AN OKEHAMPTON householder whose new-build home of nine years has been discovered to lack fire safety barriers is urging his neighbours to press for their own checks from developer Persimmon Homes.

David Thompson, of Long Barton Avenue, was visited by fire safety inspectors working on behalf of Persimmon Homes last week. They discovered that two out of four fire barriers were missing in the loft and the others were not in place correctly.

Mr Thompson has since booked a further check to see if fire barriers are in place above doors and windows in the property, a legal requirement.

‘I feel someone has a duty of care here, and it doesn’t look like Persimmon are doing anything above the legal requirement,’ he said. ‘NHBC [the National House Building Council] has not reponded to me either, as I have raised a complaint with them as to how they can issue a building sign off certificate with something as serious as fire barriers not being in place.

‘I feel we need to warn residents to get these checks carried out as soon as possible by contacting Persimmon and insisting that the full survey is carried out.

‘My two neighbours have had remedial work carried out, so we are not an isolated case, and the workmen informed me they had seven inspections to carry out on the same day. We’ve been in our house for nine years with fire barriers not in place — where are the companies’ moral compasses?’

Persimmon Homes, which built the estate on the east side of Okehampton, is carrying out checks on its properties nationwide after it was revealed that many of its timber-framed houses had been built with incorrectly fitted fire safety barriers. The issue came to light after a fire at one of its properties in Exeter back in April 2018.

A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes said: ‘We are taking this issue very seriously and have a clear action plan in place to address the problem in a structured manner. Since we became aware of the issue in October 2018, circa 29,000 properties have been inspected. ‘Inspections are continuing, and we apologise to all customers affected. We continue to deal directly with individual concerns.’

Houses on the Persimmon Homes estate in Okehampton, including Mr Thompson’s, were inspected and signed off as fit for purpose by the National House Building Council (NHBC).

A spokesperson said: ‘NHBC is aware of the issues raised by some of the homeowners at the development and we are monitoring the situation closely. We encourage NHBC Buildmark policy holders to contact us directly should they require further support or information.’