We splashed out £900,000 on a newbuild home – but now it’s worthless

DEVASTATED homeowners say they face financial ruin after splashing up to £900,000 on flats now valued at £0.

Within months of the first leaseholder moving into Agar Grove, in Camden, North London, they discovered a “catastrophically damaged” development with a leaking roof and cracked brickwork.

Daniel Bruce, who sold his successful tech start-up and put down a 75 percent deposit on an £850,000 apartment, is one of the “victims” who says his house is now “un-mortgageable”.

The software engineer, 38, said: “We were sold catastrophically damaged homes.

“I feel physically repulsed by my computer – because that’s the tool I have to use to fight. I’ve had to become an activist.

“Fighting this has become a full-time job.”

Daniel’s master bedroom is closed off due to a terrible smell in the en-suite – believed to be rot caused by a leak somewhere in the bathroom.

Parts of his ceiling have come down and there are cracks throughout the apartment, while some windows no longer open fully.

He added: “I don’t remember the last time I slept for more than two hours. It’s frozen our lives.

“I don’t consider myself an emotional person, but I’m absolutely distraught.

“New build buyers need to know that their sign-off certificate doesn’t mean anything and their warranty might be impossible to claim against.”

Jewellery designer Alexandra Druzhinin, 49, who paid £900,000 for her apartment, is also beset by problems.

She said: “We constantly live in fear. We are completely trapped. We can’t get away from this.

“I’m just absolutely drained. Not only have we lost the money we spent buying and renovating the flat, and the legal fees – but now we stand a chance of losing everything we own because we can’t get insurance.”

Problems became apparent less than a year after the first leaseholders moved in and in 2020 a major leak was discovered in the communal stairwell.

Despite years of reports about the state of the building, the insurance company that provided the 10-year warranty has not paid out.

Now a government minister has asked Camden Council to consider whether it can prosecute the construction firm for “recklessly” signing off on the block of flats that has been judged ‘not fit for purpose’.

An expert surveyor has deemed the building potentially unstable and said consideration should be given to demolition.

Leaseholders in the block said they have forked out more than £300,000 in legal fees over their damaged homes and live in “constant fear” of total financial ruin.

One of those is Adam Helal, 58, who paid £705,000 for his flat that has significant cracking in his terrace wall.

His leaking bathroom has damaged his internal walls and part of his ceiling has also come down.

Mr Helal said: “All the windows are faulty. I work in sound and there’s no sound-proofing at all.

“It’s supposed to be triple-glazed but there’s actually not much difference if you have them open or shut.”

Prime Metro Properties based in Islington, north London, said it was limited in what it could say about the block, not wanting to “prejudice any future proceedings”.

A spokesman said the firm retained three of the block’s seven flats, as it “continues to suffer the consequences of the problems which have manifested themselves”.

He added: “Since the building began to display problems we have spent a considerable amount of our own money and time investigating, trying to get to the root of these problems, and have taken matters up with various insurers and the warranty providers, at no expense to the other lessees, and continue to do so.

“We remain committed to having this matter resolved and have kept all the lessees appraised of the issues, as well as our efforts.”

Michael Gove, Secretary of State at DLUHC, has offered the leaseholders a meeting.