60 Hartlepool Home-owners seek damages for defective homes

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Sixty Hartlepool home owners are in Court this week seeking substantial payments from Shepherd Homes Ltd as a result of being sold houses built with defectively designed piled foundations.

Shepherd Homes Limited built 94 'executive homes' on Eden Park, Hartlepool which were sold between December 2001 and February 2004. In March 2003, cracking and other signs of movement were first noted in some houses. Since then, many houses have shown varying degrees of cracking and movement and significant ground movement across the site has lead to patios and paths sinking up to 10 inches in places.

In 2007, Shepherd Homes Limited successfully sued its sub contractor, Encia Remediation Limited, which was responsible for the groundworks and foundations across the site. Encia admitted that it had failed to design the piled foundations properly to take into account the variable ground conditions on the site, which had previously been used as a landfill for another local builder. Despite winning its claim against Encia, Shepherd Homes Limited has defended the claims brought against it by the house owners, stating that although the foundations were defectively designed some are proving to be adequate.

In 2004, Shepherd bought back five properties but refused to repurchase any more. 27 of the 94 properties have already been repiled by the developer or the National House-Building Council (NHBC) at a cost of up to £290K per property, a process which takes around 6 to 8 months per property. A further 5 have very recently been identified as suffering from progressive movement which will require repiling or other works.

The houses should currently be worth up to £240k. However, the problems are well-known locally with the estate being referred to as “Sinking City” and only one house on the estate has sold in the last four years,

Alison Tate, partner with TBI Solicitors which is acting for the owners, said: “You can imagine the difficulties these home owners have suffered in the last seven years. Many need to sell but are unable to afford to do so. Even where the developer has accepted responsibility and repiled the homes, the inconvenience and disruption has been immense and incredibly stressful. Those which have not been underpinned still face uncertain futures. Properties which were sold as dream homes have become nightmares for these owners.”

The York-based developer, Shepherd Homes describes itself on its website as having ‘over 100 years' experience in producing skillfully designed, soundly constructed homes to suit modern lifestyles'.

TBI Solicitors was first instructed by one owner in 2004, and since then has represented the owners of 77 of the 94 houses*. The case is being brought against the developer, the NHBC which has provided the home construction warranty (“Buildmark”) for the properties, and its sister company NHBC Building Control Services Limited (NHBC BCS) which carried out Building Regulations inspections in place of the local authority. The claims against NHBC and NHBC BCS are currently stayed pending the outcome of the claim against the developer. The trial relates to ten sample properties, and is due to last five weeks, with the first week being held at Moot Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne during which the home owners are giving evidence and the remainder of the case being heard in the Technology and Construction Court in London.

*17 home owners have already settled their claims against Shepherd Homes Limited.