them watched as this was happening .... is call the site ''spokesperson'' ...NOT the POLICE....??? in fact they started this at 11am and police where not called untill 1705.

They stopped cutting down as spokesperson spoke to the fencing boss and said leave it so we can sort it out, and what rights they have for taking this action vandalised our property and stealing a fence ?

The police thought this VERY odd, I think its odd... the police even suggest they could have stopped it even arrested people if called, as it goes -its now up to the fence company to prove legal rights to the fence ..the police very much doubt they can do this .

so why the hell didnt these soppy residents who witness this happening ,real time, call police first.... then whoever they wanted... ?? ???

Does a company have a right to take action like this ? - id like nothing better than go to Elphinstones head office and take all their fancy cars to the value of my flat and a bit more for wasting my time -Might be called having your pound of flesh !!

I dont blame the fence contrators, they have probably been well stiched up and need the money from these scoundrals Elphinstone


Elpishstone - Welcome