MYSTERY about responsibility and who will take action to help new homeowners devastated by a botched luxury apartment development in Grays continues.

Pullman Court has been a troubled site since day one.

The saga of what was described as a blue chip investment for homebuyers adjacent to Grays High Street has run for many months, with residents reporting a significant number of faults – some of which are life-threatening, including water pouring through electrical points and exposed electrics open in public areas.

Many of the apartments have suffered with damp and collapsed walls and ceilings.

The site's developers have gone to ground and are offering little comfort to residents who have paid between £200,000 and £300,000 for their new homes.

Despite all the faults, Thurrock Council – which granted planning permission and specified the building regulations for the construction, says it is not the authority's responsibility and there is nothing they can do.

The developers took out a contract with a building regulations company called Bureau Veritas – who continue to maintain they told the council that they did not complete on their monitoring and checks and handed that responsibility back to the council.

However, the council insists this is not true.

Today (Tuesday, 26 November) Bureau Veritas insisted once more that they had relinquished responsibility. They have acknowledged they signed off some of the work but not the complete job.

A statement to Thurrock NubNews said: "Bureau Veritas was involved in the early stages of building control at Pullman Court, but passed responsibility onto Thurrock Council in November 2018. The council is carrying out its own enquiry into this process and we are cooperating fully."

All that has left many of the site residents in despair. One, London-based Pricing and Forecasting Manager Matthew Muckell fears not only that existing resident of the block will continue to suffer the impact of a botched project – new buyers may yet also get snared in the trap as developers and financial backers try to eke some recovery of losses by cramming more flats into the project.

He says: "I have seen that 4 of the flats and office space with planning permission has been placed on an auction website, Dedman Grays. According to Dedman Grays they have been repossessed from the original developer.

"That's bad enough and I fear for anyone who is tempted to buy.

"But of more concern to us is who is going to finish the site to the 'luxury' standard we bought off plan and get a block management company in charge?

"Who is going to sort out the leaking roof and the leaking car park, re do the cowboy job done on the stairwells, do the snagging, replace the skips on the terrace with trees, complete the drainage, connect the lightning cables to the ground so if lightening hits the block it won't start a fire?

"We've all bought these flats for £210k-250k and now they are being flogged off for £160k at auction. The people behind this and all those who are shirking responsibility – including Thurrock council and Bureau Veritas have cost innocent people and families a fortune because they are incompetent.

"This mess needs sorting out rather than some people making millions to put in their back pockets."

Thurrock Council has been asked if it has any updated comment.