A MUM-OF-TWO has slammed her £222k nightmare newbuild after discovering toilet waste had been leaking into her loft for 18 months.
Stacey Dryden, from Arbroath, Angus, Scotland, moved into her dream home but it has been plagued with faulty doors, leaking boilers and mould.
The 33-year-old claimed problems were so dangerous for her kids, 1 and 3, they were forced to live with her parents for six weeks.
"We moved in September 2021, it was meant to be August but that got delayed, so we were moving in three days after my son was born – that was the start of it all.
"I got told before buying the house from people don't buy from Persimmon but it was the area I wanted to stay in.
"Everything is a half job, and it takes forever for them to come back because they're so booked up."
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The cabin crew member continued: "The day we got our keys we looked in the garage and there was a huge leak, they said later it was from the bathroom upstairs.
"During the first year we just had normal snagging issues, everything took forever to get fixed, and we waited several months to get the seven day check.
"We complained around this time last year about everything taking forever and we accepted their apology, which came in November.
"A few weeks later we saw mould in the en suite, so I complained and nothing was done."
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"In February they did fix it but the only reason was because we had someone come out to fix kitchen flooring and he asked if there had been a leak."
Stacey said there had not been a leak and when they pulled the flooring back it was all black.
She said: "I phone them and said we need someone out, the wall was black, crumbled, my dad came over and pulled up the floor and it was all black.
"So I said I want someone out the next day and to check the en-suit while they're here.
"They discovered our boiler had been leaking since the day we moved in, which had been around 18 months."
TOXIC FUMES
The boiler wasn't the only thing leaking in the £222,000 newbuild.
In the loft their soil pipe, which connects to the roof, hadn't been installed properly.
She said: "The loft was absolutely stinking, we were told you couldn't put stuff in the loft because it would invalidate the warranty so we had never been up there.
"They told us the soil pipe was venting into the loft.
"It should pump out of the roof, but the plumbers never connected it to the vent so all the moisture and fumes from our waste has been circulating our loft."
Stacey thinks her little girl, 3, has asthma but she is still too young to get it diagnosed.
Everything is a half job, and it takes forever for them to come back because they're so booked up.
The problems were so bad they were forced to move into their parents house.
She said: "Six weeks I was with my parents which added stress, because of the lifted flooring, they left me with no flooring for a week, I couldn't have a one year old running round on concrete flooring.
"We had to book a last minute holiday in that time because I was close to having a mental breakdown.
"I was crying most nights, once on the phone to them I had to hand it to my husband because I was crying too much."
After four plumbing visits across an entire month, the house was ready to return to.
"The first time they didn't show, second time it failed, third guy said he couldn't do it", Stacey explained.
The exasperated mum-of-two shared the nightmare lack of communication.
Either no one shows up when they have an appointment – or they're knocking on the door when no one's home.
"They've had to bleach wash the whole loft.
"I asked the plumber why it wasn't completed and he said when they came to do it the vent wasn't there and because roofers do that they left and never came back."
After trying to contact the third party plumber Stacey was told no one could give an answer as to who was liable.
'IT'S A MINOR ISSUE'
And the issues don't stop with the loft – Stacey is still waiting for her kitchen to be completed.
"I'm still waiting for the end panel of the fridge freezer to be replaced. A lot of people have had problems but not as bad as that," she said.
"People have told them 'don't bother coming back to my door' because they know they will have to just get it fixed themselves.
"Their customer service is horrific."
Stacey also mentioned they'd paid for spotlights in their kitchen and utility area but electricians only installed them in the former.
I got told before buying the house from people don't buy from Persimmon but it was the area I wanted to stay in."
"I need a new kitchen door, the front garden needs looked at because there's so many dips you go over on your ankle, plus the tree they put in the garden is dead."
The 33-year-old has written to the director of Persimmon Homes four times and only gets responses such as "it's a minor issue" and "the stuff in the loft wasn't that big of a deal".
The Dryden's are now in touch with a solicitor regarding compensation and have threatened Persimmon with legal action.
She continued: "There's a Facebook page with people constantly moaning, the last house moved in in July last year and the street is still to be tarred.
"There's still no street signs, and an area that was meant to be a play park is now not going ahead because our street is not supposedly wide enough – so they have to widen it now."
What are your rights?
People living in mouldy homes could be entitled to hundreds of pounds in compensation.
- It’s estimated that a staggering 1.9million rented households are living with hazards that pose a serious risk to tenants’ health and safety.
- The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act came into force in March 2020 and means landlords must make sure their properties meet certain standards.
- It means renters in England and Wales can now take their landlords to court over problems including cold and damp homes.
- The rules apply to new tenancies under seven years; new secure, assured and introductory tenancies; and to tenancies renewed for a fixed term.
- The rules mean landlords must carry out repairs or rectify problems, and if not renters will have the right to take them to court.
The customer service is horrendous, according to Stacey, who claimed they keep fobbing her off.
"The gases are highly flammable, our house could have blown up, and they say its not a big deal," claimed Stacey.
"But if it's not, why does it have to be vented thorough the roof?"
"Two houses on the plan were meant to have a double garage but they don't."
A Persimmon Homes spokesperson said: “We have been in regular communication with Ms Dryden and completed the snagging work on her property around 4 months ago.
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“We have already apologised to Ms Dryden for the inconvenience she has experienced and the time it took to resolve the snagging issues.
“As a five-star builder we are committed to the highest customer service standards and resolving issues as quickly as possible.”
