Hi all,
We purchased a Bovis Homes property at the Kernick Gate estate in Cornwall. We 'completed' in late June 2014 and arrived to find that our home was basically a building site, we had over 10 A4 pages in snags and many of the items were not exactly minor jobs. Nearly a year on from our completion date Bovis have still yet to complete all of the snags, although admittedly there are only a few minor items left. Our experience with Bovis has been an absolute nightmare, if I were to go into detail regarding our experiences this post would resemble a novel. Needless to say we have had a year of stress, botched jobs, missed appointments and broken promises. Neither are we alone, in fact all of the houses on our row have had similar experiences.
As a result of Bovis' negligence we were promised right from the start that we would receive some form of compensation for the inconvenience and financial loss suffered, we were promised on numerous occasions by senior members of staff that our utility bills would be paid by Bovis until works were completed, we stupidly however did not get this in writing. These assurances were the only reason we did not take the matter further.
Low and behold when it got to the point earlier this year when the majority of the works had been completed and we had received a rather large utility bill Bovis reneged on this promise and actually had the cheek to say that no such promises or assurances were ever made. We have taken this up with the NHBC but they stated that they could not help with anything that was not covered by the warranty, they recommended the Consumer Code for Home Builders.
We made enquiries with the Consumer Code but given the administration fee of £120.00 and the fact that we did not have anything in writing (meaning it was our word against theirs) we decided to let it be, partly just to be done with the stress of it all.
There was one remaining issue, the garden. When the gardens were initially laid by Bovis they were laid on compacted clay soil with no top soil underneath. This, along with the fact that the gardens are not level, has led to drainage issues. All of the other property's on our row are now having additional works undertaken to the garden, these works are extensive, Bovis appear to be basically landscaping their gardens, I can only imagine that these additional works represent the compensation previously promised. When we enquired with Bovis as to whether such works could be undertaken on our property they stated that they could not accommodate our request, when we made mention of the fact that every other property had received the same works Bovis stated that this was a 'private agreement' with those properties and that it could not be discussed. We again made contact with the NHBC but they rightly point out that the garden was not covered by the warranty.
We are now at a loss as to how we can proceed with this, what action can we actually take? We've gone through all of the documentation we possess but no mention is made of a warranty with respect to the garden, it seems that there is no responsibility on the part of Bovis with respect to the garden. The whole thing is maddeningly unfair, we have paid the same amount as the other property's, we have had similar poor experiences as the other property's (They have also requested that their utility bills be paid by Bovis) and yet Bovis appear to have singled out our property as the one which does not receive additional works to the garden.
Is there anything we can do? Is this a possible breach of our Consumer Rights? Does anyone know who would take responsibility for the quality of the garden works? We can not afford to instruct solicitors but there must be something we can do.
I apologise for the lengthy post but if anyone has ever experienced similar circumstances or could provide any insight as to what action we could take I would be most grateful. We want more than ever for this nightmare to come to an end but Bovis seem to be deliberately going out of their way to make things as difficult and stressful as possible.
Many thanks in advance.
Nick
We purchased a Bovis Homes property at the Kernick Gate estate in Cornwall. We 'completed' in late June 2014 and arrived to find that our home was basically a building site, we had over 10 A4 pages in snags and many of the items were not exactly minor jobs. Nearly a year on from our completion date Bovis have still yet to complete all of the snags, although admittedly there are only a few minor items left. Our experience with Bovis has been an absolute nightmare, if I were to go into detail regarding our experiences this post would resemble a novel. Needless to say we have had a year of stress, botched jobs, missed appointments and broken promises. Neither are we alone, in fact all of the houses on our row have had similar experiences.
As a result of Bovis' negligence we were promised right from the start that we would receive some form of compensation for the inconvenience and financial loss suffered, we were promised on numerous occasions by senior members of staff that our utility bills would be paid by Bovis until works were completed, we stupidly however did not get this in writing. These assurances were the only reason we did not take the matter further.
Low and behold when it got to the point earlier this year when the majority of the works had been completed and we had received a rather large utility bill Bovis reneged on this promise and actually had the cheek to say that no such promises or assurances were ever made. We have taken this up with the NHBC but they stated that they could not help with anything that was not covered by the warranty, they recommended the Consumer Code for Home Builders.
We made enquiries with the Consumer Code but given the administration fee of £120.00 and the fact that we did not have anything in writing (meaning it was our word against theirs) we decided to let it be, partly just to be done with the stress of it all.
There was one remaining issue, the garden. When the gardens were initially laid by Bovis they were laid on compacted clay soil with no top soil underneath. This, along with the fact that the gardens are not level, has led to drainage issues. All of the other property's on our row are now having additional works undertaken to the garden, these works are extensive, Bovis appear to be basically landscaping their gardens, I can only imagine that these additional works represent the compensation previously promised. When we enquired with Bovis as to whether such works could be undertaken on our property they stated that they could not accommodate our request, when we made mention of the fact that every other property had received the same works Bovis stated that this was a 'private agreement' with those properties and that it could not be discussed. We again made contact with the NHBC but they rightly point out that the garden was not covered by the warranty.
We are now at a loss as to how we can proceed with this, what action can we actually take? We've gone through all of the documentation we possess but no mention is made of a warranty with respect to the garden, it seems that there is no responsibility on the part of Bovis with respect to the garden. The whole thing is maddeningly unfair, we have paid the same amount as the other property's, we have had similar poor experiences as the other property's (They have also requested that their utility bills be paid by Bovis) and yet Bovis appear to have singled out our property as the one which does not receive additional works to the garden.
Is there anything we can do? Is this a possible breach of our Consumer Rights? Does anyone know who would take responsibility for the quality of the garden works? We can not afford to instruct solicitors but there must be something we can do.
I apologise for the lengthy post but if anyone has ever experienced similar circumstances or could provide any insight as to what action we could take I would be most grateful. We want more than ever for this nightmare to come to an end but Bovis seem to be deliberately going out of their way to make things as difficult and stressful as possible.
Many thanks in advance.
Nick