A carer is furious after he came home from a day out to find workmen had dug up his front garden, meaning he could barely get through the door.

Damon Webb had complained to the developer of his home, in Lavender Avenue in Minster, about issues with his downstairs toilet.

He moved in last March but over the summer he and his neighbour started having issues with their loos back-flowing.

The homes were built in 2016.

After making a number of complaints to the developer, an initial assessment of the drains was carried out and Mr Webb’s neighbour was told there was nothing wrong.

Then, on June 9, Mr Webb, who is a full-time carer for his mother, went out to spend a day with her in Herne Bay.

Before they left, he said three contractors were on his driveway who said they had come to find out what was going on.

However, when they returned, their front garden was completely dug up.

“We pretty much couldn’t get into the house,” said the 50-year-old. “It was a shock.

“I contacted Jones Homes who said they were unaware that this was taking place, and that as far as they were aware it was an assessment.”

The work to raise his drainage pipe took three days and was completed by contractors from Lenmark, who then corrected Mr Webb’s front garden. But while Mr Webb said they’d done an excellent job, he is still angry about the lack of communication from Jones Homes.

He said: “We had no letters to say when they were going to come out and we’ve still not had anything to say there was an issue, what was found or that the work has been done.”

A Jones Homes spokesman said: “Jones Homes had been contacted by two residents in Lavender Close regarding issues with drainage.

"We responded to both with a standard email outlining next steps, namely that we would send a contractor to determine if there is a fault and whether any fault is a result of the original installation or from any works carried out by the householder.

“One of the residents replied to request that we proceed to this stage and following an investigation, remedial works were carried out at Jones Homes’ expense.

“During this process, our contractor identified and fixed a problem at a neighbouring property without informing Jones Homes. "The contractor said they did discuss this with the owner of the home in question.

“Once Jones Homes was made aware that a resident’s garden had been disturbed, we apologised and set about reinstating the garden to its original condition. This work has been completed, with the exception of a mark on a driveway for which we are arranging a repair."

He added: "Jones Homes is recognised as a HBF Five Star Builder and we are committed to ensuring customers’ experience of living in their new home is positive.

"We regret that on this occasion a contractor acted without our express permission and we have acted to remedy the situation quickly.”

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