A couple from Birmingham has reportedly been left homeless after a builder they paid £139,000 to renovate their four bedroom bungalow was left like a tomb with no roof, full of debris.
The Mail reported that Radcliffe Ogier and his wife Nashreen, 50 was promised by Scott Devlin featured on mybuilder.com to turn their house into a dream retirement home.
The couple sold their house in Enfield in North London, and paid £280,000 for a bungalow in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham, close to their relatives. They then decided that their new home needed renovating and extending before they moved in with their three children and Mr Ogier’s 70-year-old mother Sheila. So they saved up for a year and contacted Devlin, 41, in the summer of 2013 after finding him on the mybuilder.com website, after being impressed with his sample work. The Ogiers agreed an eight-month plan for the work with Devlin and began paying him £5,000 every week to carry it out. The couple claimed that Devlin told them the major work would cost £160,000 and take ten months.
But two years down, the couple are now living with friends, while they find another builder to make their home habitable again. The rooms are open to the sky, plaster is hanging off the walls, doors and windows are missing and the house and grounds are covered with mounds of debris.
Mr Ogier noticed that the number of builders at the site had dropped off, by summer 2014, with lots more work pending. Then they found it almost impossible to contact Devlin, a former boss of Magical Kitchens in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, who was declared bankrupt in 2013. Finally the couple managed to meet the elusive builder at a pub in January to complain. They agreed to sign a new contract. Workers then came back for a day before disappearing again. The couple claim they have not heard from him since, despite visits to his business address.
Made bankrupt in 2013, Mr Devlin reportedly said Magical Kitchens, like so many small businesses, crumpled because it was the last link in a chain of unpaid bills. He was also allegedly let down by skilled tradesmen he recruited. Desperate to get any money in, Mr Devlin slashed prices. Personal problems also played their part, with one of Mr Devlin's daughters needing his help. A woman at a home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, where Devlin is listed as living claimed not to know him. But Mr Devlin added: ‘I’m not the kind of person to rip people off – all the positive reviews show that.’
