A COUPLE said moving into their dream home has been a nightmare after poor drainage turned their £300,000 home into a “swamp.”
Paddy Harper, 30 and his girlfriend were overjoyed to be moving into the new property.
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The couple moved into Bellway’s Summerville Gardens estate in August 2022.
However, their first winter saw their back garden flooded with water that ran down a hill from a farmer’s field at the rear.
Paddy took a video of the stream of water flowing through into the street in front of his house from his back garden.
Images showed that the garden was being turned into a ‘swamp’ from 2023 to 2024 due to ‘poor drainage.’
The crime scene examiner claims he feels he has been abandoned by Bellway after trying to get the issue resolved.
He told Edinburgh Live: “When we first moved in there were always patchy bits and mud and it seemed to get wetter and wetter whenever it rained.
“The build up was constant and we raised the issue but they just blamed us.
“None of the gardens on our street look particularly great but it seems as though our garden and our neighbours garden are particularly impacted by flooding. Bellway sent out someone to assess the damage but the contractor claimed that the issue was caused by us not raking our leaves.
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“When we try to rake the leaves we end up taking up the grass due to how wet it is. In October/November 2022 we had a full on flood through our garden and next door’s.
He added: “They have promised works to fix the issue but have repeatedly made excuses for it not being done.
“They seem to have just moved onto other sites where they can make more money and have left us to suffer in a swamp.
“It’s a full on flood. They didn’t take into account that everything on the back row of the estate slopes towards the back right of our garden.
“They dug a couple of trenches but didn’t actually install drainage so those trenches just filled with water whenever it rained. That is now running across our garden and approaching our house.
“We have paid over £300,000 for a swamp. It feels like they have just taken our money and now washed their hands of us.”
Paddy claims an engineer he invited to his home to assess the issue found serious flood risks coming from the higher ground.
He said they considered selling the home but claim they would suffer to sell it due to the flooding issues and are trapped due to the rising mortgage rates.
He invited an engineer out to his home to assess the issue and claims they found a serious flood risk coming from the higher ground behind his home.
The forensic cop claimed that the pets aren’t allowed out due to the flooding issue.
He added: “We feel like we are trapped in our own home as it is a swamp back there. We have not been able to have a housewarming party as no one can go into the back garden.
“Whenever we have tried to ask for help the attitude from Bellway has been shocking. We paid them for this house and they treat us like a nuisance if we raise an issue.”
Bellway said: “The UK has been facing extremely high rainfall this winter and spring. The flooding has occurred due to the property backing on to fields, where excess rainfall is running off the fields into the garden of the property.
“A drainage ditch has been dug to stop this happening. It was always our intention to tie this ditch into a positive drainage system to avoid it filling up and having the potential to overspill down the hill.
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“Unfortunately, however due to excessive wet weather we have been unable to complete these works over the last few months. It is our intention to complete this as soon as we get a break in the weather and conditions dry up suitably for us to do so.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to the homeowner but this will be resolved as soon as possible.”
