Homeowner puts up massive banner with scathing review of his £500,000 new build house

A man who claims he is being ignored by the developer who built his new house has put up a massive banner above his garage to draw attention to his complaints. The homeowner says he was left with no alternative but to hang the huge sign on his £500,000 house.

Balbinder Singh moved into the property in Mickleover, Derbyshire, back in April 2021. But he is unhappy with a number of issues and claims he is still trying to get problems fixed from when he first took the keys, reports DerbyshireLive.

Avant Homes says that issues have been caused by Mr Singh having an extension built that impacted his warranty. Now, almost two years on, the resident claims the company is ignoring him.

Mr Singh lives on the Cotchett Village estate. As a desperate measure to put pressure on the firm, he has put up the sign.

It reads: "Avant Homes our review. We moved in 1st April 2021 and work is still uncompleted.

"Avant is no longer responding to us. There is lots of uncompleted work.

"We are happy to share pictures. Don't make the mistake we made."

Avant Homes says it has been in discussion with Mr Singh regarding the property and claims that a number of the issues were caused by the construction of an extension. But Mr Singh said: "They're ignoring us and they're not bothered.

"We're fed up. How can they leave it like this? They agree with me when I speak to them and then nobody comes. Someone has to come forward."

The property features a pent-roof porch over the front door. But Mr Singh claims its design leads water to run off and down the wall by the side of the door, leading to damp and moss growth. It's not the only problem Mr Singh cites as being unresolved.

He claims the bi-fold doors need their glass replaced, the internal doors need painting, an upstairs toilet seat is damaged and an extractor fan has damaged lighting. Mr Singh resorted to putting up the sign, which he designed himself, on March 6.

Other residents on the street, including Kevin Crisp and his family, also claim they have had similar problems. Avant Homes told Derbyshire Live that they are working with "a very small number" of residents at Cotchett Village, off the A516 Etwall Road, to resolve their concerns.

Mr Crisp said: "There's been loads of stuff. We had a street barbecue for the Queen's Jubilee last year and the theme was that everyone is having the same problem."

In their house, which they moved into in 2021, they claim a sink problem led to a kitchen worktop warping and a replacement was cut too short. Then, they claim that a section of the back garden underneath the tap has been sodden with water for months.

Mr Crisp's partner said: "The customer service is diabolical. Even through the process of buying it, they ignored us."

Steven Bosworth, who also lives on the estate, claims that his house was riddled with problems when he moved in in 2020. He says he had his downstairs toilet ripped out and refitted due to water leaking through walls, floors relaid due to scratches and kitchen units redone due to missing plug sockets.

He said: "We'd never buy from them again. They're a waste of time and don't want to fix anything, I'm constantly pushing them to come round and fix stuff and we're still waiting."

However, another couple who live near Mr Singh said that their experience of Avant Homes has been positive because, they believe, they were one of the first to move in. Having acquired the keys in March 2020, any problems they had were resolved swiftly after the first Covid-19 lockdown eased that summer.

At the time, not many other people were living on the site and tradesmen were nearby every day working on homes. But they claim that the customer service has "gone downhill" since then.

An Avant Homes spokesperson said: “We have been in ongoing dialogue with the occupant (Mr Singh) regarding his property. Having fully investigated the occupant’s concerns regarding his home, we believe a significant number of them were caused by the building of an extension on the property after the house was purchased."

According to Avant, the extension in question voided some aspects of the property's NHBC Buildmark warranty, an issue which has been explained to Mr Singh, they say. “We have inspected the house and communicated back to the occupant what is acceptable for us to resolve in relation to his concerns outside of those created by the extension," said the spokesperson.

“Our customer liaison team is proactively dealing with a very small number of residents at the development who have raised concerns to ensure any reasonable requests are addressed."

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