Claims residents are being plunged into fuel poverty at Tomintoul eco-homes
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There are claims that a new community housing scheme opened to great fanfare in Tomintoul is plunging residents into fuel poverty because the build quality is so poor.
The 12 affordable homes were developed on the site of the village's old secondary school and even received a visit from King Charles III in the Autumn given their eco-credentials.
But home owners and tenants have said they have been left counting the cost with heating and other fuel bills in excess of six-times what they were advised of.
The project was led by Tomintoul & Glenlivet Development Trust with support from the Communities Housing Trust and significant funding from the Scottish Government and built by Aberdeen-based Alpha Projects.
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Housing firm mounts robust defence against Tomintoul development claims
Resident Tommy Carnegie said: "I bought one of these houses as I work locally and it was advertised as affordable eco homes and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my first home.
"Also the fact that it was a new build I thought it should be problem and stress free for years to come, however, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
"There are some serious problems, mainly the heating, hot water and solar panels not working how they should resulting in huge electricity usage – around £14 a day.
"This is definitely not affordable eco friendly homes that we were told we were buying. The electricity meters are also all mixed up which makes things even worse.
"The developers are making out like everything is fine and it’s just snagging problems, however, this is a lot more than snagging. How can they class £14 plus a day for heating as affordable eco friendly homes?
"The whole heating system needs assessed and possibly changed by a qualified professional who knows what they are doing – me and the rest of the homeowners at the very least deserve this."
Dru McPherson, whose son Connor bought a two-bedroom property, said: "What I believe we have ended up with are houses that are not electrically safe and with huge heating costs... this is profit before people.
"My son should be paying £62 per month because of the solar panels, heat pumps and insulation, etc but bills at the moment based on usage are in excess of £380 per month."
Connor and his partner Jodie Esson bought this their first home off-plan.
He said: "We were sold on the idea of 'safe, affordable, Silver Active Standard eco homes that will serve to tackle fuel poverty and help our country get to net zero'.
"Not one part of this fairytale has been delivered yet the CHT for eight months have just been fobbing us off with platitudes.
"Our neighbours on this site are paying £14 to £18 per day for electricity and winter's not here yet – this is not affordable for anyone.
"We can't tell yet what our electricity usage will be because, like others, our electricity meter is not registered to our property but to our neighbours.
"Jodie and I have been subjected to huge mental stress since moving in and shockingly it looks like we now have to go to law to have our complaints addressed competently.
"We simply want what we paid for – nothing more, nothing less."
Resident Charlotte Rodgers bought the house for her and her two young sons because it was marketed as a 'highly insulated, affordable home'.
She said: "The poor quality and lack of customer care from those building and overseeing this development, is absolutely shocking.
Ms Rodgers said the builder's various electrical contractors first switched off and then four months later had to disconnect the solar power from the heating system to enable the central heating and hot water to operate reliably.
She said: "I have reported over 90 issues to CHT of which more than 80 remain outstanding and yet Alpha recently said they are not aware of any."
Alpha Projects provided a detailed response to the claims being made about heating issues and build quality which can be seen on the Strathy's website.
A spokesman said: "The homes are affordable homes with renewable technologies – as was the brief – complete with photovoltaics, air source heat pump and sunamp battery. The terms ‘eco village’ and ‘eco homes’ are being used in error...
"During recent investigations we have provided facts and evidence to CHT that counter the various erroneous statements to date. It’s regrettable that the facts and evidence don’t appear to deter the flow of such allegations.
"Notwithstanding this, we remain fully engaged to supporting the CHT in their investigations. Our contract concludes March 2024 and we are committed to closing out any snagging items in a timely manner."
The homes are a mix of affordable rent and discounted sale with eight 2 to 3 bedroom homes available for affordable rent and four 3-bedroom homes for discounted sale.
People with local connections through work or family were prioritised as residents.
Project backers said earlier this year: "The development also tackles fuel poverty and social isolation, as the homes are designed around a communal space, and include individual EV charging points, PV panels on each home to generate electricity, and are highly insulated."
Funders include the Scottish Land Fund, the Scottish Government’s Rural & Islands Housing Fund, Social Investment Scotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
A household is in fuel poverty if after housing costs, the total fuel costs needed to maintain a satisfactory heating regime are more than 10 per cent of the household’s adjusted net income.
Communities Housing Trust issues apology
The CHT have said they 'are extremely sorry for any distress and inconvenience felt by residents'.
Chief executive Ronnie MacRae said: "We would like to assure all that we recognise defects in the works and are working hard to ensure these are rectified and the properties are effective in providing good quality affordable homes for the area.
"The project is currently in its twelve months defects period during which the contractors have an obligation to rectify identified defects under the contract, and subject to some issues out-with their control, such as availability of manpower and material supply, they have and continue to engage appropriately.
"CHT have contacted relevant industry bodies regarding some of the complaints being made and continue to work with them to provide confidence in the process to residents, especially around safety of electrical installation which based on certification and responses from regulatory bodies to date have been confirmed as safe."
Mr MacRae continued: "Unfortunately when the electric meters were supplied by the only energy company available at the time, there were errors in recording the meters against the wrong addresses and this has taken time to rectify, however, all electric and solar meters now correspond to the correct addresses and we are working with energy advice specialists to look at providing support to residents in reconciling their bills, some of which may not be correct.
"We are also looking at specialist advice with regards to installation of renewables and from current desktop assessments the installation should be providing good quality services at reasonable costs, however, this can only be clarified once we are able to work with all residents to establish actual energy usage and energy generated via solar to be clear on running costs across the project.
"To date we have received permission from two residents to investigate this and that work has started and whilst it is only a limited sampling this does point to reasonable costs at this time."
He added: "CHT and all the relevant partners and agencies we are working with are committed to ensuring the development has all issues rectified satisfactorily within the contractual defects period and we continue to keep residents update and apologise again for delays which are out-with our control."
