A FED-UP family are sick of their newbuild dream home after builders are using their garage as an office.
Oliver Sims, his wife and three children have still not set foot in their outhouse – almost five years after buying their home.
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The garage has been used by homebuilder Strata to flog homes on a new estate in Hull.
Oliver claimed the developer had told them they would need the showroom office “for a year and a half tops”.
Strata say Oliver signed a ryder allowing the company legal use of the garages up to December 2025.
Yet despite all properties on the site being sold, the garage is still yet to be handed over to the NHS worker and his family.
And contractors are yet to landscape their front garden – which had been used as a car park for potential customers.
Oliver, 32, told Sun Online: “I’ve owned the garage for five years and I’ve never even been inside.
“The whole thing has been absolutely laughable.
“We’ve had enough of it. I think we’re probably going to look to sell, to be honest.
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“Once we get the garage, we will be going. I can’t see us staying here.”
The Sims family were told on moving day in July 2018 that their home was not ready because their garage was housing a sales centre.
But in a desperate attempt to stop the sale from falling through, Oliver signed papers allowing the Strata to use his garage and driveway.
The company says the contract allowed them to use it until December 2025 – though Oliver claims he was told it would be his within 18 months.
“Once we get the garage, we will be going. I can’t see us staying here
Oliver Sims
While builders have now replaced the show home windows with traditional garage doors, flooring has not been laid.
And the former car park where his front lawn should be is currently piled with mud.
Oliver said: “The only reason we accepted the deal was because this was the last of this particular house type and we really wanted it.
“We didn’t want our house sale to fall through or end up homeless.”
While he said at the time of buying the house they could last a year with a garage he added they never thought it would go on for so long – and they still don’t have timescale.
Oliver said prospective customers parking outside his house sometimes forced him and his wife to park 10-minute walk from home.
And he told how youths have taken lumps of mud from what should be his front garden to hurl at houses.
‘NOWHERE TO PARK’
He added: “We’ve always had the stress of having nowhere to park.
“I’ve got three young children and we were given nowhere else to park so we had to abandon our cars down the road.
“Or we’ve had to ask customers in the Strata office to move their cars so we could park outside our home.”
Oliver has vowed not to buy another new build – and “definitely not” from Strata.
He said: “If we had known they were going to use the garage for that length of time we would have looked elsewhere.
“I can’t say that we didn’t know there was going to be some length of time they’d be in there, but we never thought it would be for this long.
“Covid obviously caused a bit of a delay but they’ve really taken liberties with us.
“It’s been like pulling teeth trying to get a timescale.
Strata said it was currently in the process of reverting the office to a garage and creating the front garden.
But Oliver, who hopes to finally store bikes for his children in the garage, said the experience had soured owning the four-bed semi.
‘I’VE JUST HAD ENOUGH’
He added: “My wife is a bit more pragmatic than I am but because I work from home, I’ve just had enough of it.
“It’s a shame because we do like the house. But I’ve just had enough.
“I want to get into an established house – not a new build.”
Strata said in a statement that the buyers of the plots relating to the garages had signed a ryder, saying that Strata had use of the garages up to December 2025.
While it was unable to share the signed copies of the legal paperwork due to GDPR reasons, it said the ryder states along the lines of: “The Purchaser hereby agrees to allow the Company from the date of completion to the 31 December 2025 inclusive (or such earlier date as the Company may decide) the exclusive right to use the garage & driveway at the Property as the Company’s sales centre and entrance with all necessary rights of access to and egress from the said garage with or without vehicles at all times along the driveway shown on the Plan for the Company and its employees servants invitees and any prospective purchasers of other properties on the Development (such right not to be obstructed) together with the right for the Company to retain the Company’s signage (if any) situated upon the Property and the right for the Company (if required) to make use of any land situated around the garage for the provision of welfare facilities for the sales consultant and visitors.
“Once the Company has finished the garages will be instated to garages at the company expense.”
Strata added: “With regards to the remaining works to be carried out in preparation for handover, the customers have received communication from Strata advising that the works would begin on March 13, 2023, and would last approximately three weeks.
“Unfortunately due to adverse weather conditions throughout March & April, the works have been slightly delayed and are currently a high priority for the Hull site team to complete as soon as possible.”
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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
