Charles Church & Persimmon Homes

User_199

We're in Charles Church house for 2 months. Sales lady on site - is a great service. ... But that is all that I have to say positive


There were many defects identified, that were promised to be fixed in a max 1 month - ... still not fixed. Every week I call a service office to add another finding, e.g. leaking sink, water leaking from ceilings, not working taps, door locks not working, el sockets with no power. Finally: It is now 3rd day my pipes are blocked, and waste water stays - and every time I call : all I'm offered - "We will call you ASAP". Emergency company - decline to help, stating it is a Charles Church responsibility. Can anyone advise what to do? How to get a proper help/fix. It just like nightmare. I understand issues happens - but not getting a service that was promised

MattyKHZ

We bought our Charles Church home in December 2007 off plan.

Our dream 1st home became a nightmare straight away. Charles Church could not provide correct details to our conveyancing solicitor so searches were made with the wrong postcode. Several searches it seems we're required.

Day before completion we were shown around a filthy house. I would not even call it a home and 7 years later still don't. Cracked windows, dirty surfaces everywhere, splintered woodwork, walls out of square, chipped tiles, French doors replaced and not finished where they met plasterboard, bricks missing from brickwork..... The list was endless.

A whole Christmas period was spent snagging from a guide we had purchased online. Due to the high number of defects we employed a chartered surveyor and they found many issues. Regional director met up and were shocked at the quality or lack of it. We were promised things would be fixed and gave them the keys to sort everything out.

Weekend visits showed little progress and we were finding defects with circles around on walls and nothing done about the highlighted defect. After chasing and chasing we were given the house back as a house Charles Church felt was of the quality it should have been and they felt they had gone above and beyond, still with defects circled and untouched.

Not surprisingly we obtained a second report from the same chartered surveyor to see what had and what hadn't been done. Still issues remained and we could not get anywhere with Charles Church as it seemed that expensive issues like stairs not meeting build regs would not be resolved because of the cost.

We had to move in, furnish etc and tried to move on. Got married and revisited the issues with Charles Church which ended up in legal action within the 6 year limitation period.

Having to buy a house, tell a builder what is wrong and fight them to correct it is a ridiculous situation yo be in. That is what buying a Charles Church home is like.

Throughout this whole fiasco I have learnt a great deal about house design and build and see many flaws in the way our house has been built. Most of these we are having to correct ourselves because all Charles church care about is making houses as cheaply as possible, cutting corners and doing everything they can to reduce costs and maximise profit.

As their work is not of the quality they refer to in their marketing material do not buy anything extra from them at all, even though it is convenient too you are paying top price for shoddy workmanship and will only have to remedy later. Pay professionals to finish your plot and not these poor quality house builders.

If you get your plot turfed they will simply charge a high price to provide poor quality turf over ground they have simply left all the rubbish they have tried to hide. This becomes apparent when your dogs if you have them dig this up. We chose not to and are still finding rubbish in our ground that we will eventually get sorted properly.

jags247

I went to view a new Persimmon Homes development in Harborne, Birmingham this weekend and the prices were extortionate. They were nearly double the price of similar house types elsewhere.

I certainly wouldn't buy one and I can't understand how they can sell houses at these prices, It's a complete rip off.

mhounsome

Hi There

Has anyone brought a new CC house in the last several years and have any feedback of their experience.

We have reserved a new built and are very concerned about all the horror story's, have they upped their game in the last few years?

We also spoke to the neighbours and they all seem happy so far.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

I dont know if its the quality of the house you are interested in but if it is Leasehold there is a huge movement gathering pace about problems with them so personally having read the information I would walk away and buy a Freehold.

colinobj

My daughter & husband just bought a new build Charles Church house in Hampshire. They finished 2 months late, more-or-less forced her to pay up at short notice, then when she completed, she found a lot of serious build issues and an incomplete house. These were much more serious than "snags" and caused a further delay before she could move in.

Their site manager hadn't even set foot in the house before handover, no inspection or sparkle clean had been done, and their customer services have been all but useless. Now, 6 weeks later she's still waiting on them to resolve most of the issues despite repeated written promises to get things fixed.

They seem to allow their sub-contractors a free run to do just what they like and take no care whatsoever to ensure their work is up to any standard at all. Whats worse, they seem content to damage their reputation and incur huge rectification costs. Their margins must be enormous to be able to afford all this re-work.


Charles Church (who died in 1989) built quality homes - he must be turning in his grave.

GilaLopez1979

Charles Church has unethical practices all the way from get go. Unfortunately there is no zero star rating option ! They harass and pressurise their customers unnecessarily. They drove me and my wife crazy during our buying process. In the end you will be so fed up that you will just feel walking away from the deal. They will never own up to their mistakes and will try best to put on you even if it's their fault. Then they also recommend some solicitor to go with ... NEVER DO IT. It is a scam they just it for getting commission. Not because of anything else. I got coaxed into the solicitor they recommended and almost lost the deal because people were incompetent. They never owned up that it's them who recommended them in the first place. They brought my family to tears . By God it tell you . I curse them day and night they have no ethics. They are just wolves underneath their smiling faces. There are so many other great builders out there go with them who appreciate your money .Save your family peace of mind and agony. NEVER BUY CHARLES CHURCH OR PERSIMMONS.