New Build - Garden issues + Estate fees

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

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Been to have an initial meeting about a new build property I'm interested in, everything seems fine apart from the garden. It will be the usual shallow topsoil no turf about 4.4m x 6m. It has one of those retaining walls before the garden gets to the house (with a small paved area in front of the French doors) as the back of the garden is 1M higher than the front creating a slope. The entire development is on a hilly area. My question is what kind of issue this is going to cause with drainage and stuff like that as the garden slopes towards the house. Also if anyone has any knowledge on how much roughly it would cost to have just normal grass put in or artificial grass for the entire area. The garden is something that I would never use, just for hanging up washing for the most part.
 
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If the garden slopes towards the house I would expect some form of drain running along the house edge to catch the water and divert it to the downpipe drainage.
 
You definitely need a channel or trench drain along the back of the property, especially at the doors. I would also expect there to be a geomembrane to the back of the retaining wall to prevent water seeping through. I would also hope the garden will drain well. The last two things won't be obvious unless you see engineering drawings or see the e build in person. I suppose you can ask.


Edit - have a look at the planning portal for your propertt/estate. Amomg the application documents maybe a flood risk assessmeny lt or drainage strategy. Unlikely to be highly detailed but may be useful in any case.
 
I'm not saying all new builds are badly built but poor workmanship appears to be quite widespread. It's no coincidence new builds and new build builders have a bad reputation. There's probably a handful that actually take pride in their work and do a good job, whilst the rest are thrown up in the quickest, cheapest manner possible.

I have friends who work on site and I have family in the trade and the amount of corner cutting they tell me about they see site managers authorising is absolutely absurd and the content on those two IG/TikTok pages just goes to show it. There's no shortage of crap standard of work being done.

I wouldn't be touching a new build with a barge pole really and if I had to it would be a last resort and it would be snagged to death. Similarly i'm not suggesting they shouldn't have any issues at all BUT if its been signed off from their end to be handed to the customer then, yes, i'd expect it to be a bloody glistening, shining example of perfect workmanship, given the amount of money we're expected to spend on them.
 
Rather than bashing on the OPs choice to buy a new build (very helpful responses for those who only commented "new build bad" :rolleyes:) to answer your question the garden and patio should already have the drainage you'll need to avoid any issues with the house itself. For reference the house building guidelines state that no water pooling should occur within 2m of the house itself - if it does then the builder is obligated to add more drainage.

The raised section of lawn is likely to be clay and dirt they dug up during laying the foundations but as the lawn itself is raised then you probably won't have too many issues with drainage like some new-builds face. Turf is very cheap (probably £200/delivered) and for a few evenings / a weekend of preparing the ground before laying it, I would try going for proper grass first. It's relatively cheap and much better for the local bug and insect life, and you can always remove it to add the fake stuff in the future without much initial outlay / cost.

(And as a side note, I bought a new-build last summer at the same £/sqm as older homes in my area and it has had FAR FAR less maintenance and snagging work needed compared to the 1980s house I sold, and anything that has come up was covered by the builders within a matter of days).
 
Thanks for the replies all.
I've been trying to buy a house for over a year now and things fall through for one reason or another or I go to see houses and they have not been cared for at all asking stupid money for them. I may be too picky specially in this market but hardly anything I have come across meets any kind of standard I would assume a house should have.

I don't imagine the garden is an issue however what does have me thinking is the estate management fees that are commonplace on new builds. The sales manager said its £202 per year that usually only goes up with inflation and will never go away as the council don't adopt the land anymore. My concern is all the horror stories I have seen about the fee going up stupid amounts and you have no basis to argue about it as it's in the house deed. I asked the sales manager about increases and she wouldn't comment. For reference the developer is Duchy Homes and it's a small 60 house development (just started building), with my particular house (2 bed semi, smallest and cheapest on the development) scheduled for autumn completion.
 
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MatsyLR said:
Thanks for the replies all.
I've been trying to buy a house for over a year now and things fall through for one reason or another or I go to see houses and they have not been cared for at all asking stupid money for them. I may be too picky specially in this market but hardly anything I have come across meets any kind of standard I would assume a house should have.

I don't imagine the garden is an issue however what does have me thinking is the estate management fees that are commonplace on new builds. The sales manager said its £202 per year that usually only goes up with inflation and will never go away as the council don't adopt the land anymore. My concern is all the horror stories I have seen about the fee going up stupid amounts and you have no basis to argue about it as it's in the house deed. I asked the sales manager about increases and she wouldn't comment. For reference the developer is Duchy Homes and it's a small 60 house development (just started building).
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As long as the owners are members of the association, then all should be fine. If prices get excessive, collectively you can hire a new management company.
 
ci_newman said:
As long as the owners are members of the association, then all should be fine. If prices get excessive, collectively you can hire a new management company.
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Nothing was mentioned about being a "member" during the sales meeting yesterday, just that a management company overseas the grassy areas etc.
 
https://coodes.co.uk/blog/new-build-management-companies-what-do-i-need-to-know/

This should answer most of your questions. The management company on a new build (which are usually freehold owned) is very different to a management company for a leasehold property like a flat / apartment building.

