Frustration and dismay have become the norm for homeowners who have been left with flooded gardens every time it rains—and they claim it’s because drains were not installed.
Locals who live in the Rivers Edge development in Warrington, Cheshire, allege their gardens have been left ‘unusable’ because water sits on the patio and floods their lawns.
Developers Countryside constructed the homes, and they are presently offering three and four-bedroom houses starting at £318,000.
Helen Logan, 42, has slammed the firm as she claims residents have ‘no drainage in their gardens’ and nobody is getting involved to ‘sort it out’.
The mother-of-one has also been told she might need to pay around £1,200 to get the drainage fixed—despite living in the property for less than a year.
She said: ‘There has been really bad aftercare in relation to a high number of new residents having no drainage in their gardens.
‘There have been no land drains added and the turf has been placed on top of rubble, with no topsoil. The contractors are not getting involved to sort this out.
‘The management company, Torus, who manage the ‘affordable’ houses are not willing to do anything either.
‘The houses are sold as affordable, however now, we are looking at £1,200 to get the drainage fixed after being in the properties less than a year in some cases.’
Ms Logan added that her carpets and rug had been ruined because of the mud, which has left her ‘heartbroken.’
‘I am a single-parent family, with a dog, and spent a lot of money—basically all my savings—to make a nice home for me and my son.
‘Now my carpets are ruined, covered in mud, my rug is disgusting after being covered in mud.
‘Also my beautiful sandstone patio is covered in green, from where the water isn’t draining away from there either.
‘It’s actually heartbreaking and very upsetting to have no one take this seriously and attempt to get this fixed.’
Vicki Batterbury, 51, bought her house in June of last year, but after experiencing similar issues with her garden, Countryside visited her in March.
But she was told that because she had installed a section of paving, that they were ‘unable to take any further action’.
She said: ‘We have reached out to Countryside/Vistry customer help email, they came to look at our garden, initially they came to look at the garden in December.
‘It had been particularly bad weather, so it was agreed they would come back in the spring.
‘They returned on March 20 to look at the garden again, after I requested they come back.
‘The garden was waterlogged before we had patio areas installed. They are using this as an excuse as not to assist us. We have not seen any proper report at all.
‘We have a picture of our garden from April 2023, taken by Countryside sales rep, that shows the garden before our patios, and it shows the surface water.’
‘We actually believe they are in breach of NHBC standards on all of our gardens.’
Millie Howe, 21, another affected resident, has lived in the house for just over a year and has complained countless times after the ‘unusable’ state of her garden.
She said: ‘Something needs to be done about the garden’s flooding. My contact is Torus but we have not had any response from them at all.
‘We have had one man from Countryside come in when it was really bad. He came and said ‘”yes it is obviously unusable’.
‘The dogs cannot go out as they end up covered in mud. It cannot carry on into next year.’
A spokesperson for Vistry Group, representing both Countryside and Torus said: ‘We apologise and appreciate the frustration this issue is causing to residents at Rivers Edge and we are working with our partner Torus to resolve it as quickly as possible.
‘We are in direct contact with affected customers and will be updating them regularly as the remediation works progress.’
The name ‘River’s Edge’ kind of gives you a clue. Surely these houses are still under guarantee and any repairs et cetera should be covered. Also, why weren’t any omissions or drainage problems picked up by the building inspection?
Regretfully, the government has altered the regulations to allow businesses such as this to employ independent building inspectors of their own. An independent inspector hoping to be employed by a commercial firm again is not going to point out flaws or force them to pay for repairs since they will not be employed again.
People rarely receive less than a perfect score when asked to mark their own assignments.
Possessing a guarantee or warranty is one thing, but getting the developer to uphold it is quite another.
David Cameron promised a ‘bonfire of regulations’ and this is the result. That and Brexit, so we’re not signed up to those pesky EU high standards anymore. We’ve got our own non-existent British standards now.
New build homes are unfortunately a ticking time bomb. Poor quality, and debris in wall cavities, which means it can’t be insulated properly and could cause dampness.
Developers just tick boxes. Drainage is a massive issue, and they are built very poorly, and no doubt in 20 years they will be pulled down again.
New developments are traps set by greedy developers, built with poor trade quality stuff. Also, there’s no parking, narrow roads, tiny rooms et cetera. People all so often fall into such traps when they’re hypnotised by the smell of magnolia paint and beige carpets.
There is only one rule here folks, never buy a new build in modern-day Britain!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 