AIBU - new build houses are AWFUL

[hooplahooper]

I am currently living in a BRAND NEW Bellway home - renting while I renovate my childhood home. I was excited to live in something new enough to be zero maintenance while dealing with my own big Reno project...

But holy HELL it's been an awful eye opener for me. I've lived in 11 houses across three countries as an adult - 5 of which I have owned + sold - and I have never come across such bad build quality before. Some of the (many) entry level issues (which the landlord has repeatedly
flagged with the builder to no avail) include:

• The walls aren't plastered, just painted plaster board - so zero internal sound insulation,
• the tiling is wonky in all rooms
• the windows don't seal,
• half the doors don't catch on the hinges without considered effort.
• the laminate kitchen counters aren't sealed at any joints
• the front door hinges are loose
• the electric car charge point doesn't turn on
• The stair railings aren't secure
• there is black mould everywhere from a leak (now stopped, but mould not attended to)

I'fe lived in new builds before overseas - I know there are always snags, but everything about this house feels like corners are cut + quality is compromised.

I'd let it go - I don't really care for me, I'm moving into my own home in 8 weeks - but I'm raging on behalf of my lovely + hard working neighbours here - who have got enormous mortgages on these poor quality structures.

I posted about it on my personal stories and have heard all sorts of even worse horror stories about new builds by Baratt Home, Persimmon + Taylor Wimpey as well. It seems universal that these huge developers are building low quality, parasitic dormitory towns on (often) greenbelt lane - and making astronomical profits from them (650m for Bellway last year..!)

With such gigantic profits - they could be building better quality homes if they wanted to. But they don't. And the government is clearly so caught up in meeting housing targets they are turning a blind eye.

I am RAGING. I am grateful I don't have to live here forever - and furious on behalf of the millions of people that deserve so much more.

YABU - let it go, they're not so bad you terrible snob. People are happy with their homes + can make their own judgements

YANBU - hard working people deserve more + there has to be a way of holding these big companies accountable for prioritising profit over quality homes

Not all flats are the same, it's possible to build them for hot environments, plenty of people live in flats in southern europe and the middle east.

I suspect modern construction and lack of green planting for shade is the issue here. Too many modern places in the UK have massive windows to "flood the place with light" and inadequate window coverings.

Our flat is warm right now (I mean everywhere is!) But perfectly liveable- we can sleep at night. Ours is 1930s construction with thick concrete walls and we are surrounded by a shady tree heavy communal garden.

We have blinds and heavy curtains that are all closed tightly shut as soon as the outside temperature rises above 25 degrees. Evening and early morning all windows are opened to let cooler air circulate.

In the UK, cold days are a lot commoner than hot days, and the heat from the floors below tends to keep the flat warmer, IME; they are are cheaper to heat in cool and cold weather. Installing air con and using it for a short period each year (frankly, in the UK it’s likely to be about three weeks tops) could probably be done for the cost of the money saved from lower heating bills at other times of year (although someone cleverer than me needs to sit down and do the sums).

Of course, things like proper insulation, surrounding greenery and thick walls can help with keeping temperatures more stable in both hot and cold weather.

Its unbearable in here. And i dont agree. Its warm more than its cold. Here we had just ONE WEEK of snow last December compared to months of humidity. I hadnt even got up yet and slept on top of the bed and was already covered in Sanctuary sweat

My flat has been unbearable since early June. Thats three months not three weeks. Im in the South East

Im just about to have a bath and will need another one tonight before bed. No shower Thats social housing for you. So there are consequences to having no shower and no air conditioning

YANBU. Developers are the devil.

Unbearable since June? July in the UK was cooler and wetter than average.

I own my flat and don't have aircon, not many people in the UK do.

No shower sucks, can you get one of those rubber things that attact to the bath taps as a stop gap?

I’m glad to hear some better experiences. I think they probably vary from estate to estate - based on local planning / the site foreman etc etc.

a lot of people so tied up in the aesthetic. We KNOW we’ll never agree about that! I don’t really care what colour people chose to paint their loo - I just want families to get good quality homes for their giant sums of money. I get that older homes are rife with Their own issues. But I feel like the buildings regs are lower than they should be. If anything these huge companies should be held to higher standards. They can afford it

and obviously ideally by utilising brownfield sites first. That’s the dream.

EXACTLY @Ginmonkeyagain You OWN your flat. So im guessing you havent been forced to have unsuitable cavity wall insulation TWICE So the HA gets funding and the contractors get paid £££££

Swear down im going to make up a fucking template

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2023-06-30/the-rising-danger-of-hot-summers

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2023-06-09/hot-homes

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-09-11/no-escape-communal-heating-makes-homes-unbearable-during-heatwave