A Scots dad has been left shocked after discovering a Costa coffee cup sticking out of the wall of his brand new £270,000 home.
Justin Lee Anderson is now fighting to change the law after he revealed the cardboard cup was wedged into the wall of the new build home in Wallyford, East Lothian. The dad-of-five spent three years fighting to have a long list of faults fixed at his family home, which he bought from Persimmon in 2019.
The author described the whole ordeal as a “terrible experience” and after discovering his was wasn’t the only one feeling the same way on the new estate, he joined the tenants and residents association as the vice-chair.
Now he is calling on the Scottish Government to establish a housing ombudsman to give homeowners the right to demand higher standards and ensure that developers face consequences when they fail to get it right. He said: “I couldn’t believe how bad our experience was. We literally had a Costa coffee cup sticking out of a hole in our wall.”
Mr Anderson said he also wants local authority planning committees to have the right to reject applications from builders who have failed to produce good-quality houses in the past. He added: “Our heating was hooked up backwards, so that the upstairs thermostat was controlling downstairs and vice versa.
“Our bathroom extractor fan is connected to a tube that’s literally just hung on a screw in our attic – it doesn’t go anywhere! I’ve heard horror stories from so many neighbours. Loads have similar problems of extractor fans venting into their attics. One house has had a section of render just fall off. We even heard from a former Persimmon employee that the company refer to our development as a ‘failed estate’ because of all the complaints.”
Mr Anderson believes the problem comes back to a lack of oversight. He said: “There is a presumption of competence given to housebuilders which is just wrong and allows them to get away with shockingly poor standards without any real consequences.
“Nobody’s properly inspecting this work. Contractors are paid piecework and given too many houses to cover in a day, so they end up leaving rushed, incompetent work to be “picked up in snagging”.
“Planning committees can’t legally refuse a planning application from a builder as long as that application meets regulations. There is no consideration of the builder’s record of competence. So they can build as many terrible houses as they like and keep getting planning permission for more.”
Musselburgh councillor Shona McIntosh, Scottish Greens, suggested Mr Anderson to use his membership of the Scottish Green Party to put a motion to the Autumn Conference. The motion to support the urgent creation of a housebuilding ombudsman and to give planning committees the right to reject planning applications from builders with a poor quality record successfully passed at conference and will now become a part of Scottish Greens policy.
Cllr McIntosh said that it was time for developers to be held to account. She added: “There need to be better protections for home buyers and the Scottish Government must get on and work with the UK government to set up an ombudsman as an urgent first step.
“The planning process should be better equipped to ensure standards, whether that is with better powers of enforcement, stricter conditions on quality control and environmental impact, or ultimately, to be able to refuse or withdraw permission from contractors who have been sanctioned by the ombudsman – all these options need to be on the table if we are to protect consumers and build homes that will last for future generations.”
Mr Anderson added: “I sincerely hope we can get this on the books. We need more houses, especially more affordable housing, but they have to be built to a decent standard, and there’s currently not enough in place to ensure that. Homebuyers need more support and protection from the government.”
Persimmon said that it was ‘disappointed’ to hear about Justin’s experience with his home, which he moved into in 2019. A spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that Mr Anderson did not receive the level of service we strive to provide and we apologise for the inconvenience he experienced. While we have not been made aware of any issues with the property since 2022, we are committed to addressing any concerns brought to our attention.”
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