The Bannings were approaching retirement and had saved for years to buy their home. Dianne Banning told Watchdog, "We now face the prospect of our nest-egg being swallowed up with all the problems. The rendering on the front of the house has cracked and it's going to be a destructive and expensive process to investigate what has happened.

WHEN PR executive Heather Scott moved into a new six-bedroom detached house in the East Lothian village of East Saltoun, she wanted to be sure it had been finished to the high standards she expected. Homes on the exclusive 21-property estate sell for £350,000 upwards - and at that price it wasn’t an unreasonable request.

A family living in their £350,000 dream home are suing the builders after an independent inspector found 176 defects. Justin and Sarah Gardner say their Bryant Homes house in Headington has turned into a living nightmare because it is riddled with faults.

When the Skuse family moved into a brand-new home, their dream turned into a nightmare. More than a year later, they and other residents of a Westbury Homes development in Weston-super-Mare are still waiting for defects to be put right, reports Corinne Hitching.

Many people elect to buy new-build houses so they won't inherit other home owner's problems. We have received over 200 emails from people who bought new-build houses from Westbury Homes. They have inherited more problems than they bargained for.

The nation's biggest home builder also has the biggest house-building complaints file on the Watchdog database.

Seventeen residents who bought their properties from Persimmon Homes have an exclusive no-one would want - that they prefer their water in bottles!