FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Another new development and the same old problems.
Since May, First Coast News has been reporting on complaints about a local home builder with neighborhoods across the First Coast from Middleburg to Yulee.
Now, another neighborhood is saying they’re not getting what they paid for.
It’s been a little over two months since the Batterton family moved into the home built by Richmond American Homes in Fernandina Beach. They say when they moved in, the home had incomplete details and the family has a long list of issues that has yet to be fixed.
“The microwave is leaning forward and we can’t open the door all the way because it's not in properly,” Homeowner Yvonne Batterton said.
This, along with crooked windows and outlets, paint mistakes, and cracks in the concrete are what Batterton says she’s been trying to get fixed for more than two months. Pieces of blue tape placed around the home keep track of some of those issues.
“They mentioned that those were going to be taken care of, they were going to be sending people over to take care of it,” Batterton said. "It has been over two months and it has been a struggle to get them to come in, get them completed, to get them done."
Batterton says some problems are just irritating while others are concerning.
“Up until today, they have not filed or recorded our warranty deed,” Batterton said.
A warranty deed is a legal document confirming a property transfer from seller to buyer. But Batterton doesn’t have one yet and in a search of Nassau County records, Real Estate Attorney Zachary Roth couldn’t find any record of it either.
“There is no deed recorded,” Real Estate Attorney Zachary Roth said.
Batterton says after hearing similar stories from other Richmond American Homeowners, she now feels part of a pattern.
“I guess it’s the follow-up of completing the work that they said they were going to do and to give the homeowner the results they are expecting, what they are paying for and I think they are taking all of that for granted,” Batterton said.
First Coast News reached out to Richmond American Homes for a comment and the company responded that it is not commenting publicly on individual customers' concerns but does take them seriously.