'We bought dream £275k home - family can't visit because of dangerous problems'

A couple have told of their torment after they bought what they thought was a 'dream' new-buildproperty - only for it now to be valued at just £1.

Grandparents Dayle Dixon, 54, and Mark Lee, 49, thought they were purchasing somewhere they could "live a little" when they paid £275,000 for their house in Ivybridge, Devon back in 2018.

But the property been rendered almost worthless after the couple discovered a long list of "nightmare" issues, including structural problems, in the seven years since moving in.

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Dayle said the problems are so severe that her grandson can no longer come round to visit - and says she has been left in tears after feeling "utterly trapped" in the house.

She told Thei newspaper: "I still cry about it all the time as we were sold a dream that turned out to be nothing but a nightmare.

"We can't sell our house and we can't decorate it. We are just living here knowing it is crumbling beneath us and we fear it will collapse."

Dayle says she and Mark had always rented before snapping up the three-bedroom property from Barratt, and used a £100,000 inheritance and £55,000 from the Help to Buy scheme to pay towards the costs.

But warning signs appeared early on when she noticed a hairline crack in the hallway, which she claims Barratt told her was "just settlement drying out" and "was nothing to worry about".

Dayle's "gut instinct" told her there was something more going on, and she soon began to notice other problems in the property, including water pooling in the wall and under the sink area in the kitchen.

The grandma says the wider issues - believed to have originated from a broken soil pipe in the wall - were discovered when the kickboards were removed in the kitchen to lay down the flooring.

In total, Dayle alleges they found 500 snagging issues, including gaps in the window frames, structural problems and dust throughout the property. She claims the couple also had to replace the ensuite showers.

Dayle also says that the damp-proof course was not "done properly", resulting in the house having recurring issues.

She claims she suffers from sleepless nights because of the home's sorry state. To make matters worse, Dayle told how a recent surveyor valued the property at £330,000 but informed her it would only fetch £1 on the market due to the amount of defects.

She now wants Barratt to purchase the home at market value, and compensate the couple for their lost furniture and "emotional distress".

Barratt did offer to buy back the home and pay the couple £5,000, a proposal Dayle says she declined, believing the compensation would not "touch the sides of everything that was ruined".

She now claims that the company has "taken it off the table" as they wouldn't accept the offer, leaving the couple feeling "trapped".

A spokesperson for Barratt Bristol said: "As a five-star housebuilder, we are sorry that Dayle Dixon is unhappy with her home, however, all our attempts to remedy the situation over many years have been refused.

"This includes offering to resolve any issues using independent surveyors and contractors. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, we have had no contact from her this year, but we remain open to discussing how we can best resolve the situation."