New homes/ Persimmon homes stories

[Oceandegree]

Ok, I'm looking for a 3 bedroom house near to me and am a FTB. (I hope I qualify as this as I am separated and H stayed in the family home while I moved out with 3 kids to rent. Mortgage and deeds only in his name though we were married at the time). I have qualified for HTB after filling out their form.

Anyway, I am having a big debate with myself. I have read so many bad stories about new homes and most of the ones within our reach are Persimmon homes which I see have quite a low build rating.

Has anyone any positive stories or are they all dire?

I much prefer older properties but thinking about a FTB I don't want to have to do much to it at all.

Don't buy persimmon. Friends of ours in the building industry day that it is a really bad idea.

I'd never buy a new house as I don't like them. And you hear such awful stories about leasehold shenanigans.

I live in a new build it’s great. But I’d never ever buy a Persimmon. We had an option to as there we some for sale in the next village over that were cheaper but we thought it looked so poor quality.

Not good so far :(
Which company build yours shadow?

I work for a competitor house build company, and I'm buying a Persimmon house. A few of my friends at work have spoken to me (their husbands work within the industry too, one is a manager at Persimmon) and they have said to only buy from Persimmon if you're willing to stand up for yourself as they do try to fob you off - not offering good incentives, not getting snags sorted out, leaving roads unfinished etc. However, my DP has a masters in law and works for HMRC and isn't afraid to be firm with people (I'm a complete doormat) and so far it's going well.

We've managed to get carpets, vinyls, turf, fencing and legal fees thrown in for free. And any problems we've had have been sorted out quickly.

I’d never buy from Persimmon. Cheap and shoddy. My SIL used to work for them and always advised against them.

Is that the company where the boss recently awarded himself a massive ££££ bonus?

Avoid!

We bought a house from them two years ago and for the price we paid, it's great. My only complaint would be that they would only fit carpets, so we had to sort out the flooring ourselves.

Oceandegree ours is a St. Modwen Homes property.

Never had any problems with my Persimmon home. It's 10 years old now.

@ghostontoast pretty much every private sector medium or large company does this. I don't know of any where the MD and directors don't all get massive fuck off bonuses at the end of each quarter/year. My dad is the MD of a different house builder, gets paid a £170k salary plus £100k+ bonus each year dependant on profit. It's disgusting but very very normal, I'm afraid. Anyone buying a new build is putting money into the pockets of whoever the firm's bosses are.

Nothing against bonuses per se, but eyebrows raised at the "greedy putting hand in the till" level of it.

How much of profit and bonus was driven by dubious leasehold contracts for new houses ( instead of being freehold) leading to excessive ground rent and services charges for new houses, where people have used building company solicitors as its cheaper in short term but not the long term?

We were very close to reserving a Persimmon home but equally had been put off by the bad reviews. That was 6 months ago and the development we looked at still has the same houses available that we were considering, which is quite unusual. We ended up going for a Redrow, I'm sure it won't be without it's issues but people already living on the development are very happy - we're due to complete in 2 weeks. We've previously lived in a Taylor Wimpey home, I think they have some bad reviews too but we've had no problems whatsoever.

Is there anyone already living on the development that you could talk to? I think a lot comes down to specific sites and whether they have a good site manager so it would be useful speaking to people with first hand experience.

Some new detached family homes have been built near us. As is usual these days, they have crammed as many as they can onto the site. I was amazed to discover that the sitting room is just under 10 feet by 10 feet - this is a 5 bed house. There is also a dining kitchen and a very small study (and, of course, a plethora of bathrooms). I just pity anyone who tries to even get enough seating in the sitting room for a large family, let alone anything else. New homes built en masse seem to take little account of how people use space, or lack of it. Then they use tricks in show houses like having undersized furniture.
Op, if you want to get your money's worth, don't buy a brand new house. Apart from all the snagging, you are paying a premium which could take a long time to recoup.
Also, make sure any property you buy is freehold and not leasehold.

Ok, I think i have excluded Permisson now from my search. There are some new builds which will be ready in November by a local builder with seemingly good reviews but I am still torn.

I've started viewing now, saw a nice one yesterday (about 10 years old) which was actually quite big for a modern home.
I saw another one (newish build) which was a 3 bed but far too small and overpriced imo. :(

I will check that leasehold/freehold bit - thank you for reminding me host and Lucisky.

Got 6 more viewings tomorrow with 3 kids (I have asked if this is OK!..).FUN!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64924036.html

Thoughts?

We bought from a smaller local builder, having looked at all.the new build sites in a 50 mile radius, so took in all the big builders when we were looking.

The build quality of what we bought kicked the arse off the big companies and was also way cheaper. We've just sold it, making more than we have paid in mortgage over three and a half years.

We can't afford to buy another new build with enough space from the same developer and after looking at a couple of persimmon developments, decided Persimmon was not the way to go. Too small, poor basic spec, really rough build quality and totally unhelpful and disinterested sales staff.

We've bought a stone built Victorian property for £30k less than it was valued at and are getting an extra 50 square metres of internal space and 200 square metres of garden extra. Persimmon house was £215k by the time we'd sorted the kitchen and carpeted. Bought the villa for £190k and it's immaculate inside and out. I'm not surprised the developments from Persimmon and Stewart Milne in the same area have stalled. The original buyers in the SM development are now marketing their properties for 20-30% less than they paid four years ago.

We bought from persimmon 15 years ago and part exed
It was quick and easy and got a good price
They fixed any minor snags very quickly and we have had no issues since we bought it. We are a small cul de sac on a bigger development and I can’t comment on the development as a whole but I know from conversations with my immediate neighbours they had no problems either.

I do think people have to realise that there is a shortage building land and that builders have to make a profit to survive. It’s how our system works. I am amazed that a 5 bedroom house has a 10ft x 10 ft lounge. Which development is this please?

Regarding all the big developers, there is not much to choose between any of them. They are all building to a price, so they cater for the mass market, not bespoke one offs.

Obviously avoid leasehold with vastly increasing costs. Most people are actually happy with their houses. It is easy to read about the few who are not and these tend to be specific developments, not every development.

I’m not sure what the owner of Persimmon pays himself. I know he’s mega rich and owns a very big company so it’s unlikely he will get pennies out of it. I doubt it’s no more than anyone else gets for owning a major company. He is related to the Duke of Norfolk and was also a page at the Queen’s Coronation, so likes the finer things in life!

There is a fairly newly built house for sale near me. It is 3 stories so actually what you have is a 6 bed house that has no more living space than a 4.

I know they need to build more, but something has gone dreadfully wrong when a 4 bed detached (with detached garage) has a smaller footprint than my 3 bed (integral garage) Fair enough the downstairs is bigger on the 4, but they are putting 4 beds in less space than our 3.

I would not buy one of those houses purely for where they are (I am local, live in Worle) it is not a good area at all. House wise I recently sold my similar 3 bed townhouse and loved it.

There are HTB homes over on the Locking Parklands too far out for me but much much much better area than linked above.

Carrie, thanks for this reply. That's interesting. Can I PM you as have seen one in Worle and I really don't know the area.

My parents have a persimmon home and apart from a few minor snags all has been fine.

One word of warning would be estate management charges!

Almost all new builds have then, if your property is freehold and has these beware.

There are currently no regulation on how they are charged. It's written into your deeds that you HAVE to pay. They don't have to give any proof of service or cost and can fees can spiral as soon as the build is complete.

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