A HOUSING developer has been ordered to pay compensation and more than £500 in court costs after taking 15 months to replace a Royston man’s defective flooring.
Philip Brown, of Old Royston Avenue, bought his home on Persimmon Homes’ Scholars Gate development in April 2016 and, after the developer failed to rectify his complaint that his vinyl flooring had defects, he said he was left with ‘no option’ but to take them to the small claims court to seek compensation.
Although the work was eventually done, Mr Brown had to take time off from his own job on several occasions - although Persimmon’s former contractor, which the company has now cut ties with, failed to turn up to the appointments.
Deputy District Judge Susan Russell ruled that it had taken Persimmon too long to act and awarded Mr Brown £200 in compensation, and the firm was also ordered to pay his court costs of £520 at Barnsley County Court last Wednesday.
Mr Brown told the court: “The vinyl was uneven, bubbly and poorly fitted. The defect should have been corrected prior to moving in but wasn’t, then the flooring contractor didn’t turn up as arranged on four separate occasions, so Persimmon got rid of them and got a new flooring contractor who then corrected the defect almost a year-and-a-half later.
“Prior to this I have tried everything to resolve it and was left with no choice but to go to court.”
Gemma Milburn, customer care manager for Persimmon Homes, said: “We do not dispute it did take too long to rectify the vinyl flooring issue. We had an unreliable contractor who we did part ways with due to this.
“Customers purchase a house from us, but we do rely on sub-contractors to carry out any work.
“It would be wrong to dispute Mr Brown’s claim that he waited too long to have it replaced, but the issue is something that can be relatively common on new build properties due to damp and moisture trapped underneath.
“It’s not just a case of ripping up the vinyl to then re-lay it - things can go wrong although it did take too long to rectify.”
After the hearing, Mr Brown told the Chronicle that he hopes the case acts as inspiration for more people to act against big-name housing developers.
“I feel a lot of people are in my position,” he said. “You buy a home from Persimmon and need something sorting, but after waiting ages you end up sorting things yourself or paying someone to do the works and that’s just not fair.”
