LEAKY pipes, uneven floors and sub-standard tiling are among the issues that residents on a new housing development say have blighted their lives since moving in.

Builders are due to leave the David Wilson Homes Castlegate development in Northallerton in the next three months but some residents say that there are ongoing issues in their homes that have still not been resolved.

The developer has acknowledged that there have been “some issues” with a small number of homes and has apologised to those affected.

David and Caroline Richardson got off to a bad start when their moving-in date was delayed and they say their experience did not improve once they moved in.

They suffered a kitchen flood on New Year’s Eve, and were left without water overnight and this was followed some time later by a leak from an upstairs radiator that damaged the living room ceiling. A third leak then occurred from the bath onto the kitchen ceiling last month and the couple have complained of a general poor finish to their property.

Mrs Richardson said that she suffered anxiety and depression as a result of the problems and Mr Richardson said: “The façade looks all very high quality but when you get down to the nitty gritty it is all pretty damning.”

Emanuel Imanuelsen, another resident, said his home was fraught with problems and it needed complete refit of the en-suite bathroom due to the poor finish.

He said he felt like “David fighting Goliath” due to his repeated complaints to the developers and after months of wrangling over his complaints he received a £16,865.63 reimbursement.

He said: “My experience is that they promise things but unless you are on top of things and pressure and pressure them and you stay tough, they won’t do it.”

A spokesperson for David Wilson Homes Yorkshire East said: “We are aware of some issues that have been raised by a small number of residents at our Castlegate development in Northallerton.

"We sincerely apologise to those customers affected and we are working hard with them to resolve the outstanding issues.

“We are proud of our reputation for quality and the vast majority of customers at the site are very happy with their new homes.

“We have been rated as a five-star builder by the HBF for the past eight years and have won more NHBC Pride in the Job Quality awards than any other housebuilder, and have done for the past 13 years in a row.

"However, occasionally we get things wrong and when that happens we work really hard to put them right."

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