Last year the young family of Kimberly Bisschop (26) moved into a new -build home in Grave who should have been a dream house, but soon became a nightmare. Where the promise of a sustainable heat pump should have brought them low loads and convenience, the problems accumulate. Tower -high energy bills, no hot water and a baby who wakes up daily with drilling and carpentry in an unfinished structure. What started as a dream house turns out to be a ruin, resulting in financial, emotional and health problems.
Every morning Kimberly and her four -month -old baby are awakened around seven o’clock. Not because of her alarm clock, but through renovation in and around the building. “We have been living on a construction site since the beginning,” she says, followed by a deep sigh.
There is sand everywhere in the house, which blows inside from the loud area. “We work overtime with the vacuum cleaner. Occasionally it is really impossible.” Even the equipment in the house leads under the enormous amount of sand. “Our robot vacuum cleaner has already failed, so we now have to do all the work ourselves.”
Huge cost
And that is just a small part of a laundry list of problems that the new -build house entails. Since this weekend, the family has been without hot water due to a problem with the water pump. It started when Kimberly discovered in November last year that energy costs were extremely high. “I thought that was very strange, since the house was advertised as sustainably.”
It was the start of a long search for the problem. “After repeatedly reporting to the landlord and various repairs, the manufacturer of the pump came by in March. He came up with a shocking conclusion: the installation was not performed correctly and the heat pump may even be unsuitable for our home.”
To this day there is no solution for the heat pump and there is no pressure anymore. “This ensures that we have been without hot water for days.” The costs that ‘the joke’ entails are also not tender. “Because the pump is not installed properly, it does not recognize whether it is hot or cold. This keeps running hard and we sometimes pay 900 euros in energy costs every month.”
Unheard
In the meantime, the family has their hands in her hair, especially because they do not feel heard by the landlord (VB&T). “We are not compensated for anything at all. We only get an excuse, but nothing changes.”
According to Kimberly, the policy is also occasionally completely unclear. “Because of the high energy costs, we received a rental payment postponement from the landlord. That was very nice, but a month later we suddenly heard that we had to pay the costs immediately. Otherwise they would go to court. Fortunately we were able to solve this after several times.”
In the meantime, the stress takes its toll for Kimberly. “We feel powerless. I have since been referred to a practice assistant, because it all gets a bit too much for me.” Because of the situation, she was unable to enjoy her maternity leave. “I really blame the landlord. In three weeks I have to get back to work. I will not get this period back. It’s just a nightmare.”
Summons
The family is determined to go to court to demand compensation for the suffering that has been done to them. That also does not go without a struggle. “We earn too much to call in the legal counter and we cannot pay a lawyer because of all the high costs. As a result, I have to prepare a summons and that takes a lot of time. The amount of evidence and files cannot be overseen. It takes most of my time during my leave.”
Response VB & T
‘VB&T recognizes and recognizes the complaints of Kimberly and her family. There are a number of things that have been caused by the residents for a long time. We therefore judge that the complaints are justified. The complaints about, among other things, the water pump have been raised by VB&T with the contractor several times, with different reminders. They have not succeeded sufficiently, which led to this unpleasant situation.
On Tuesday, people came to the address to repair the water pump. We assume that the symptoms are quickly remedied. We discuss a compensation with the residents. The construction project opposite the building is outside of us. We understand the frustration of the residents, but unfortunately cannot do anything about this. We advise them to call the police or municipality if vehicles are parked in wrong places. “