A MAN whose £200,000 dream home turned into a newbuild nightmare with no heating for three years is now being charged thousands of pounds.
Doug Jarrett was expecting a £2,600 pay out to compensate him for the misery he endured in his new build home.
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The dad claimed there were 33 faults in the three-bed in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He was also left without heating for three years.
He won a legal battle with Yorkshire Housing last year through the small claims court for compensation.
But at Leeds County Court this week lawyers for the housing association successfully appealed for the judgement to be set aside.
District Judge Camilla Buck ordered Mr Jarrett to pay £2,000 toward Yorkshire’s legal costs , plus £275 court costs. Judge Buck pointed out that he had not lost the case.
During the hearing, Mr Jarrett told the judge he had been “made to feel like a criminal” in the way Yorkshire Housing had dealt with him and he had “been trying to get justice for two years.”
He said: “I have conducted myself properly. We had no heating. Not just myself but my three young children have all suffered from having no heating. It was a real threat to health and safety and life.
“If you have no heating, the extreme result of that is people die.”
The judge agreed that Yorkshire Housing was entitled to its legal costs but the figures put forward by its representatives were “far too high.”
Mr Jarrett also objected that the sum was more than twice his original claim.
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But outside court he said he was determined to continue his claim against the landlords. He said: “Buying the house has been like buying a car you were told you could drive away.
“Then you find out all the tyres were flat. But you still have to pay the dealer every month – and even pay when you take them to court.”
A surveyor found a number of faults with the “stunning” Weavers Chase home by Barratt company David Wilson Homes.
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.
The National House Building Council produced a report on his case last March, ordering repairs to be carried out by that April.
A Yorkshire Housing spokesperson said: “We acknowledge that Mr Jarrett has experienced problems with his new home.
“Most of the repairs have been completed. Unfortunately, the delay is due to the customer not responding to appointment requests for us to carry out the work.
“The recent hearing relates to a judgement that the customer obtained by issuing court proceedings without anybody’s knowledge, including his own lawyer.
“We’ve offered Mr Jarrett a payment relating to the issues he’s had with his home a number of times, but none of our offers have been accepted.
“We want to make sure any outstanding work is completed as quickly as possible. As we’ve exhausted all options in attempting to resolve things for Mr Jarrett we’ll now make a payment to him so he can arrange to have the work done himself.”
Barratt Developments, which built the property, previously 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.”
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