How f-***ked are we?

[Frazzled252]

We bought a Barratts David Wilson (BDW) five bed home in Bedford this year. It has turned out to be the home from hell, with sewage smells, gurgling and no ceiling or floor plumb.
BDW have admitted that they need to take the house back to brick to sort the issues, and that we will need to move out. That’s not okay with us as we bought a newbuild for the convenience. BDW have offered three months mortgage payments, but we don’t have a mortgage so have no idea what this cash goodwill would look like.
BDW have also offered to provide a cash settlement in lieu of fixing the house but then we’d have to pay ourselves to fix the house and would likely lose money.
We are also keen to move from the dystopian and apocalyptic looking area (Wixams). The issue is that the house was relatively cheap because it is in such a horrific area.
what options do we have?
is there anywhere in the south east that we can get a decent house for 800-900k?
TIA for replies

From your other posts, it seems like you massively regretted the purchase anyway before the issues so the buy back seems like a gift.

they won’t “depreciate” really. They’ll obviously be harder to sell whilst there still is competition from brand new houses on the estate for the same price- but new builds “depreciating” isn’t really a thing.

Although I would say it’s fairly obvious you’d buy a house expecting to be in it for the medium term.

Take the offer to buy back and rent until you find what you want- i'd do that in a heartbeat!

Why wouldn’t you want to move in 3 months if the house you are in is so terrible and the area is bad? Surely you’d be racing to get out of there.

Why did you buy the house in an area you don’t like? I understand unforeseen issues with the actual house but don’t understand why you bought it in the first place if the area is so bad.

Take the money.
Those houses will have a reputation that will linger like the sewage smells and always affect resells.

If they wanted to be near a station Wixams was not a good move.

This is a very good point^^

It might be worth getting your solicitor involved so that you get everything back that you are entitled to, but you and they would need to act fast.

Sell it back. The easiest time for them to do this work properly was at the start.

The sewage smells could be because of poor ventilation to the sewers, problems with indoor plumbing or even problems with the groundworks and external sewerage.

If they didn’t do the sewerage properly what about foundations are they done properly? Is it the same sub contractor who did drainage and foundations?

I would bite their hands off to buy back the house. We had a client who had the sewage smells it was because the traps for the sewers had not been installed properly. The smells made them sick over time and resolving the issues was an absolute nightmare.

I’d rent a storage container, rent an apartment and buy a new house when you find it.

The whole Wixams area is built on top of old industrial land, very close to a huge landfill… when I was a child the government wanted to build a nuclear waste facility there, and now it’s got houses on it!!!
Run far far away from Bedford and Bedfordshire!!!!!

Ah could that be the source of your smell??

I mean ….. everyone is saying the same. Because it’s definitely the best solution. Sell them the house back for cost price plus moving fees and get a holiday let/air BnB for a few months (it’ll be cheap over winter) and start searching for somewhere better!

Great local Aldi though.

Bit extreme for a very small part of the county. Rather silly.

This is why people buy older houses. Anything new tends to have things wrong with it and be less well-built than anything 40+ years old. Better to settle into an established community. Victorian houses are pretty solid, they've been there a long time. Will need maintenance, but what house does not?

You can’t build on contaminated land. The land was fine.

Looking at that you understand why Bedford was Brexit country.

All that except don't buy a new house, buy an established building in an established community.

you could just as easily argue a 20 year old new build on an established estate is your best bet. Energy efficient, easy to maintain (standard/ modern sizes, fittings etc) and as reliable as a 100 year old house but with 80 years more life still in it.

I think you need to have legal advice.

I know someone who bought from the same developer on the same development as you, and it was the house from hell. It caused health problems, including several hospital stays for their child. The list of problems with the house was huge.

The developer bought the house back from them (including contents, which had all been ruined), paid for temporary accommodation for them, and I've not spoken to them in a while now, but I believe the house was ultimately unrepairable, and had to be demolished.

Last I heard, they were negotiating compensation.

Don't be fobbed off by them. Take legal advice, and find out what options are open to you.

I don't understand why you bought this house in this area - it doesn't have anything you like about it. Others have suggested grabbing the buy-back, and I agree, it's the best solution. Rent for a few months and put furniture into storage while you look. And learn - don't buy another new-build. Houses built in the 70s are larger than current equivalents (because room size was regulated) and anything pre-WWII will be pretty solid.

This!

Im assuming you are retired and have no children living with you as you are asking for suggestions of where to live rather than being tied by school/work, or you have a set if circumstances where taking the money and running doesn't make sense - you might want to explain roughly so people can get a better idea for advice!

Take the buy back offer and rent elsewhere until you find the next house you want to buy.

You do not want this house to be your issue and responsibility any longer than needed.

Make sure they pay for all moving costs as well and push for extra compensation.

Take the money and run. Rent somewhere, Airbnb. Try to negotiate for moving costs + rental costs for 3 months on top of repurchase price

As others have said, you can buy a perfectly nice house in Bedfordshire for 800k - even in some of the more sought after villages.
And the Wixams is hardly a dystopian nightmare. Personally, I wouldn't want to live there either but it's hardly a horrible place. It's a fairly standard new build estate just south of Bedford.
But surely you looked at the area when you bought the house. Wixams is huge so not everyone's cup of tea. Is it Bedfordshire you don't like or just the Wixams?
I can't comment on what facilities you'd like but Bedfordshire isn't exactly full of facilities to be honest. It's rural - you get countryside but not really facilities. If you want city facilities you need to live in a bigger city. We don't have any in Bedfordshire.
It's a 40 minute train ride into central London though and we tend to shop in Milton Keynes or Cambridge.