Dream home becomes a nightmare for village couple

A new £400,000 home bought by a Hook Norton couple still has defects eight months on.
Jason Shuffe has serious snagging problems at his new house in Goldings Road, Hook Norton. NNL-161115-160817009Jason Shuffe has serious snagging problems at his new house in Goldings Road, Hook Norton. NNL-161115-160817009
Jason Shuffe has serious snagging problems at his new house in Goldings Road, Hook Norton. NNL-161115-160817009

Self-employed heating and plumbing engineer Jason Shuffe moved into his Taylor Wimpey house on Goldings Road, in the Bourne View estate, with his wife in March.

But happiness over moving into a brand new property was short-lived when it soon became apparent their new home had a list of defects.

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Leaks in the shower and central heating, an incorrectly installed washing machine, dishwasher and boiler and poor joinery were among some of the issues.

Mr Shuffe said: “Some of the defects are howlers. We have had more than 25 plumbing issues alone. The workmanship has been disgusting. The washing machine used to dance across the floor – it sounds like a 50 calibre machine gun when it’s on – and the joinery was really bad.”

Although Taylor Wimpey is fixing the problems, it has taken much longer than the April deadline originally promised.

Mr Shuffe said he’d had to take 23 days off work since moving in to allow the work to take place, leaving him around £7,000 out of pocket due to lost working time.

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He added: “My wife is terrified this will continue until Christmas, which means her family won’t be able to stay.”

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said it instructed contractors to resolve various defects after its customer relations manager met with Mr Shuffe after he moved in.

She said: “One of these issues, mould to the bedroom wall, was found to be caused by a leak through the tiles of the adjoining en-suite shower room.

“The shower doors, which had been installed incorrectly, were re-fitted but unfortunately further repairs – involving removing the shower enclosure and tiles to replace damaged plasterboard – took our contractor longer than anticipated.

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“We completed the repair to the shower on October 28, with the exception of the enclosure doors which were scratched in the process.”

She added the replacement doors and bedroom carpet would be replaced on a date to be agreed, but all other issues had been resolved.

“Taylor Wimpey would like to apologise to Mr Shuffe for the issues he has experienced at his home, which fall short of our usual high standards, but we would like to reassure him of our full commitment to resolving them as soon as possible.”

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