02/23/2007

CAMDEN, Del.- Imagine buying a brand new home only to discover water seeping through the walls. A new homeowner in Delaware says he has that problem right now.

From a leaky door to a leaky basement and possibly mold problems, Todd Bell is fed up and angry. He said there are cracks outside his new Camden home that allow water to seep under his floors and down his walls. Todd said he has called the developer about 60 times since moving in to fix the problems.

"He [the developer] said he would have the mold looked at, the basement fixed, all this stuff fixed, that they're going to come out that Monday to fix them and give me a completion date," Bell recalled. "That never happened and it all went downhill from there."

Over the past year, Bell said the developer has sent workers out about 50 times to fix the problems. Todd said nothing has been fixed and in some cases the damage only got worse.

Bell and his family have lived in the new home for about a year and two months, and he said the problems have been ongoing from the start. The developer refused to comment.

The Delaware Office of the Attorney General confirms it did receive complaints about the developer who built Bell's home, but after an investigation the office found no official violations.

Officials with the Attorney General's Office say issues like Bell's are often a civil matter between homeowners and developers. They say the homeowner can choose to take the developer to court.
http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?s=6131135