Daniel Bruce and Alexandra Druzhinin live in constant fear that their uninsurable homes could collapse at any moment.
The pair both bought “luxury” new-build apartments on Agar Grove in Camden, north London, which combined, cost them almost £2m.
However, they are now worthless as they are uninsurable and unmortgageable after being plagued with a catalogue of problems.
Alexandra, 52, a self-employed stylist, was the first to move into the block of flats in March 2019 after buying the £900,000 three-bedroom leasehold apartment with her daughter following her divorce. Marketed as luxury apartments, she believed she was buying her dream home.
Soon afterwards, Daniel, now 42, bought his duplex apartment in the block of seven new flats on Agar Grove for £850,000.
After moving into their new-build homes, both neighbours realised their homes were plagued with problems including constant leaks, mould, cracks and poorly fitted fixtures and fittings.
This led to the discovery of joists which had rotted through. As the building is timber-framed, they live in constant terror that it could collapse. When heavy lorries and trains go past, they can feel the building vibrate and shake.
Although they both had building insurance when they first bought their homes, a structural engineer’s report in August 2022 identified serious construction defects affecting the building’s stability.
The report recommended that demolition and rebuilding should be considered and the buildings insurance was cancelled.
For the last seven years, the pair have been in a legal battle with the freeholder, developer, and warranty provider, and have spent over £500,000 between them in legal costs. They fear it will eventually bankrupt them.
Daniel told The i Paper: “We are living with the knowledge that if something happened to our homes, we wouldn’t get a penny back.
“Structural hazards, fire safety hazards and water ingress hazards have all been identified, so it is not the fact that something might happen, it is knowing that something really could happen and we would be left penniless.”
Alexandra, who lives with her 25-year-old daughter, says she is terrified of the building collapsing or going up in flames.
“Things are so bad that I have bought cameras and had them installed in all my rooms so that when I am away from home, I can look at them and make sure nothing is on fire,” she said. “I need to be able to keep an eye on the building when I am not there and I am constantly checking it.
“When I am at home, every time I smell a hint of fire, such as someone having a barbecue, I have to go and make sure it is not our building that is on fire.
“Not only is all our money tied up in the apartments, if they collapsed or went up in a fire, we would lose all our possessions as well. We can’t have contents insurance because it is tied in with buildings insurance.
“In the absence of buildings insurance, I can’t insure any of my possessions or fixtures and fittings. As I have had a new kitchen and various wardrobes fitted, this would mean an additional £150,000 that would be lost on top of losing the money for buying the home.”
Alexandra says she cannot even have a pet or look after those belonging to friends as the fear of fire or collapse means she could not leave a defenceless animal in the building in case anything happened.
“With the building being timber-framed, if it did go up in a fire, it would burn down very quickly,” she said.
“We are not just living with the terror of losing our home and possessions, but a very real fear of potentially losing our lives.”
Daniel explained that the only way their homes can ever have value again is if they are made safe to the point where they are insurable and mortgageable again.
“If it wasn’t for all these issues, I think my apartment would probably now be worth in the region of £1m to £1.2m,” he said. “But even after seven years of fighting and all these legal costs, it is not clear what the steps to make this happen are as no one has put a viable remedial scheme in front of us.
“It is both terrifying and rage-inducing. On the one hand, we could lose everything at a moment’s notice. On the other hand, it seems that nobody is doing anything about this.
“We have spent more than half a million pounds on legal costs trying to get the homes that were sold to us,” he said.
“This has wider implications as the Government has now announced the Your First Home scheme, which will encourage people to buy new-build homes.
“But what they should be doing is making it so that anyone buying a new-build home going forward should get iron-clad consumer rights so that if a property is found to be defective, they should get a refund so they can move on with their lives.
“Instead, people like myself and Alex have spent seven years and our life savings fighting for some level of justice.”
Prime Metro Properties told The i Paper that they are not only the freeholder, but also the leaseholder of three flats at Agar Grove, so the problem that is being experienced is shared.
A spokesperson said: “As freeholder we have also incurred a huge legal cost in an attempt to resolve this situation.
“No money has been sought from the leaseholders to cover this expense nor is any being sought for the works that have been and will be undertaken to the building.
“We continue to work with the insurers Acasta to agree on a schedule of works to remediate the structural issues within the building and are doing everything possible to move this forward.
“As this is an ongoing legal matter we are not able to go into details but everything that can be done to resolve this matter is being done.”