A fed-up dad has been waiting nearly five years for a housebuilder to give over their garage and landscape his garden, with the restless father seeing 'no end in sight' to his property ordeal.
The builder, Strata, have been using Oliver Sims' garage as a show home office after the family were due to move in to their brand new home in July 2018. But what followed was a chaotic five years after they were told on moving day the house was not ready, reports Hull Live.
The dad-of-three signed an agreement allowing the developer to use his garage on the promise of "a year – a year and a half tops." Yet the garage remains an office and Oliver finds the lack of communication with the company 'absolutely disgusting'.
The company reportedly told of how the legal document allowed them to have exclusive rights the garage and driveway to Oliver's home as their sales centre until 31 December 2025 or any such earlier date as the company can decide, but the local father says he feels like an 'afterthought'.
He told Hull Live: "My home has been a building site since we moved in. When we signed the document, we were avoiding being made homeless, as our other house had already been sold and emptied. We had no idea how long this would drag on for and we feel like an afterthought in this whole process.
"Our front garden is just a pile of mud, we had nowhere to park our cars and we still don't have a functioning garage. There is no end in sight because the brickwork of the garage is severely damaged and it won't be a small job to complete the original plans."
Work reportedly begun in March to clear the temporary car park and return to the property's original plans. Fencing, a paved pathway and landscaping of the front garden was given a timeline of three weeks but five weeks on and it is yet to be finished.
"On Halloween, our driveway turned into Kingswood car park because around 20 cars were dumped in front of our property, blocking us in," Oliver said.
"I find it absolutely disgusting that we've had no correspondence or meeting to discuss a real timeline of what's going on.
"At no point has there been any recognition of the inconvenience we have experienced. There has been no compensation, financial or otherwise and our patience and goodwill have been completely exhausted."
The housebuilder responded with an explanation for some delays to the latest construction on Oliver's property.
Strata commented: "With regards to the remaining works to be carried out in preparation for handover, the customers have received communication from Strata advising that the works would begin on the 13th March 2023 and would last approximately three weeks.
"Unfortunately due to adverse weather conditions throughout March and April, the works have been slightly delayed and are currently a high priority for the Hull site team to complete as soon as possible."
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