The house mafia: the scandal of new builds

‘We don’t just have snags with this house — “snags” suggests issues that are minor,’ says Kelsey Aldritt of her new-build Persimmon house just outside Pembroke, Wales. ‘This house has had major problems from the moment we moved in.’ Kelsey is six months pregnant and the doctor has told her not to get stressed, but with a house like this, stress is unavoidable.

‘It really angers me that Persimmon gave us such a defective house,’ says Kelsey’s partner, Theo. ‘Nothing is built right — and I don’t want Kelsey upset, worrying about chasing Persimmon to do repairs, not at a time like this.’

The case of Kelsey and Theo is far from exceptional. I’ve reported on countless ‘new-build nightmares’ over recent years. Social media is full of support groups of young homeowners suffering at the hands of large housebuilders.

Boris Johnson is convinced that solving the UK’s chronic housing shortage will return successive Tory governments.