Bellway threatens to sue couple for banner on new build home

A couple has been threatened with legal action over a sign on the side of their house criticising their property developer.

Jake Wright and his wife Chloe moved from Ibstock to Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire after buying what they thought was their dream house in December 2018.

But they claim the £248,000 new-build has caused them ‘nothing but problems’ after its garage kept flooding from underneath the bricks.

Mr Wright put up a banner outside his house on Wednesday stating: ‘Buying a Bellway Home was our worst decision. Please ask us why’.

He and Ms Wright have now been threatened with legal action and told to take down the sign today or risk being taken to court.

Bellway has said it is working hard to fix the issues the couple have faced and that the sign is breaching ‘restrictive covenants entered into at the point of sale’.

Mr Wright reported the issue to Bellway not long after moving in to the property. A contractor visited and seemingly fixed the issue months after they moved in.

However, a few weeks later, the couple noticed that the garage was flooded. They asked the developer to fix the issue again.

Mr Wright said: ‘Another couple of men came out and said they knew what the issue was and that it was related to the brickwork.

‘So we let them fix it. They told us they would have to dig up about half of our garden, but we agreed because we wanted it sorted.’

According to Mr Wright, the work took around four weeks to complete and most of it was completed only days before he and Ms Wright got married in November 2019.

He says that the company offered to flatten his garden to compensate for the issues that arose from the building work. But the problems didn’t stop there.

Mr Wright’s mother-in-law told the couple while on their honeymoon in Singapore that the garage had flooded once again. He claims that the dispute with Bellway over the garage resulted in the National House Building Council (NHBC) visiting to inspect the building.

The company has now suggested that a drain be built inside the garage to prevent the issue from occurring. But Mr Wright says he is not happy with this suggestion.

‘The NHBC ruled in our favour and said that the building wasn’t up to standard,’ he added.

‘They now want to install a drain in our garage which isn’t really fixing the problem. It’s just putting a bandage on something that was a problem at the start.

‘It’s just one thing after another. We’ve been going back and forth. Me and my wife have had arguments and we’ve been so upset.

‘We’ve now been told that they aren’t going to flatten the garden anymore, despite telling us they were going to as an apology’.

Mr Wright decided to put the sign up outside the house on Wednesday. He and his wife have now been threatened with legal action and have been told to take down the sign today or risk being taken to court.

A spokesperson from Bellway said: ‘While we are unable to comment specifically due to customer confidentiality, we have been working hard to resolve the issues the customer has faced, and we continue to undertake remedial work over and above our warranty commitments.

‘Our legal representatives have written to the customer in order to request the removal of the signage, which is in breach of the restrictive covenants entered into at the point of sale.’