A HOMEOWNER has slammed his newbuild as a nightmare, with rubbish everywhere and a ruined garden fence, while the house is freezing.
Doug Jarrett, 37, “worked his backside off” during lockdown to afford the three-bed in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, but has been left horrified.
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A surveyor found a number of faults with the “stunning” home, but developers promised Doug these would be fixed before his family moved in back in March 2021.
However, they ended up not being able to move in until after Christmas, only to find that none of the promised work had been done, Doug claims.
He told MailOnline: “It was the hope it would it would be the dream house but it has not turned out like that at all.
“I was looking for a property like any home buyer and this one popped up.
“They still did not fix any of it. I would not call it a repair because the house was always in this condition since day one.
“It is like getting a TV from Argos, opening it at home and finding the screen is cracked.’ The total cost of fixing the faults is £2,000, plus the labour costs.”
The money will go towards rectifying the 33 faults identified by his surveyor, including building waste dumped in the garden, a garden fence with nails hammered into the top of it and broken central heating.
The last of those has left the house “freezing” over the winter, according to Doug.
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He fumed: “Over the last winter we had temperatures of -10C.
“All of us had to move out of the brand new house for several weeks over the winter and stay with relatives.
“I am not pleased. It is hard enough with the cost of living crisis.”
The National House Building Council produced a report on his case last March, ordering repairs to be carried out by that April, but Doug alleges the work has still not been done.
He claims that builders have no-showed a whopping thirteen times, with no help on the horizon.
Barret Developments, which built the property, said: “We are sorry that Mr Jarrett has had some issues with his home.
“We have been trying for months to schedule the repairs with Mr. Jarrett via Yorkshire Homes. However, we’ve consistently been unable to access his property.
“As a developer that has won NHBC awards for the quality of our homes 18 years in a row, we are always keen to complete any remedial works, where something has not been to our usual standards.
“So, it has been really disappointing that we’ve not been able to rectify issues on this occasion.
“We have now scheduled the repairs with Mr. Jarrett and hope that we are able to access his property to complete these as planned.”
The complaint has also been sent to Yorkshire Homes, the company Doug co-owns the home with and which acts has his landlord.
Sian Webster, the company’s director of development, said: “We understand that moving into a new home should be an exciting time for everyone.
“Occasionally things don’t go as planned and we’re sorry that Mr Jarrett feels let down and that he’s had problems with his home.
“His home was built by Barratt Homes and is still within its defects period. During this time the house builder is responsible for fixing the issues identified in the NHBC inspection report and Yorkshire Housing have offered to fix the other defects in full.
“We have also offered Mr Jarrett compensation, but this has been rejected.”
