Case Summaries & News

Recovery of monies spent correcting defective exterior brickwork

Wingrove Law advised the purchaser of a new build home that suffered from substandard exterior brickwork which failed to comply with NHBC's tolerances in 'A Consistent Approach to Finishes' for reasonable straightness on plan and in section. The pointing was also generally poor resulting in a poor cosmetic finish. The housebuilder offered to undertake some limited repointing but refused to correct the defects in straightness, and the NHBC also refused the claim.

The homeowner arranged to undertake remedial works at his own cost to achieve the contractual workmanship requirement. Wingrove Law then acted for the homeowner in court proceedings against the housebuilder and successfully recovered the majority of the money spent plus all costs, whilst ensuring the homeowner did not lose any remaining cover under his NHBC Buildmark policy.

To find out if Wingrove Law could help you recovery damages for unresolved defects in your new build home, please get in touch.

Recovery of £150,000 damages plus all costs covered

Wingrove Law advised the owners of a £650k new home in a highly successful claim against a national housebuilder.  Our clients recovered £150,000 in damages and had all of their legal costs and expenses covered.  The claim had previously been denied by both the developer and the new home warranty company.

If you have or suspect serious design or workmanship defects in your new build home and are struggling to get the developer or warranty company to address these, please get in touch to find out how we can help you.

Successful outcomes for 70% of owners on a prestige development

Wingrove Law acted for 7 out of 10 owners at a prestige new build development of £1m+ properties in the North West in claims against the developer, recovering a total of £1,080,000, sufficient to address extensive longstanding functional defects in their homes. 

The developer and the new home warranty company had both previously denied liability.

If your new home has complex design or construction defects and you are struggling to get the developer or warranty company to address the isssues adequately or at all, please contact us for advice.

£650k recovered on a claim valued by the developer at £78k

Wingrove Law advised four homeowners on a small development in a claim against a national plc housebuilder relating to extensive defects in each of the homes.

A particular feature of the claim was that the developer's expert witnesses priced the claim at under £80,000, vastly lower than the amount the developer subsequently agreed to pay. 

The valuation of the claim by the developer's experts was so conspicuous as to invite serious questions about the experts' competence and intergrity. The potential damage that can be done to homeowners by rogue experts who appear willing to compromise their ethics and even potentially perjure themselves for their paymasters can be enormous.

We can advise you on all aspects of pursuing a claim against your developer including preparation of persuasive expert evidence and skillful handling of problematic opponent experts.

Legal Ombudsman Service: maximum award of £50k. Twice.

Wingrove Law advised homeowners on a professional negligence claim against their conveyancers for losses arising due to a delay in their new home warranty cover being incepted after legal completion.

The warranty cover note should have been received by the conveyancers before completing the purchase. They omitted to ensure it was.  The warranty cover note was issued around 1 month after completion.  Under the policy terms, patent (visible/discoverable) defects in the property at legal completion were not covered by the 'builder warranty' section of the policy. 

The builder went into receivership.  The homeowners claimed on their warranty.  They then discovered they were uninsured in respect of the remedial works required to put right patent defects to the value of over £51,000. 

Wingrove Law advised the owners on pursuing a complaint via the Legal Ombudsman ("LeO") as part of the professional negligence pre-action protocol procedure before starting court action.  The LeO is an approved ADR scheme for the purposes of the protocol.

The conveyancers denied the claim, challenged (unsuccessfully) the LeO's jurisdiction to consider the complaint, and refused to accept the LeO's Preliminary Decision.  The owners referred the matter to an Ombudsman to make a Final Decision.

Both the Preliminary and Final Decisions found for the owners and both times the owners were awarded the maximum financial award of £50,000.

Maximum awards are almost unprecedented.

46-owner group action against national housebuilder

Wingrove Law advised a group of 46 homeowners in a claim against a national housebuilder relating to extensive design and construction defects in their homes. The housebuilder was offering to carry out what the owners considered to be wholly inadequate remedial works under terms that would have left the owners inheriting ongoing potentially ruinous liabilities for unresolved defects.

