Derbyshire family's £350k house of horrors

Simon Cobb purchased the four-bedroom, detached property in Harron Homes' Devonshire Gardens development in Crich for £350,000 in April 2018, finally moving in seven months later.

However, he said he has faced numerous problems with it – leading him to set up a Facebook page called My Luxury Harron Home Crich, featuring a doctored Harron logo to say Horror Homes.

He said: “It’s been a nightmare, 12 months of disruption and heartache.”

Harron apologised for the delay and said it was working to resolve the problems.

However, Mr Cobb, a business analyst who lives in the Sherwood Drive home with his partner and her three children, aged 10, eight and five, said: “The company makes the right noises if you complain, saying ‘you shouldn’t be be putting up for that’, but 12 months later we’re still in the same situation.”

Problems include uneven floors and poor drainage.

He said: “When we first moved in, there were bricks missing from the side of the house, which left the roof and brick line not meeting properly, which left water gushing down the side of the house, leaking into the cavity and making the front room smell damp.

“Our bathroom has been replaced because the floors upstairs were so uneven – the bath didn’t meet the wall, the toilet came off the wall. The bath and under the sink have leaked, flooding the kitchen.

“The standard of decoration is diabolical.

“You don’t think you’re going to have to move in and put things right, but no-one seems capable of sorting it out. The quality is so poor.

“I’d like compensation so I can get it fixed myself.”

Harron describes Devonshire Gardens as “a new-build development of four and five-bedroom family homes”, “finished to the highest specification”.

A Harron spokesman said: “We have met with Mr Cobb to discuss the outstanding works and are working closely with him to complete them.

“We take customer care and the quality of our homes seriously and apologise for the delay.”