Finish to persimmon property - Page 2

kirst · 25th April 2007, 22:35

Obviously Persimmon are the same in any part of the country. I recently bought a persimmon partnership house in glasgow and have been having the exact same problems as everyone else, the garden in particular is a huge problem. Also they have been in the house doing repair work supposedly under the close supervision of a site agent and have damaged blinds etc when painting. Anyone any idea where I stand in relation to getting compensation back. I'm so fed up fighting with them to get anything done and getting 'sarcastic' abuse from the site agents.

Any help/advice would be great.

kirst · 25th April 2007, 22:35

Obviously Persimmon are the same in any part of the country. I recently bought a persimmon partnership house in glasgow and have been having the exact same problems as everyone else, the garden in particular is a huge problem. Also they have been in the house doing repair work supposedly under the close supervision of a site agent and have damaged blinds etc when painting. Anyone any idea where I stand in relation to getting compensation back. I'm so fed up fighting with them to get anything done and getting 'sarcastic' abuse from the site agents.

Any help/advice would be great.

Tony · 2nd May 2007, 22:07

Geesh wrote:

Quote:

We have had to fax our snag list to the Customer Care department 4 times. The only list that they acknowledge having was sent by my solicitor in October.

This is advice for other reading this - use registered post and keep copies.

Quote:

Also, I have been informed by someone called Chris so called Contracts Manager (would like to add some swear words about the way this person spoke to my wife!!), that he will not honour any marks on the paint or damage to doors etc as we have been in the for over 6 months, regardless of these being pointed out at the time of inspection.

Again anything agreed verbally has to be followed up in writing to protect yourself against this kind of behaviour.

Quote:

Also, they are standing by the snag list sent by the solictor, and using this against us by saying we did not send the snag list in within the first 4 weeks of living in the house.

They are trying to fob you off, you can send in a snag list at any time in the first two years of the NHBC warranty.

Quote:

Threats of reporting them to NHBC and Watchdog and letters from my solicitor go unheeded. I am tempted to take them to the small claims court for the unpaid holidays we've had to take when someone was supposed to come around.

The courts are your only option, but it costs. Small claims is an option if you are claiming for a specific costs rather than damages for stress etc. They are in the press all the time, for this reason it is very difficult to get the press interested unless there is something major with a people aspect.

Good luck and kep us posted

Tony

mikemurk · 22nd May 2007, 14:56

Hey all.

The court hearing is tomorrow. Persimmon have in the last few weeks, attempted to bully me away with talk of costs orders, statements that my claim is completely without merit, and allegations that my behaviour has been improper and not in keeping with this spirit of the smalls claims procedure.

Most of this came after i turned down an offer of £2000 in settlement (without an admission of liability, and purely for commercial reasons naturally), against the quote of £4985 to carry out the work.

Persimmon's solicitors have also resorted to sending things to me without the cover letters, which means i have to ring them and request them, despite the fact they are to provide them to me in accordance with the court process.

This morning they have sent me a breakdown of costs (in the region of £2000) and a copy of my comments on this website, which i beleive have also been sent to the court, however, they have omitted the letter to the court manager (as per).

I've jsut rung them to request it, and it appears that their solicitor is not in the office.

All of this has come after a phone call two weeks ago where they rang to thank me for my evidence pack and indicated that they would be advising their client to carry out the work themselves in light of my previous solicitors correspondance.

I suspect that they are playing games with me. We'll see.

Can i suggest to any of you taking legal action you try the Which? Legal Service (in the region of £12 for all you can eat legal advice for six months).

They've been a great help to me.

Interestingly they haven't submitted my blog on this site, probably because it paints them in a very dim light.

Tony · 22nd May 2007, 22:23

Good luck for tomorrow Mike I hope it goes well.

As you know and for the information of others, if you lose in the small claims court you don't have to pay the defendants costs. The whole point of the process is to keep the expensive solicitors out, your should make it clear that you have been threatened in this way.

good luck again

Tony

AnneP · 22nd May 2007, 23:16

Hi. I've just found this site and read Mike's problem. We bought a house in The Moorings at Inverkip,Scotland last year & are shocked at the attitude of Persimmons. As with Mike we were told our garden would have a gentle slope (ha ha)Every garden in our row has a steep downwards embankment & even our 'deputy' site manager feels it is too steep & had independent engineers out to remeasure. After 7 months we have still had no reply or are any further forward. Worse infact. Our front garden has started to subside into the unfinished next door site. They fixed that by covering it with wood! I have been told repeatedly 'We'll need to do something with that' (quote from site agent!)Again 3 weeks has passed & the gardener won't cut our front lawn now. I was shown the house plans by the agent & then found out they have mis measured the boundary at the side of the house.It would seem we are missing 12 inches. I have also threatened to get an independent GCH fitter to check our boiler & radiators as we have have 7 months of recurring/new developing problems but have been told if I get someone to verify that the boiler cannot feed our radiators properly I will loose all warranty! You just can't win.

mikemurk · 23rd May 2007, 11:11

Thank's Tony - i have a few bones to pick with them, especially as they served evidence on me yesterday, clearly in breach of the court directions.

We too have concerns regarding the heating set up in our house. ONe room, which was supposed to be a bedroom and ensuite, but was made it one bedroom to save costs (by persimmon, not me, they still charged me the same price for the house, rather than the £5k discounted price for the house without hte ensuite), and now only has one, half length radiator. It's bloody freezing all winter. Plus if we go in the shower in the winter, the boiler can't maintain the heating at the same time.

Surely they can't void your warrenty for independently verifying the performance of the system? How do they propose you resolve a dispute over the system performance? By taking their word? I'd challenge this!

mikemurk · 23rd May 2007, 19:10

Righto, i'm back.

The case has been adjourned as Persimmon could not provide the documents which the Judge thought necessary in the case. Persimmon elected to take an adjournment, to re-prepare their case.

They were however instructed that it was presumptuous of them to serve a costs statement to the court, and myself the day before, and that the judge had his own opinions on why they might have done that, especially considering i am representing myself.

More as it occurs....

M

Tony · 23rd May 2007, 21:27

Hi Mike,

Thanks for keeping us posted it is really interesting. The good news is:

Quote:

If a party is represented by solicitors, who have failed or neglected to comply with an order relating to the filing of statements or other documents (and this is not uncommon), it will not be difficult to conclude there has been unreasonable behaviour, and a straightforward way of dealing with this where the defaulting party succeeds in a claim is to deny commencement costs or disbursements

From http://www.jsboard.co.uk/civil_law/c...tm#smallclaims

So what does the judge believe the motive is?

Tony

mikemurk · 24th May 2007, 00:37

Pers. Representation claimed that they had filed them to benefit the judge, as he then wouldn't have to wait 24 hours to get them, he indicated that this was presumptuous, that they should remeber where tehy are - the small claims court and therefore they don't get costs even if they win (unless i have acted improperly) and that they haven't won yet.

I suspect, although he didn't state, that he believes that they were filed because i was representing myself, and it would dissuade me from continuing.

I figured that anyway, and it didn't.

Anyway, they'll be a new round of evidence submission now. Which is nice.

Mike