Not backing down. After North Carolina couple Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan filed a lawsuit against the producers of the HGTV series Love It or List It over their home renovation, the hit show’s production company, Big Coat Productions, is planning to fight back.
“Because this matter involves ongoing litigation, our attorneys have advised us and we feel that making a comment would be inappropriate at this time,” Big Coat Productions executive producer Maria Armstrong said in a statement, via the Charlotte Observer. “However, we do intend to vigorously defend what we consider to be false allegations.”
As previously reported, Murphy and Sullivan were selected to have their home made over on Love It or List It in April 2015. However, the Raleigh residents claim that their house was left in terrible condition when cohosts Hilary Farr and David Visentin — who have starred on the show since 2008 — presented the final reveal.
Each episode of the series focuses on a couple who are dissatisfied with their living space. While Farr is busy renovating the existing house, Visentin takes the homeowners to see other homes on the market. The couple then gets to decide if they want to “love it” and stay put or “list it” and purchase another property.
Murphy and Sullivan opted not to move. But, according to their lawsuit, they were not pleased with the outcome of their time on Love It or List It. The Charlotte Observer reports that Murphy and Sullivan are suing Big Coat Productions and Aaron Fitz Construction, the contractor hired by the show to fix up the couple’s house, for problems such as “low-grade industrial carpeting” and claimed that Fitz left holes in the floor “through which vermin could enter the house.”
The disappointed pair also allege that that they contributed over $140,000 for the project, but Big Coat only gave Fitz $85,786.50 to work with. They go on to say that their option to “list it” was nonexistent as they were not shown homes by a licensed real estate agent.
“These characters [Farr and Visentin] are actors or television personalities playing a role for the camera and in this case none of them played more than a casual role in the actual renovation process,” the lawsuit reads.
