Builders' Responsibilities ...

vodkasoda

Hope somebody can offer some advice here.

We moved into a new house in July of last year, so have been here for 13 months now. It turned into a bit of a rush at the end, as we were moving from rented accomodation, so although the snag list had been done, it wasn't addressed and completed before we moved in ... I would advise anybody that is moving into a new house to make sure that it IS addressed and 100% completed before moving in !!!

As you've probably guessed, we are still having problems with the builders in trying to get them to come here and fix / finish things. Some things are superficial, i.e. damaged internal doors need replacing, some "soffit trim" is loose and needs fixing down, but one thing that is really bugging me is that most of the "breathing holes" that are around the external walls of the house have been painted over & we were told by the site foreman (when they were still working on the site) that this was very bad and needed to be sorted out immediately ... but it never was !!!

I do not profess to know anything about house building, but I assume that in a timber-framed house such as this, these "breathing holes" are there for a reason, I guess that they would not be there were it not for Rules & Regulations ?!?

Can anybody please explain to me what is the purpose of these "breathing holes", what are the consequences of them being painted over and finally & probably most importantly, is there a governing body for House Builders that I can take this up with ? A body or organisation with some clout, that if I contact them & they contact the builders, they might actually take notice and get the work done ?!?

Thanks in advance ...

Slig

I presume that you are referring to the vents or weepholes when you mention breathing holes. If its timber frame then there are 2 main types
One are the vents to ventilate the cavity the second are weepholes (narrow plastic vents in the vertical joints of the brickwork) for to allow excess water from the cavity and are normally only used with brickwork.

I am not doaling out legal advice, we dont do that here. Contact your solicitor, they will be able to deal with it better.
Personally I wouldnt hold out much hope of getting the builders back on site if they have their money.

muffler

Slig wrote: »

I am not doaling out legal advice, we dont do that here. Contact your solicitor, they will be able to deal with it better.

This man has mod blood flowing through his veins.

As stated its very doubtful that the builder will voluntarily come back at this stage so contact your solicitor.

As we are on the legal end of things I should close this thread but I will leave it open for a few hours for the benefit of anyone else who wishes to reply (without any legal input of course).

vodkasoda

muffler wrote: »

This man has mod blood flowing through his veins.

As stated its very doubtful that the builder will voluntarily come back at this stage so contact your solicitor.

As we are on the legal end of things I should close this thread but I will leave it open for a few hours for the benefit of anyone else who wishes to reply (without any legal input of course).

I have contacted my solicitor, they have contacted the builders' solicitor and we got a letter back saying that the builders were on holiday until August 12th, a week ago. I can't afford to go employing solicitors at the moment, I am unemployed; he did this letter, as far as I know, as a favour and I have no idea if it would cost me to take it further !!!

But, as I said earlier, these "breathing holes", the site foreman called them something like that when he came around many months ago, have been painted over and he said they shouldn't be ... this must surely contravene some rules and regulations and there must be an organisation who make builders stick to these rules and regulations ... this is my main "point of attack" at the moment. Does anybody know who these regulators are ?!?!?

muffler

Contact the building control department of your local council and advise them that you are of the opinion that the house is not in compliance with the building regulations and ask them if they would carry out an inspection and if necessary take the matter up with the builder. For a "painted over" vent I doubt if they would act on it but then again its worth a shot.

Without seeing the house or problems I would imagine that 15 minutes with a scraper or knife would sort the vents.

Now in these situations where people post here saying that their builder wont fix this that or the other there isnt much that we can do other than advise them to take it up with their solicitor as really and truly that is the only option. While I sympathise with your personal situation we are verging on the legal end of things and that is something that we dont allow on this forum - legal debate or advice.

As I said I will leave it open for a few hours.

sinnerboy

If covered by homebond - write to them now - with photos too