Residents fume over ‘mouldy’ luxury flats at Lymington Shores

TWO homeowners have spoken of their anger at having their luxury apartments at Lymington Shores ruined by “disgusting” damp and mould which they claim has riddled their flats.

Catherine Guyatt and Jan Robyns say every winter is a constant battle to keep the damage at bay and that developer Redrow Homes has failed to tackle the problem despite years of complaints.

The development was built on the site of the town’s former chicken factory, off Bridge Road, and an angry Mrs Guyatt told the A&T: “The chickens had better homes than we do!”

She bought her flat in December 2017 with husband David as a holiday home.

She said: “We thought it was lovely, but the following winter two large damp patches appeared in the living room.

“We complained and Redrow sent a surveyor who threw a lot of technical jargon at us. We were told they knew what the problem was, then repaired and repainted the patches.

“But the next winter the damp returned worse than before, along with black mould.”

Repairs were carried out again, but she said the problem has continued.

She even claimed that one expert told her she was to blame for condensation because her curtains were too “heavy and thick”.

Mrs Guyatt was horrified when she visited her apartment last week to find that the mould and damp had now spread to two bedrooms at the front.

Damp in Catherine Guyatt's apartment

She claimed recent phone calls and emails from her husband to demand action have been ignored, saying: “The stress and upset this has caused is just awful.”

Neighbour Jan Robyns said he has similar problems in the apartment which he bought in July 2018.

He said: “Every winter the same thing happens. Redrow come round and ‘fix it’. Then the next winter it’s back.”

Mr Robyns and Mrs Guyatt said they were both told at one point that the damp was being caused by glass balustrades above on the penthouse terrace. Work was carried out on them in 2020 but this winter the damp reappeared.

After emailing a complaint to Ian Sneddon, Redrow Southern Counties managing director, about this winter’s damage Mr Robyn received a reply on Wednesday from Tracey Jones, head of customer services at the company.

She said that she had been “made aware of historic issues at the development” and then claimed the “issue you have raised recently is a new one”.

Ms Jones said previous problems Mr Robyns had complained of had been “individually investigated and rectified”.

She said Redrow’s surveyors were now dealing with the new water ingress problem and would keep him updated.

An angry Mr Robyns, who wants an independent appointed to investigate the damage, said: “No one in his right mind believes these issues are separate. It’s a big mess. It’s incomprehensible a premium builder like Redrow can’t solve these issues and frankly doesn’t seem to care about their customers.

Ms Jones told the A&T: “We are working closely with residents to fully rectify this matter as soon as possible.”

She said the company has recently been in communication with three owners at the site, which has 168 homes, and is “working to resolve their issues, which relate to a small section of their brickwork and are unrelated to any previous work”.

Ms Jones says an independent surveyor has been appointed to “assess the situation”.

Referring to the comment made to Mrs Guyatt about her curtains, she said it was from a surveyor’s report which “suggested that any potential issues of damp can be exacerbated when homes are not ventilated as they should be”.