Procedure to take legal action on new home developer.

newph

Hi All,
I need help how to handle the snags in my new homes that is less 1 year. I have noisy and creaking floors in all the floors.The developer(Persimmon) said it was normal while he came for inspection. Any single step would be noisy on the floor and under.
I got NHBC involved and their inspector was at the side of the builder.I asked the inspector would you tell me that is how a floor should be built with this creaky noise, he could not say yes or no.
The inspector declined and said he would leave when i said everything you are telling me would be recorded.I told him that if you believe what you are telling is right and meet up with the standard, there is no reason you should not be feeling comfortably for your voice to be recorded.
NHBC refused and in their letter that i can only take a legal action on the builder if i am not happy with their resolution.
What are the next step to take on the builder? I dont have money to repair all the floors. All i want is to fix it.

Parkingfines

Sue them in the county court then

newph

Thank you for your reply. I think i need to specify the amount to be claimed to small claim , which i don't know how much it will cost. I dont have to get it is fixed.Could you please point through how to give details to the small claim court.

Davesnave

You can't go to court to claim for a loss unless you've actually had one, so you're jumping the gun.

Assuming you have exhausted all the ways to resolve this with the builder, the correct procedure would be to get estimates from other builders, have the rectification work done, then claim the cost from Persimmon via small claims.

You might win all the money back, or you might win only some, or none, because the decision would be in the hands of the judge.

If you intend to go down this route. make sure you give Persimmon notice of this and one final chance to fix things.


P.S. Who do you think pays for the NHBC? Whatever they say, they aren't independent of the building industry.

tacpot12

You will need three independent quotes from reputable builders. Ideally, their quotes will be on headed notepaper showing their Company number, VAT number and membership of relevant trade bodies.

You will also need evidence that there is a fault with the construction of the floor. This is going to need a RICS Surveyor who is able to prepare expert evidence for a court. The report is going to cost you something, but I think it would be foolhardy to move to litigation before being certain you have a case that is going to stand up to examination in court.

The alternative is to put the money that the survey and court fees will cost towards getting a good builder to relay the floor. A good builder may be able to re-lay the existing flooring thereby avoiding the significant cost of new materials. As you need to get three quotes anyway, you can discuss with the builders what they think the problem is, and whether the existing flooring can be relaid correctly. (If by some lucky chance all three builders are prepared to put inwriting what they consider is wrong with the floor and this matches the RICS surveyor's opinion, so much the better if you do decide to go to court.)