Yes, this happens a lot.
The way it is supposed to work is as follows ...
Builder lodges a bond (value chosen by local authority) as a condition of planning permission for the development. Value of the bond is intended to cover the cost to the local authority of finishing off anything the builder 'omits'. If the builder finishes the work to local authority's satisfaction, builder gets the bond back and local authority takes responsibility for the development.
In practice however, in some cases the builder does as little as possible, residents' association lobby public representatives and the local authority staff directly, who in turn put pressure on the builder by threatening not to treat future planning applications favourable and in the really bad cases, threatening legal action. It rarely comes to the legal route.
You may ask why the local authority does not just pocket the bond and tell the builder to take a hike (afterall, that is the purpose of the bond). In practice, the value of the bond is negligible. In my case, for a development of 26 detached houses, the planning permission was granted in the late 90s and the bond value was set at a level which at the time was worth the cost of 2 sites. Now, because the value of the bond is fixed, that money would cover only a small percent of the cost of completing the development, so the local authority will not touch it with a barge pole and is happy to keep chasing the builder with little success to date. In the meantime, the builder does not give a toss because he has little to lose.
So what can you do? If you don't have a residents' association, club together and put a makeshift one together and get on the phone to your local representatives and on to the division within your local authority responsible for housing - planning have nothing to do with it unless there has been a technical infringement of the planning permission.