AIBU - Complain to housing developer that sofa doesn't fit in our house?

[binkyblinky]

Oh wise women of mums net, I need some advice please!

We recently moved into a new home on a brand-new development. It is a three story townhouse and the lounge is on the middle floor.

On moving in day we discovered that our sofa would not fit up the stairs and into the lounge. It is not a large sofa it is a modular sofa, the end units went up fine but the middle section which is a corner unit would not fit. The staircase is so narrow that we had to take apart the tops of our single Ottoman beds to get them up the stairs as well. This is in a large family home.

There are four identical homes to ours on the estate and every other person in those homes has had the same issue, with our neighbours sitting on beanbags for three months. The beanbag neighbours have had three sofa deliveries, all unsuccessful at getting up the stairs.

I feel angry that I had to throw away part of my sofa. The show home has a massive Corner unit in it. We were not advised when we moved in that staircases was so narrow and that we would have trouble fitting furniture up them.

If we were to team up and complain to the housing developer about the poor design, and that four families have been left with no seating, Would we get anywhere? Is there anything that we could do to ask for monetary compensation to buy sofas that you assemble at home? The other three families currently have their sofas in their kitchens while they try to solve this problem. It's ridiculous, being sold a £400,000 house And not being advised of this issue.

I can't see how they should say it is our fault, when they show home clearly written misrepresents the size of the furniture we required. Wisdom needed, thank you

There's a Douglas Adams book where this happens

Turns out a time/space machine had opened a door at the turn on the stairs so they got it round some and then stuck as the door has gone.

Could that be an explanation?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is the book

This happened to a colleague of mine 20 years ago, when these 3 story town houses were a new thing.
Seems like the money to made by building up is still leading to greedy building companies...it’s like airline’s reducing leg room.

You bought it. You should have measured tbh

Sofas these days are enormous not sure why

Ha ha! I put PIVOT in my original post, but deleted it!

It won't go over the bannister. There is a support structure in place which they wouldn't temporarily remove to let us get the sofa in.

I'm very impressed by the Newel pole solution mentioned above. So clever.

Didn’t Watchdog cover this years ago? Garages too narrow for cars and townhouses too awkward for furniture? I thought it was common knowledge?!

We paid an upholsterer to take our sofa away and saw it up. They returned with the pieces and put it together in the middle floor. After 10 years it hasn't collapsed yet. If we ever move we will have to leave it behind.

Unless the developer has actually deceived you as to the size of the stairway you are purchasing you have no recourse against them.

As others have said, the onus is on you to measure before bringing furniture and if necessary you pop put a window and get a crew with a cherry picker to lift your sofa in through the window.

However YANBU to be furious.... New builds these days are absolute shite (I say this as the owner of a 2.5 year old new build who is awaiting their 4th front door and is nearing the point of taking the builder to court over the shit job they have done)!

My sister lives on a town house with the lounge on the middle floor, but they have patio doors off the lounge with a small balcony. All furniture has to be lifted over the balcony and through the patio doors.

When they moved in they hired a lift for the day to make it easier but they've had a new sofa since then and managed it with the help of about 6 strong friends.

Buy a smaller sofa?

@tabulahrasa

You use the windows in townhouses... don’t you?

This is what we do.

We had to have a window removed as the sofa was too big for the stairs.

I would never buy one of these new homes. They are stupidly tiny.
Went to view a ‘2 bed’ the other day, just for interest.

The kitchen door opened into the room, across the sink, so you couldn’t access up to half the length of the room, while the door was open.
There was no storage in the house and no garage, so if you took the door off it’s hinges, nowhere to keep it.
These are lazy, cheap builds without any thought of how a family will actually live.

What about sofas from Snug or is that what you meant by modular sofa?

Failing that, try the windows.

We have an old house and when we were looking for a sofa the salesman warned us that they make sofas bigger now and that we needed to measure carefully and make it sure it was going to fit. On delivery day the guys had hell getting it in!
I don’t think you have any recourse to compensation, at least I’ve never heard of it.

Having lived in flats before, I’m afraid getting furniture upstairs is just one of those things.

Our last sofa came in through the window.

We paid a furniture delivery specialist to come out and work out the dimensions of a sofa we could accommodate either via stairs or via the windows.

I would give it a go but wouldn't hold much hope!

We have a arkward old cottage which has low doors and right angles so difficult to get stuff in.
We ended up with a complete flat pack build yourself corner sofa which is comfy from nabru. Might be a option for you and your neighbours! It took a while and the cushions are a bit tricky but it's great and comfy (we went for the comfort option on the cushions)

www.nabru.co.uk/design-your-own

This is standard in townhouses, you have to take a window out.

I bought some wardrobes that would fit up my stairs, the delivery guys removed a window and took them up through that window and then they could move them round the first floor rooms. Would that work?

Wardrobes wouldn't fit up stairs.

The stairs would have complied with Building Regs so you can't reasonably complain that you've chosen a sofa that's too big.

You should have measured dimensions for furniture & not rely on brochure pictures but I understand how annoying it must be for you. I had to have a window taken out to get my sofa in. It is big enough but not huge. Collectively you might get somewhere with a complaint but it depends on what solution you are after? But honestly I think it is more likely developer will say you viewed the showhouse, rooms & landing dimensions were marked on floorplans & builder/developer is not responsible that your furniture choices don't fit.

I used to live in an upstairs flat accessed by a tiny steep winding staircase - the sofa was stuck in the downstairs hallway stood on its end for ages until I found someone to help me take the window out and pull it up with a rope! I sawed it up when I moved and took it to the tip.

I also got stuck upstairs once when I thought I could get rid of a double bed by myself, and it just wedged itself there with me still upstairs - I had to call someone to come and rescue me that time.

I've lived on a street like this. When we all moved in the builders shoved everyone's sofa through the windows on a forklift. After that everyone just had to buy IKEA sofas.

@CrackedHeels2

We had the same issue when we lived in a similar house. Ended up taking the banister down to get furniture up and down the stairs.

Same. It was a rental as well so we had to be extremely careful!