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Persimmon Homes: Couple's fears as part of new-build home collapses

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The couple were woken by a "massive crash" as part of the house fell away

A couple fear their home is unsafe after part of it collapsed, leaving debris and concrete on their doorstep.

Hayley Butcher and Charlie Moss were woken by a "massive crash" when a section of their house in Kent fell off on Wednesday.

The new home was built by Charles Church, a brand of one of the UK's largest developers Persimmon Homes.

Persimmon South East said it was investigating and carrying out "precautionary" work on adjacent homes.

First-time owners Ms Butcher and Mr Moss moved into the new-build home in Upper Harbledown at Christmas.

But Ms Butcher said the "trust and security is completely gone" after their "horrendous" experience.

She told BBC South East: "You don't expect to buy a newly built house and for it to fall down in the middle of the night do you?"

Debris from the fall
A section outside the bedroom fell away and also brought the porch canopy down
Debris from the fall
The couple described the experience as "horrendous"

The couple said they were woken by the loud noise just before midnight on Wednesday.

"We were asleep, heard a massive, massive crash, which obviously woke us up, looked out our bedroom window and there was loads of debris and concrete that had landed on our doorstep and our front garden," Ms Butcher said.

She said the section outside their bedroom "literally just fell away" from the house, knocking the porch canopy down.

Since the collapse, scaffolding has been erected on their home and about a dozen other properties on the development.

Mr Moss said the developer was quick to respond but he still wanted an assurance the property was safe.

House with scaffolding
The developer has also erected scaffolding on other homes in the development

Persimmon Homes South East said: "We took immediate steps to begin full rectification of the issue.

"While investigations into the cause continue, we have taken precautionary temporary works on adjacent plots to provide reassurances to our customers.

"Our priority is to resolve the situation safely and as quickly as possible while ensuring that any inconvenience to our customers is kept to an absolute minimum."