A mum has told of the struggles she has faced getting her new-build home fixed after a six-year battle with developers.
Hayley Northwood moved into her two-bed ground-floor flat built by Persimmon Homes South East in Repton Avenue in Ashford in 2018.
From the first few weeks, she noticed issues with damp and mould forming on the walls and skirting boards.
Clothes, carpets and furniture – including Miss Northwood’s two-year-old son Henry’s cot – were damaged by mould in the property.
After years of back and forth trying to get Persimmon to take action, Miss Northwood sought help from an independent surveyor.
He highlighted a number of problems with the way the home was built, including that the blocked “air bricks” had been wrongly installed at ground floor level, allowing water into the cavity walls and leading to damp.
In February, the National House Building Council (NHBC) inspected the property and found several areas of concern including that the cavity wall insulation was missing at low level around the property and did not reach the level of the damp proof course. This allowed cold areas to form on the external walls.
Individual slabs “needed to be cut back 150mm to allow unrestricted airflow all around the property”.
The humidity in the property was recorded at 85%. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the best indoor relative humidity falls between 30% and 50%, and it should never exceed 60%.
The buried air bricks were considered to be a “breach of the NHBC technical requirements”.
The authority then ordered Persimmon Homes to rectify defects with the property by April 12, which they did.
Miss Northwood, 29, said: “When I read the report I was relieved but incredibly angry.
“I was angry because I didn’t understand how Persimmon had got away with not building in line with building regulations and leaving such a mess behind.
“Also when I raised these issues within the first month of moving in, why didn’t Persimmons investigate this properly and take my concerns seriously?
“The contempt they’ve shown displayed their abject lack of customer service and reluctance to admit there might be a problem and then do the right thing and resolve any issues for me.
“I was also relieved as I knew from my research into the NHBC warranty that the issues would be fixed.”
Major structural work on the flat started on March 11 and ended on April 10 within the NHBC deadline.
Low-level brickwork was removed on all external walls and debris present within the void deposited during the initial works was removed, which should have been done at the point of construction.
Cavity trays and weep vents were also installed retrospectively and insulation was added above and below the damp proof course.
Airbricks surrounding the property were all uncovered and the paving slabs were cut back by 150 millimetres to allow unrestricted airflow.
Air vents that should have been installed during construction were installed in the master bedroom and living room.
On July 10, the NHBC inspected the property for a second time and the remedial works were signed off.
Now Miss Northwood says the flat is much warmer and no longer has any issues with damp and mould.
“I haven’t wiped mould off since March which is amazing considering the six years that I have had,” she explained.
“Things are a lot better and I have all the paperwork to show that the remedial works have been successful which is great.
“I’m relieved that the flat is fixed. I’m really grateful for the help from the NHBC.
“But I am also really excited to move on with my family and move somewhere else, set up a new life and for my son and I and my husband to live in a house that doesn’t impact our health.
“Even after the NHBC identified the issues, Persimmon was simply not concerned to have sold me a product that was not fit for purpose or would ever be sellable.
“If they complied with building regulations in the first place none of this would have happened.”
But getting here has taken its time and has not been easy for Miss Northwood.
“Getting the NHBC involved was a difficult process,” she said.
“Initially, when I contacted them in the first year of living here I was told that they wouldn’t get involved because, in their opinion, Persimmon was making the right noises to rectify the issue.
“And then in October 2023 when I rang back as another last attempt whilst I was being represented by my solicitor, I started off my phone call by saying, ‘You have to help me’.
“I had to send over all of my evidence including emails raising the issues in the first two years to Persimmons, photos of the issues, independence surveyors reports which is an incredibly long process and in my opinion is designed to put people off.
“It took hours to complete but the NHBC then did pick up the case.”
A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes South East said: “The customer previously raised a complaint with NHBC and we have been engaging with both the NHBC and the homeowner to arrange works to the property in order to mitigate the issues they were experiencing.
“We carried out works in the spring to enhance the cavity wall insulation and remediate the detail around the brick vents to improve airflow through the property.
“All works have now been completed.”