New build management companies are not for-profit.

[Edit] Just to add, the management companies are not-for-profit, but they usually hire a management agent to provide the actual services.
 
I have 2 comments:

+1 vote for "new builds aren't that bad" - definitely not perfect but ours has not had any major issues (touch wood, but we're 7 years in now so I think anything like that would have shown up by now). Moreover they just tend to have lots of things which are irritating wrong with them - mostly because of how simple those things would be to get right if the various contractors just gave a **** for the most part :p

And those estate management fees are an absolute con, hate having to pay ours (it's coming up next month and yes best part of £200, increases every year)... given that every house on the estate pays it annually it's a lot of cash to just have a couple of guys show up with a mower and a strimmer once every 4 or 5 weeks, if that
 
uncle_rufus said:
I have 2 comments:

+1 vote for "new builds aren't that bad" - definitely not perfect but ours has not had any major issues (touch wood, but we're 7 years in now so I think anything like that would have shown up by now). Moreover they just tend to have lots of things which are irritating wrong with them - mostly because of how simple those things would be to get right if the various contractors just gave a **** for the most part :p

And those estate management fees are an absolute con, hate having to pay ours (it's coming up next month and yes best part of £200, increases every year)... given that every house on the estate pays it annually it's a lot of cash to just have a couple of guys show up with a mower and a strimmer once every 4 or 5 weeks, if that
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I don't disagree with you on the management fees, but as far as house costs go it is absolutely tiny and mostly the councils fault because they now refuse to adopt the land. Our management fee is < 7% of my annual council tax bill, and arguably the management fee offers me better value for money on what my money is being spent on, at least the grass *does* get cut (unlike the council owned grass verges) and the playparks are maintained properly for my kids. We get the annual statements on costs from the managing agent too.
 
ci_newman said:
I don't disagree with you on the management fees, but as far as house costs go it is absolutely tiny and mostly the councils fault because they now refuse to adopt the land. Our management fee is < 7% of my annual council tax bill, and arguably the management fee offers me better value for money on what my money is being spent on, at least the grass *does* get cut (unlike the council owned grass verges) and the playparks are maintained properly for my kids. We get the annual statements on costs from the managing agent too.
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Has your fee's went up at all in the time you have had a new build?
The house I'm thinking about buying is £122k (discount open market value scheme, should be selling for around £175k), just waiting for the council approval on the scheme then I have a meeting to reserve if I wish to go ahead in about 2 weeks time. The bad thing is I am surrounded by lots of "rich" people in mostly 4 bed detached homes, makes you feel crap haha
 
MatsyLR said:
Has your fee's went up at all in the time you have had a new build?
The house I'm thinking about buying is £122k (discount open market value scheme, should be selling for around £175k), just waiting for the council approval on the scheme then I have a meeting to reserve if I wish to go ahead in about 2 weeks time. The bad thing is I am surrounded by lots of "rich" people in mostly 4 bed detached homes, makes you feel crap haha
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I've only been here a year, so can't really comment :) I'm expecting it to rise inline with inflation though.
 
ci_newman said:
I've only been here a year, so can't really comment :) I'm expecting it to rise inline with inflation though.
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Sent an email asking for the name of the company and if the house owners have any say in anything (members). I just think its a very risky and shady practise and also feel like you are paying twice for things as you also pay full council tax.
 
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The reason they were introduced is because the councils refuse to adopt the common land (so roads, street lighting, grassy areas and playparks). You're right that you're paying twice, but the amount is very small (< £4 / week).

Well you either do or you don't agree, if you don't agree then you don't buy a new build from the last 10 years or any in the future either :) All future new builds will have this too.
 
I lived I a new build flat for three years and would never want to own a property that has estate management or escalating lease hold fee's again, it's stress you don't need and outgoings you can avoid.

My preference was to find an older property with freehold which I did, or one of the older style leases that are peanuts a year
 
ci_newman said:
I don't disagree with you on the management fees, but as far as house costs go it is absolutely tiny and mostly the councils fault because they now refuse to adopt the land. Our management fee is < 7% of my annual council tax bill, and arguably the management fee offers me better value for money on what my money is being spent on, at least the grass *does* get cut (unlike the council owned grass verges) and the playparks are maintained properly for my kids. We get the annual statements on costs from the managing agent too.
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See ours half the time don't even do that good a job of keeping the grounds nice... which makes it particularly galling... Not much you can do about it though
 
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