House buyers owed thousands by developer

A housing developer is yet to refund deposits of more than £72,000 to two home buyers after building delays.

Customers say they were let down when their properties were not built within the agreed time frame.

Two customers of Landmark Estates Developments have told the BBC they have been chasing the firm for months to get the money they are owed.

Landmark Estates Development said it hoped to return the customers' money by mid December.

Michele Williams, who is owed £22,500 by the developer and has since bought a new home, said she has been forced to stop renovating her property because she does not have the money to pay for it.

Ms Williams, who now lives in Cornwall, had paid Landmark Estates Development a £22,500 deposit in February 2022 for a new home at Shebbear in Devon.

She had expected it to be completed in August 2022 but as of November 2023 the developer had still not progressed with work on the site, and instead Ms Williams bought a smaller property elsewhere.

Because the property was not constructed in the agreed timeframe, Ms Williams was legally entitled to a refund, which her solicitor said should have been paid by 20 October.

"I've had two years of stress and anxiety and disappointment really," she said.

Ms Williams said she cannot afford to complete building works on her new home until she is refunded.

"I'm temporarily living out of the two bedrooms so I've got this as my office, stroke kitchen stroke bedroom.

"A solicitor has also served two notices and they've still not paid me back, so it's very worrying, very stressful."

Gemma Lloyd Jones said she was still chasing a deposit of £51,000 after her house at a development in St Mabyn, Cornwall was not built within the time frame on her contract.

She said: "The deposit was £51,000 that we paid in April 2021, we're also owed our solicitor fees, our barrister fees, our court fees, so we've had to pay thousands of pounds out just to try and get the £51,000 back as well."

Ms Lloyd Jones requested her deposit was returned in February but is yet to receive it.

The developer had previously told the BBC that, like others in the construction industry, it had been hit by financial problems which had caused delays.

Work at the St Mabyn site has now progressed.

Landmark Estates Developments added that it was, "in the process of arranging for the return of the deposits and are liaising with the buyers and/or their legal representatives directly regarding this."

It added: "We hope to be in a position to refund the deposits by mid December."

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