We were promised a pretty landscape with our £400k newbuild homes but it’s been left to rot…we’re banned from fixing it
RESIDENTS live in a newly built village where the £400,000 property is promised a beautiful landscape – they have nightmares instead.
The Langley Country Park estate, located just outside Mickleover in Derby, was completed many years ago.
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But according to people living in more than 500 houses, the place has been abandoned by the people who manage it.
There are many alleged problems including rapidly decaying trees and two overgrown ponds, known as SuDS, at the entrance not draining properly.
It is said that weeds are all over the roadside, garbage is scattered near the sewers and there are lampposts that do not turn on.
They allege that the wood was chipped and the material on the back of a device was torn and damaged in the children’s play area.
Rocks and gravel were scattered on the road through the middle, and on other sections, the runway had cracks running along the sides.
Ian Debling, who moved from Kirk Langley in 2016, loves the rural and landscape feel of Langley National Park.
Since then, he has grown tired of trying to sort things out so he can be proud of where he lives.
Ian said, “They don’t listen to us. We have no control. We can’t ask them to do anything because we have no control over the management company.
“I advise people not to buy a new building on a site like this because they are all set up the same way.”
He said he has counted at least 50 “large” trees that have died in the past year.
Most are still surrounded by their wooden supports even though many years have passed since they finished growing.
Another tree was shown to have brown leaves, even though it was summer.
The base of the tree trunk was damaged because people said that people who came to cut the grass hit the bottom of the tree.
Michael Thompson and his wife moved from Burton and thought it looked “lovely” with fields nearby to walk the dogs. He said the appeal has gone now.
“It was basically abandoned,” he explains. “When it was completed, it was pretty neat but since then it’s been regressed.”
Michael Cummins, who moved from Hertfordshire, said he is currently looking to move in between the issues.
Who is responsible for the land in Langley Country Park?
In the past, land on newly built sites became council property once they were completed. This is no longer the case.
Today, while roads are still approved by councils, common areas such as parks and lawns ultimately belong to a “management company”, set up by developers – in this case are Miller Homes and Redrow Homes – while they’re still under construction.
During construction, the directors of the “management company” are often the directors of the development companies.
Miller Homes and Redrow Homes hired a Residential Management Group (RMG) to take care of all the maintenance for them.
But once the estate is complete, the developers are meant to transfer the land from their own hands to the hands of the “management company” and step down as director of said company.
Local residents can then become directors and employ their own contractors for local maintenance work.
The land transfer at Langley Country Park has yet to happen.
It was meant to be a few months ago, but uncertainty about which pieces of land actually belonged to the developers hindered the process.
Therefore, the people still do not have the power to solve their own problems.
They argued that RMG management had neglected the property – and denied residents’ requests to arrange it themselves through contractors they had sought quotes from individually.
Each of the 514 landlords or lessors also has to pay an annual service fee in addition to their council tax.
The median price of a detached property in Langley Country Park is £291,782.
A three-bedroom townhouse is currently on the market for £250.00 and a four-bed detached house will cost £360,000.
A spokesperson for Redrow and Miller Homes said: “The land transfer is currently underway with the Land Registry.
“We expect this process to be completed within the next three months, at which point we will arrange to hand control over to the residents of Langley Country Park.
“In the meantime, development is being maintained by the designated managing agent, RMG.
“We will be monitoring them to make sure any concerns regarding its maintenance are addressed.”
A spokesperson for RMG said: “While the transfer of land is a legal process that must be followed, all parties are eager to hand over the operation of the plan to residents.
“Until we can get to that point, we’ll take feedback from residents through our 24/7 customer contact team and on-site Property Managers.”
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