Pensioners left 'unable to sleep' after moving into £600,000 'wonky' new-build house

Pensioners John and Liz Pritchard have been left 'unable to sleep' after discovering more than 200 defects in their new £600k home. The couple, who are in their 70s, purchased the five-bedroom townhouse from Bovis Homes, located at the Monument View development in Wellington, Somerset.

From the moment they moved in, the couple noticed a series of "appalling" problems, including wobbly furniture which led them to discover that the house's floor was uneven. Mr Pritchard stated that ground-workers sent by Bovis concluded that the entire floor would need to be ripped up and re-laid.

However, when floor layers arrived weeks later, they had been instructed to merely fill in some problem areas, a solution Mr Pritchard referred to as a "bodge job". He added that an independent surveyor, later sent by Bovis, agreed that the floor had been unevenly laid.

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This has resulted in the whole house being out of kilter, with uneven walls, ceilings and wonky fixtures and fittings. The pair have also been finding it hard to open their home's front door that appears to have not been fitted properly.

They now claim they've been "fobbed off, ignored and strung along" by the company, with little work done to rectify the issues. Expressing his frustration, Mr Pritchard said: "The floors aren't level, the ceilings aren't level, the doors aren't upright we've never been able to open and close the front door properly in a year."

He dismissed the corrective attempts thereto, stating: "They don't want to fix it. We are being fobbed off and strung along with bodge jobs to make it look good. We are fed up that it's not been built properly. They obviously didn't check it properly. The treatment we received from Bovis has been appalling."

In addition to the visible defects, an independent surveyor uncovered almost 200 additional faults which could cost tens of thousands to mend. Mr Pritchard even said that he couldn't move his dishwasher into the utility room because it was blocked by a kickboard, and when he approached Bovis he was allegedly advised to saw it off himself.

He said: "It's not what you would expect for £600,000." We were sold the house that Jack built. Bovis are behaving like cowboy builders. You point out the problems and they don't respond. It's shoddy."

Mrs Pritchard said the insulation in the property was so poor that guests sitting in the lounge can hear sounds from the upstairs toilet "as if they were in the same room" which she said could be a cause for embarrassment.

Workers from Bovis have previously moved in to fix the "badly fitted" kitchen, which remains in part uneven, because the cupboard doors wouldn't close and the sink's tap was so tilted the couple say they couldn't even fit a kettle under it.

Mr and Mrs Pritchard also highlighted what they described as "rank amateurish" brickwork on the property, which was particularly acute in the garage where concrete appears to be falling away from some of the bricks and excess mortar can be seen plastered over the walls.

They said their year-long fight with Bovis to correct the issues had left them "up night after night, unable to sleep" and described their treatment by the house-builder as "disgusting and shocking" and alleged their emails and telephone calls were repeatedly ignored.

The couple are now demanding that Bovis steps in to carry out snagging works immediately. "We want to see Bovis come in and get the work done and have done for the last 12 months but we have been fobbed off, ignored and strung along," they said.

"It's been absolutely awful, they won't even reply to our emails. We have been taken for granted. When we found out there were so many problems we even asked for our money back and they said no chance."

In response to the claims, Bovis Homes said: "We apologise for the issues Mr and Mrs Pritchard have experienced with their property and any disruption and inconvenience it has caused.

"We have been working on a remediation plan and can begin these works at a time that's convenient for our customers. As a five-star housebuilder, awarded by the Home Builders Federation, we are committed to delivering high quality homes for our customers and will ensure any issues are fully resolved."