‘You can’t afford it’ Moment ‘aggressive’ estate agent mocks homebuyer on scandal-hit estate where residents pay up to £400k for luxury properties

• Buttercup Leys has been constructed over the past few years by Persimmon
• One man who was hoping to buy a ‘dream home’ said he was sworn at 
• Employee involved has been suspended with an investigation being carried out 

A sales agent working for one of the UK’s biggest housebuilding firms has been suspended after sticking up his finger up at a homebuyer. 

Photos seen by MailOnline show an employee of Persimmon Homes in Derby using the gesture which is roughly equivalent in meaning to ‘f*** you’ after a row. 

The gesture was made to a potential homebuyer looking to buy a property on the scandal-hit Buttercup Leys estate where the properties sells for up to £400,000. 

The estate has been hit by a series of controversies including Persimmon building an ‘eyesore’ fence without planning permission and claims that buyers were having to face upset, stress, depression and bullying during the process of buying homes.

The buyer from Derby told MailOnline that he attended the sales office at the new development earlier this month to view a home with his two brothers and parents. 

He said: ‘We had a viewing booked in for 4:30pm. Apparently they sent an email at 4:26pm that the appointment has been cancelled. 

‘We were not aware of it and realised after we got home and checked our emails.’

However, after entering the sales office, the man claimed that the mocking started by the sales agent. 

The man said: ‘After arriving, I entered into the sales office and said we had a booking. 

‘The guy looked shocked, he then saw my brothers and parents coming towards the entrance and asked, ‘all these people for a 3-bedroom house?’

‘I replied: ‘Of course mate, they all will be living and paying, there are three rooms in the house, you shouldn’t be judging or making comments like this.’ I felt insulted.

‘He then said that I have a bad attitude and that he doesn’t want to show me the house anymore.’

He claimed that he then left the office but the sales agent then followed him. ‘He started making judgments like: ‘You can’t afford the house! Look at the car you are driving! What is this? Look at my gold tooth!,’ the man said. 

‘He was also using swear words, so I told him to f*** off and that he had no customer service skills.

The man also claimed: ‘He kept instigating, saying ‘U don’t know who I am! U see this golden tooth? Meet me outside of work and I will show you.’

‘A lot of rubbish came out of his mouth. He completely ruined the experience, we all were very upset. It’s not nice to be threatened like this.’ 

However, people who witnessed the altercation said rude exchanges were made by both the homebuyer and sales agent. 

A Persimmon Homes spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘This sales advisor has been suspended pending a full investigation. 

‘Eye witness accounts suggest there was an unfortunate incident between both parties and our sales advisor has reacted in an unacceptable manner. 

‘Customer service is of the utmost importance to Persimmon and we are very sorry for this inappropriate behaviour whatever the circumstances. All customers and staff should be treated with respect at all times.’

Elsewhere, Persimmon is battling to keep an 8ft high fence dubbed an ‘eyesore’ by locals between the development and the A6.

It forms part of the 1,058-home site off Chellaston Road. However, it was erected without planning permission and has since been vandalised. 

Councillor Dan Corbin, group leader for the Conservative Group on South Derbyshire District Council, said at the time: ‘What is actually up is quite frankly a disgrace – a heavily graffitied fence.

‘It has been destroyed by tag artists and it has been turned into a complete eyesore.’

A retrospective planning application was refused last September by South Derbyshire District Council.

The barrier, which aims to block noise and the view of the A6, was part of an initial outline application submitted in 2006.

But another application needed to be approved before it could be built. However this did not happen, council officers said. 

The North Midlands division of Persimmon have now submitted a new planning application.

It comes after residents of the estate expressed their dismay after having to face upset, stress, depression and bullying during the process of buying homes at the development. 

Lee Else, a 38-year-old supplier quality engineer at JCB, lives on the estate with his partner Katie and three-year-old son, Logan.

Speaking previously, he said: ‘We know it can be stressful at the best of times, but when it’s first time buyers or first time for someone to actually own a new-build property, it is meant to be a dream, a fantasy, a happy time.

‘Persimmon preyed on first-time buyers, younger families. They threatened to take the full deposit off people (£500) and to take away the homes if you don’t sign the contracts.

‘You can imagine the nightmare this created. People lost £15,000 to £20,000 to make a fast sale (on their current house) or lose it all.

‘This has created upset, stress, depression, arguments between families as tensions were raised. People’s dream homes turned into homes from hell.’

Kim Durkin, who bought plots on the estate in 2015 and 2017, said: ‘We were told all houses on the estate are and will be leasehold and that is how all new-build estates are sold now. I feel we were mis-led and mid-sold.’ 

And Vikki Williamson, a 49-year-old clinical scientist for the NHS, lives on the estate with her husband Mark and daughter Amy-Lea and was one of the first to move on to the estate in April 2015.

She said: ‘We knew it was leasehold, and nearly pulled out because of it, but the salesman assured us that it would only cost £2,000 to buy after two years, and that ‘all new houses are leasehold now’.

‘Persimmon tell the same stories to purchasers nationwide, with the same figures, so it is obviously company policy, which they deny, just to get sales.

‘Once people move in, the aftercare is non-existent. This is not the first new build house I have bought, and I had none of these issues previously, so we are not naive house owners.’

Speaking at the time the concerns were raised, Persimmon said: ‘We are in regular contact with the residents at the Buttercup Leys development.

‘Any residents with queries about their own property are welcome to contact us directly.’