'Living a nightmare': Call for tighter rules over ‘shoddy’ Shrewsbury new-build home

Zita Trimi moved into the Sutton Grange estate in January last year and paid £314,000 for her new home after selling her previous house in Stevenage.

But things turned sour when the family moved in to their new home, which was built by Taylor Wimpey, to find the housing estate unfinished and “gaps galore” in the brickwork as well as ‘shoddy’ work on the new property.

Zita said: “We sold our property in Stevenage, and moved to Shrewsbury as we wanted somewhere safe – and also my daughter had cancer, so wanted a better way of life. We did a lot of research and it seemed beautiful.”

She said that after visiting their new home a few months before moving day, the family was assured that the estate and homes would be finished when they moved in.

But, she said: “It wasn’t. From the first day as soon as we walked in we saw there were gaps galore. The brickwork is horrendous. Everything was shoddy.

“The front door was put in the wrong way round and there was a gap in the door when it was shut.

“We paid for the garden to be turfed for when we moved in it wasn’t. My granddaughter got a shock because the electric wasn’t earthed. I am really worried that my house is not safe to live in, yet Taylor Wimpey says there are no problems with it. They just don’t want to know.”

She added: “We were sold the dream but are living a nightmare.”

Local councillors are now calling for tougher building regulations to govern how new build estates are constructed.

Councillor Alex Wagner, Liberal Democrat Shropshire councillor for Bowbrook, said: “There are far too many cases like Zita’s on new-build estates across Shropshire. We need to push for a legislative change and some serious action to crack down on developers who let residents down and don’t do the job properly.

“It is plainly devastating for families across the county to have to deal with the fallout of big developers not caring about our town and not meeting a high build standard.”

Councillor Wagner said he plans to refer the case of Sutton Grange to the Housing Developments Task and Finish Group at Shropshire Council, which was set up last year to scrutinise long-standing concerns from residents on new developments.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to resolving any outstanding issues with the customer’s home and are communicating with the customer via their solicitor to ensure these are rectified.”