Nepotism at it's finest...

[MidasMisery]

I've made some mistakes in my life, but this one is a belter and despite the great big clanging warning signs, we still went ahead and bought the house that is now bringing us nothing but problems and will leave us out of pocket.

The development is called The Shires at Yeovil, Somerset and built by Midas Homes who fall under the umbrella of the great Galliford Try. Whilst we did think the house and development may be a little small, we were drawn in by incentives and the need to move rather quickly.

We bought off-plan but had seen a show-home of the same design and felt that despite limited parking, it would be a good investment due to the finishing touches and good location. When viewing the property in it's very early spit and sawdust stages we were introduced to the Site Manager, who came across as an all-round decent bloke, keen to help.

It was on subsequent visits we were made aware by said Site Manager that he was the brother of the CEO of Midas Homes, Greg Fitzgerald. Well that's ok, isn't it? A family all based in the building industry, all experienced in the building trade and who, of course, knew exactly what they were doing... apparently not.

It turns out that t'other Mr Fitzgerald, our Site Manager, had recently left his career in the Royal Air Force and no, he was not a Royal Air Force builder, nothing remotely close in fact.

Needless to say we are experiencing and have had numerous problems with our property and are now facing the prospect that should we be lucky enough to sell, we will lose approximately £10,000 due to the terrible layout of the site, lack of any visitor parking, a harrassing neighbour due to the parking issues and the house being very dark due to encroaching trees which block out the light and fill the garden with leaves and a lovely sticky residue on a daily basis. The trees we were told would be trimmed back, but are now told they (Midas) are not allowed to touch.

A few of the really choice things we have had found wrong with the house are:
1. A large crack in one of the window frames right next to a cigarette burn in the sill.
2. Pinch point where the banister rail meets the landing so it's too narrow to hold.
3. Patio doors full of cement and render.
4. Patio door glass and other windows badly scratched.
5. Windows not as the show home whereby both windows open, we have only one side that can be opened.
6. Huge resettlement cracks all over the house and screws protuding through the bedroom ceilings, pushing the plaster out.
7. Doors that bowed and couldn't be shut.
8. Originally there was no way to close the front door from the outside! Belter!
9. Dishwasher door that couldn't be opened due to the cooker handles obstructing it. The only way to open the dishwasher was to open the bottom oven door fully and then rest the dishwasher door on it.
10. Stones under the kitchen lino.
11. Such poor aerial reception, that it was impossible to watch television, despite asking if it had been tested as we thought an in loft aerial might be insufficient. Then more issues installing Sky as the amazing pre-installed cabling and media panel in the living room hadn't actually been connected up correctly.

Just a small offering of a much larger list. So future Midas property buyers beware, ask if the bloke in charge of your couple of thousand quid investment has got any relevant experience in the building trade or if he's just got relatives in all right places.