More than half of the buyers of new homes have experienced major problems with their properties, according to research, which comes after Bovis Homes agreed to pay £7m compensation to customers for poorly built houses.

A housing development put on hold for a decade has been called a "blight on the community". Harron Homes said the scheme at Heol Berwyn, Cefn Mawr, was left unfinished following the 2007 financial crash.

Weak mortar, faulty drainage, unfinished fittings … for many buyers of newly built properties in Britain, their dream home quickly turns into a nightmare. Last week, it emerged that residents had to move out of a recently completed Manchester apartment block, Islington Wharf Mews, because it breaks fire safety rules.

Nearly 300 families a week are being forced to move into shoddy newly-built homes that have not been finished as builders cut corners to meet targets, it has been claimed.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes offered customers up to £3,000 to move into incomplete homes before Christmas shortly before it issued a surprise profit warning to investors.

Fed-up customers joined the Bovis Homes Victims Group on Facebook. The 650-strong body plans to protest at Bovis’ HQ in Longfield, Kent.

Customers have told of how when they picked up the keys to their dream homes they discovered a string of issues and work unfinished – leading a housebuilder to apologise. A young couple finding their home was missing its oven and a mum having to make an 18-mile trip to do her washing are among a litany of complaints laid at Bovis Homes’s door.

Shoddy workmanship, terrible customer service and homelessness are just some of the issues homeowners on a Grantham housing development say they are facing. And they have become so angry with developer Persimmon Homes, they have united and are standing together to demand action.

Thousands of buyers face moving into substandard properties as developers compete to meet demand for affordable housing, experts are warning. The concerns come as the number of new homes in England jumped by 25% in 2014-15 according to official figures released last week – the biggest increase in 28 years.

Mr Russell Newcombe,33, and his wife Carly,35, reserved a plot on the Hillside Gardens estate in Pinhoe in February 2014 after hearing that the area they hoped to move to benefitted from good schools and more importantly that the developers had a good reputation.