'LIVING IN A NIGHTMARE'
We’re living on a BUILDING SITE after ‘rogue builders’ took our life savings 2 years ago & still haven’t finished home
A FAMILY have been forced to live on a building site after claiming “rogue builders” took their life savings but haven’t finished the job after two years.
Sian and Khalid Harrison-Morton bought their Leeds home in 2019 and while expecting their fourth child, they decided to extend the ground floor of their forever home in Morley, West Yorkshire.
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The couple, originally from Sydney, Australia, say they hired a firm to build a single storey extension with ensuite and new kitchen.
They claim the firm were also instructed to knock out a number of existing walls in the family home to make the living area open plan.
The couple say the building firm started in early February 2020 and were told the work would be finished eight weeks later.
But almost two years on the family are still living in a building site with no downstairs heating - or contact with the builders in over a year.
Sian and Khalid spent their life savings and took out a second mortgage, totalling £42,000 - on the extension and have been unable to pay anyone else to finish the work as they claim they paid in full.
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Sian, 37, said the past two years have been a living hell and the couple are now fundraising to get their home back to a safe living condition for their children, Ayden, 15, Kirah, 9, Jaida, 5 and Ryder 2.
The mum-of-four, who works for Leeds council, said: “We are living in a nightmare.
“We found the firm on a traders’ website and they wowed us with promises of a professional team who would have our home ready in just two months.
“Our youngest was just four weeks old and we stressed we didn’t want the work to drag on with a new born in the house.
'LIVING HELL'
“They quoted us £42,500 for the work but on the first day they didn’t turn up.
“They said they got caught up finishing another job and started a few days late.”
Husband Khalid, 38, claims other builders have since warned the family that the little work that was completed is not safe and hasn’t passed safety standards.
Khalid said: “They starting digging the foundations, but we later found out they didn’t dig deep enough.
“They tried to get away with doing as little as possible and were cutting corners from the start.”
On March 30, the original completion date, the family claim that not even the foundations were completed.
Khalid added: “They blamed the weather and we accepted that would cause a delay.
“Then lockdown happened and they blamed that even though they were still working on our site and others during that time.
“They asked for £11,000 to flood the house with workers and get it finished. We paid but they never showed up.
“They got the full £42,500 from us claiming different amounts at a time saying it was for wages or materials.
“We just wanted to get it finished but then they supposedly had fallings out between them and said they wouldn’t work together again.
“The project manager lasted a month and visited maybe twice.
“The last time we saw a builder from that company was March 2021."
For months the couple claim they tried to contact the firm and say they did receive promises that builders would return.
'NO STATE TO LIVE IN'
Sian added: “It was in no state to live in, we had no heating downstairs, no use of the garden over the summer because they never removed any rubble.
“The last thing they did was arrange a skip, they actually said they would do it as a favour.
“Khalid filled it himself. The garden was full of blades, tiles and screws which they had just dumped everywhere.”
The couple claim their last conversation with the firm was April 2021 and believe the firm are trading under another name.
Frustrated Sian said: “We took legal advice but were warned court action could cost thousands and even if we won, the firm could go into liquidation or have no assets in that name to avoid repaying and we wouldn’t see a penny.”
Heartbroken she added: “We are so angry they have stolen our savings and left us in this mess.
“We haven’t been able to afford to go back to Australia to see family.
“Everything needs to be redone.
“The floors have to be taken up because they didn’t insulate it and left so much rubble there isn’t enough room so it has flooded underneath the house.
"Everywhere you look it’s just a mess. Internally, they knocked one wall down and the brick work from upstairs started falling and the wall dropped.
PROPERTY 'NOT SAFE'
“We have since been told they didn’t use support beams and we now have huge cracks in the walls of the bedrooms.
“Surveyors have told us it’s not safe.”
Until two months ago, the family had no heating downstairs and the unfinished extension means the house isn’t weather proof.
Sian continued: “In the lounge they took out the chimney breast and the hole was still there in the living room and snow and rain was falling in.”
The couple say they have contacted the police, the council, trading standards and their local MP but to no avail.
They have now have set up a GoFundMe page for donations for new builders to finish the work.
Sian said: “We have found a builder who is willing to do the work in stages as we get the money.
“We are just desperate to see progress again.
“Builders have estimated we need £25,000 just to get the house back to a liveable, safe condition as that’s the amount believed to have been pocketed by the firm for work they didn’t do.
“It’s just not a home and we feel we have let the kids down, living somewhere that’s not even safe.
“We are absolutely exhausted by it all.
“We are living surrounded by rubble, dust and our lives are in boxes, our two-year-old has spent his entire life living in a building site.
“It’s a living nightmare and without the cash to do the work, we don’t know when it will end.
“We both work full time and our children deserve a home not a building site. We have never asked for help before but we really need it now.”
'I PAID BACK EVERY PENNY'
The builder said: "I was ripped off by my so-called friends who agreed to finish the work.
"I feel for the couple but am unable to help out, my mental health is not good and I'm living on my son's sofa, at least Khalid and his family still have a home, I don't, I'm homeless and unemployed.
"I'm sorry for their stress but I'm sure they will tell you I tried my hardest to get their job finished.
"I folded the firm mid 2020 with Covid causing me health issues and I'm now over 24k in debt with a debt management plan.
"I paid every penny I made back to Sian and Khalid I really wanted that job finished as they were lovely clients."
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Khalid and Sian strongly deny these claims and say they received £200 from Martin after spending a total of £42k on the build.
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