A HOUSEBUILDER specialising in prestigious homes has been rapped after falsely saying some of its houses were made entirely from brick.

Cheltenham-based property developer, Westbury Homes (Holdings) Limited, appeared before Accrington magistrates following an investigation by Lancashire trading standards.

The court heard that that during 2002, officers received two complaints from families who had bought properties on the company's Ribblesdale View development in Great Harwood.

In both cases the families had complained that brick walls on the outside of their homes were not all that they seemed. Parts of a front-facing wall that looked like solid brick turned out to be just slices of brick glued to a metal board.

One resident only learned what had happened seven months after he'd moved in.

Investigations by trading standards officers confirmed that so-called 'brick slips' had been used as a weight-saving measure on both homes above integral double-garages.

Although there was no evidence that the houses were structurally inferior to traditionally built properties, the company had failed to tell purchasers about the use of brick slips.

The prosecution said that a brochure had also been published stating that homes would feature "traditional materials such as brick" and that a property reservation form had also been issued on which the sales negotiator had written "elevational treatment: brick."

The court was told that by not drawing attention to the use of brick slips, purchasers had been entitled to assume that their homes would be put together in the traditional way using tried and tested materials such as solid house-bricks.

Magistrates heard that the company had apologised for its mistake and that it had not intended to mislead its customers. The company said that brick slips were only used on houses in its 'Space4 Lochwood' range and that even then, 97 per cent of the walls were made of solid brick.

The court was told that the company had since changed its procedures and sales staff were now told to inform prospective purchasers about the use of brick slips at an early stage.

The company said that it was proud of its products and that resale values of properties in this range are as good as traditionally built houses.

For the offences of making misleading statements the company was fined a total of £2,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £803.

After the case, Jim Potts, chief trading standards officer, said: "Housebuilders should obviously take a lesson from this. They can not assume that people are not interested in the detail.

"People have a right to assume that their house is built from traditional methods. When you say brick, you mean brick."