‘we Spent £585k On Our New-build – Now It Needs To Be Demolished’

Jules White thought she was buying her “forever home” with her former partner, but six years on, the property now needs to be demolished.

They bought the £585,000 five-bedroomed new-build home in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, in June 2019, where they would blend their two families.

However, three years ago, their relationship crumbled, very much like the house they bought due to the stress and turmoil caused by their home, a property which now needs to be demolished due to the structural issues.

“We had been together for six years and bought the house together, as it was a beautiful house, and we thought it would be our dream home,” she told The i Paper.

“But it turned into a nightmare. Even though my ex-partner has moved out, all of my life savings are still tied up in this property.

“We are both still joint owners and are stuck with this house that can’t be sold because of all the issues with it.”

Ms White is sharing her story as part of our New-build Nightmares series, exposing the issues some people have had with new build homes, as the Government attempts to deliver a target of building 1.5 million homes by the next election.

Ms White, 51, who has three children, says she and her former partner reserved the Bovis Homes new-build plot in December 2018 and moved into the five-bedroomed detached house in June 2019.

The house, which Jules White bought six years ago in Silverstone, Northamptonshire. It turned out to be built so badly that an expert recommended it should be knocked down and rebuilt (Photo: Andrew Fox)

However, just before they moved in and had already exchanged contracts, they went to visit the property, and as they were looking around the garage of the property, Ms White recalls her former partner saying: “This mortar looks a bit sandy.”

“The salesman who was with us said: ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ve made a note and we’ll fix that before you move in’,” she said.

It was only after they moved in that the reality of the sub-standard build quality of the home became apparent.

Now, six years after moving into the property, Ms White says she is living in a home with major cracks, a roof that has not been built properly, and a garden that is like a swamp.

After many intrusive investigations and testing, a structural engineer employed by Bovis Homes concluded the roof did not meet building regulations.

Ms White said: “The structural engineer highlighted that the entire house needs to be demolished down to the foundations because that is the only thing about the house that is solid.

“The whole thing needs demolishing and rebuilding.”

Jules White says she is living in a house with major cracks, a roof that has not been built properly and a garden that is like a swamp (Photo: Andrew Fox)

Ms White says the mortar has failed in both the external and internal skims of the house and there is lime in it. “There are major cracks down all four corners of the internal walls because the roof hasn’t been built properly,” explained Ms White.

“The garden is continuously like a swamp as it turns out there is no drainage, so all the water runs into the garden.

“Bovis’s answer to this was to dump two tonnes of sand on to my garden and put down green chicken wire as a temporary fix. To this day, my garden is full of sand and chicken wire.”

Ms White says she has endured years of stress trying to get things fixed by Bovis Homes.

“We had to keep fighting and pushing for answers and were not willing to be fobbed off.

“Bovis commissioned a number of reports and we had six trial pits around the property, including destroying the tarmac, to get down below the damp proofing to test it.

“Internally, we had 84 holes where they tested the walls. And externally, the mortar is so holey from where they have been taking samples, it looks like Swiss cheese and if a mouse has been eating it.”

The picture shows holes in the mortar left after samples were taken for analysis. The results showed that the mortar was too weak (Photo: Andrew Fox)

She added: “In my bedroom, there is a floor to ceiling crack that is so big, you can probably put your fingers in it.

“In the kitchen, water has seeped in and ruined the Amtico flooring and it has been up and loose for the last five-and-a-half years.

“I am still living in this house with my 11-year-old daughter and my two dogs. But in the six years I have lived here, I have only decorated one wall. All the others are plain white as I know there is no point decorating the house as there is so much work that needs to be done to put it right and it actually needs demolishing and rebuilding.

“My house insurers have now declined to cover both the buildings and contents insurance due to the poor quality of the build.”

Ms White says that fortunately, she had home insurance with legal cover and has been battling for an outcome with Bovis Homes. She says it has been years of frustrating chasing and delays.

Ms White, who runs a small marketing agency, says the impact on her health has been huge and she has spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours dealing with the issues surrounding the problems with the house and sending countless e-mails.

Jules White says her home would be a beautiful house if it had been built to the correct standards (Photo: Andrew Fox)

“At one point, I was having so little sleep worrying and stressing about it all, that in one week, from Monday to Thursday, I only slept a total of five-and-a-half hours because I could not silence my brain.

“I ended up having to have 12 weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy to re-learn how to sleep. It was all because I was so stressed about everything to do with the house.”

Paula Higgins, chief executive of HomeOwners Alliance, which champions the interests of homeowners, told The i Paper: “No one should buy their dream home only to be told it needs to be demolished.

“The fact that serious defects like this slip through shows building control is failing consumers. Why weren’t these problems caught before Jules moved in?

“Until we have tougher standards, real accountability and a system that protects buyers, ordinary families will continue to pay the price for the industry’s failings.”

A Vistry spokesperson, what was formerly the Bovis Homes Group, said: “Vistry Group, the parent company of Bovis Homes since 2020, remains steadfast in its commitment to placing customers at the centre of its operations.

“We are proud to have consistently achieved a five-star rating from the Home Builders Federation over successive years – an accolade that reflects the high levels of customer satisfaction across our business.

“This rating is a direct reflection of the positive experiences our customers have with both the quality of our homes and the service provided throughout the home-buying journey, from initial engagement and pre-completion stages through to comprehensive after-sales support.

“While instances where our homes do not meet expectations are rare, we treat such matters with the utmost seriousness. We engage transparently and constructively with homeowners to ensure that all genuine concerns are addressed and resolved in a timely and thorough manner.

“In this particular case, we continue to work closely with the owners of the home in question to reach a satisfactory resolution, and we remain fully committed to upholding the standards of care and accountability that our customers rightly expect.”