The proposed remedial works by the housebuilder were originally estimated by the housebuilder to cost around £9 million across the whole estate.

Wingrove Law advised the owners throughout the legal action and successfully negotiated settlement to include the following:

• The extent of remedial works was vastly more extensive than originally offered, with the total value of works carried out increasing to > £25 million for the estate
• Wingrove Law's clients also secured, in addition to the improved scope of works:
  • Financial compensation of over £250,000
  • Access to the full suite of technical drawings and details for the remedial works, essential if claiming for defects in the remedial works themselves
  • Detailed plot-specific records of all remedial works carried out, thereby improving mortgageability and saleability and helping to preserve market value
  • A full time Clerk of Works employed by them at the housebuilder's cost to supervise and oversee all remedial works being undertaken to ensure adequacy especially in relation to areas that were covered up once done
  • A suite of enforceable guarantees and warranties in relation to key components (some of these were offered to non-group owners but were unenforceable)
  • A 10 year extension to their section 3 NHBC Buildmark cover
  • Recovery of over 97% of their legal costs and expenses incurred in pursuing the action

Group action against high-end developer

Wingrove Law acted for three owners of £2 million + properties in a claim against the developer over extensive unresolved defects in their homes.

The owners initially raised concerns over patent defects with an estimated claim value of around £250,000.  Wingrove Law arranged for extensive surveying investigations to be undertaken which led to discovery of pervasive serious defects throughout each home and external areas increasing the claim value to over £1.1 million.

Wingrove Law advised the clients throughout the action and assisted them in negotiating settlement at a highly pressured mediation on exceptional terms:

• Full remedial works done by housebuilder following a scope of works drawn up by the claimants' own surveyor
• 100% recovery of all legal and surveying costs and expenses incurred
• £100,000 per household compensation payment
• Bespoke dispute resolution procedure agreed for resolving any problems arising during or after the remedial works, with funding costs borne 75:25 by the housbuilder
• Alternative accommodation provided at a cost of £30,000 per month for circa 2 years whilst works completed
• All incurred financial losses and expenses reimbursed

Buy-back negotiations

Wingrove Law has advised numerous owners of severely defective new build homes on buy-back negotiations with housebuilders.

Buy-back negotiations are invariably complex, protracted and potentially very risky for owners if not properly advised.

Wingrove Law has a 100% success rate in buy-back negotiations ensuring owners obtained full market value for their homes (on a deemed no-defect basis), full cost cover for associated sale and purchase costs including SDLT and full-service removal costs, and generous financial compensation packages.

Claim for damages for Data Protection breach

Wingrove Law advised clients who, through a Subject Access Request, discovered their online social media activity was being secretly monitored by a PR agency appointed by a national housebuilder.  It became apparent that the national housebuilder maintained a "Facebook Watchlist" which was routinely discussed at board level and used to inform the housebuilder's defensive actions against owners posting online content they deemed to be adverse to their own interests e.g. inviting others to come forward with a view to taking group legal action; offering to share personal experiences with prospective buyers etc.

The clients were also being routinely monitored at their home.

Wingrove Law advised the clients in a claim for damages for the national housebuilder's unlawful use of their personal data.  The claimants recovered a five-figure sum on settlement, plus costs.

Guidance and support in the background

Wingrove Law does not just advise on full-scale court proceedings or high value disputes.  We also provide many new build owners with advice and assistance discreetly in the background, with the homeowners continuing to deal in person directly with the developer or warranty company.  This can be a very powerful and cost-effective approach that often nets clients substantially better outcomes in their negotiations with developers and warranty providers than they were being offered prior to our engagement. 

To discuss how we might be able to help you, please get in touch.

Find out how we can help you

For a free, no-obligation chat about how we may be able to help you with unresolved design & construction defects, financial losses, concerns over misuse of personal data, inadequate or incomplete advice or services from your conveyancer, or any other issue you may have with your new build home, please email or call Geoff Peter, founder and principal solicitor at Wingrove Law:

• T: 07711 893943
• E: hello@wingrovelaw.co.uk