New Build Out of Guarantee Period..bathroom needs replacing due to poor workmanship

Hiya all

I apologise in advance for the length of this post and hope there are people out there with enough patience to read it!

Moved into our leasehold flat and in the ensuite noticed the grouting was coming away in handfulls round the shower area and the shower area floor was becoming springy and the bathroom stunk. The grouting on the main floor was also turning green and crumbling. Have had tilers come to see and all have said its obvious theres been a grout failure due the waterproofing adhesive used in the wet/room/shower bit. Had the developer come round (even tho after 2 year building guarantee had expired) and he admitted that there was a problem with the waterproofing grout and this had caused the travertine marble tiles to crack and allow water to leak through to the floor but he couldnt help me as it was out of the guarantee period. I cant claim fully on the the building insurance for the shower area to be redone but they did say that if I paid someone to take the floor up and fix the problem and retile then they would see if they get me any money towards re-tiling as this would be classed as a repair.. Their reasons are that for a claim on the building insurance as it must be "rapid leak of water" and not a "slow water leak".

Today the tilers bagan to take up the floor and were amazed to find:

• The floor was made of chipboard only (should have ply on top of this)
• The adesive they had used (3 different kinds for some reason) was not flexible.
• The grouting did not fill all of the gaps, only floated on the top of the gap
• The tiles had not been coated (or maybe only once - should be 2/3 times) as they were porous.
• The glass shower partition fixings had been drilled incorrectly, causing tiles to break..thus allowing water to get to the wooden frame which is now rotton along with the floor)
• Incorrect silicone used
• tiles laid incorrectly in the wet room bit casuing gaps in the silicone attaching the glass shower partion to the floor, which has allowed water to get through rotting the floor.

Theres loads of other things too that the developer hasnt done. They have told me that I need to have the whole bathroom floor up and strenghened and this will raise the floor by a quite a bit so will have to have new cistern (its all enclosed behind walls tiled with bloody travertine marble) or see if it can be raised, raise the sink and loo as all their pipes etc are hidden behind the wall which is tiled again. And if anything happens to downstairs's ceiling ia may be accountable for this also.

I'm waiting for the building insurance co to get back to me in light of this new info to see if i'm covered but they may well stick to their guns and say its been caused by a slow release of water, caused by poor workman ship and not be covered. If this happens then I will have to sue the developer. The tiler said that if I got an independant report (cost around £700) it would confirm all the findings he mentioned and also prove that the developer didnt use flexible adeshive (it will also tell exaxtly what they did use), the correct grout or use enough (he says there are visible grout failing lines), fit the tiles properly or indeed seal the tiles. He also said that the insurance co may pay for this.

But say the insurance co werent interested, I presume that I would have get this report as evidence if I took the develoer to court.

Phew...I guess what I want is some advice from people who have been in the same situation or any legal types as to what my chances are of claiming on the building insurance or suing the developer?

FYI, the management co is owned by the leaseholders and the freeholder leased back the building to the management co for 999 years so effectively we own the building and consequently the freeholder wants nothing to do with bar pay the building insurance.

I should mention that leaseholders have just forced the developer to replace the lifts as they were proven to be faulty. This was known from day one.

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing from anyone!

Byeeee