Pulling out of a new build

[Brookert]

Afternoon all,

Trying to keep this short and sweet. I reserved a new build house back in late April, was told the exchange would be late May with estimated finish in September. Shock horror, the salesman was talking rubbish and I can't see the house being finished much before Christmas, and we still haven't exchanged. I've had enough with the builder and want out.

I've paid a reservation fee, which is fully refundable before exchange. I've paid for a few extras, which I probably won't get back, and a fee to the financial advisor (help to buy) and solicitors. Paperwork wise, I've signed the mortgage deed, and our end of the contract (but not dated) and the help to buy offer has expired. I've not yet handed over the deposit to the solicitor.

On appearance, I can tell the builder to shove it, ask for a final invoice of services from the solicitor and that's me gone? Obviously I will go to the solicitor before going full nuclear on the buying process.

 

[swain90]

As far as I'm aware as long as you haven't exchanged contracts you should be OK.

Obviously you'll have some solicitors fees etc... however I can't see it being a problem to pull out.

Your solicitor will know more.

 

[sparkymark75]

As swain says, your solicitor is best placed to advise on your contractual obligations (if you have any).

 

[SPG]

This happened to a family member.

It got a little nasty, but in the end the builder ended up paying a significant amount of the cost incurred as well. (Was a swanky flay in Olympic park) The deadline was repeatably missed which meant at least one move extra due to rental agreements.

 

[Adam]

Would you buy the house if they compensated you for the delays?

 

[Brookert]

Would you buy the house if they compensated you for the delays?

I don't think so. I've heard enough lies from the sales agent. The big one being the green field next door to my house. When asked 'are there any plans for housing on that field next door', the answer I got was 'we don't own that land'. This in itself wasn't a lie, but they had already begun the surveying process to begin the planning application for 170 houses next door!

Another couple reserved a house on the promise that they were in a cul de sac (according to the plans), turns out this would actually be one access road to the much larger site next door.

I've had enough of it. We've had no concessions on price, discount on extras, nothing our way at all. We have to turf the garden and tile and carpet 80% of the house. We haven't got an agreement yet that we can have the internals painted trade white instead of the hideous Mag they use. We originally went for a house 50m away, but came back 2 weeks later and it had been reserved, fair enough. The mirror image house on the end of the same row was magically 10k more expensive the week later.

It's a shame because the build quality of the houses are superb.

 

[DarkHorizon472]

Definitely check with solicitors before proceeding and get a good idea of what the cost to pull out is.

Generally with new houses you can negotiate cheaper prices quite easily unless the development is vastly over subscribed in a very popular area. Just be careful of making an purely emotional decision rather than a logical decision. When we bought our current house from new I was frequently having to push the developer into doing what was required on time and now we are very happy with the house. Unfortunately buying a new house often takes constant pressure and negotiation rather than being an easy smooth process.

 

[HungryHippos]

Had to pay TW to paint my last house trade white instead of hideous mag as well. Was well worth it though, wish all builders would just stick to white by default!

 

[sparkymark75]

Had to pay TW to paint my last house trade white instead of hideous mag as well. Was well worth it though, wish all builders would just stick to white by default!

My Barratt house is all white. Looks like an operating theatre!

 

[HungryHippos]

My Barratt house is all white. Looks like an operating theatre!

You can do a lot with some nice furniture/pictutes/tiles etc though. White goes with everything. The mag colour not so well in my opinion, it's certainly not better than white imo.

 

[a1ex2001]

You can do a lot with some nice furniture/pictutes/tiles etc though. White goes with everything. The mag colour not so well in my opinion, it's certainly not better than white imo.

Just accept your going to paint every room at some point unless white really floats your boat then it doesn't matter what the base colour is!

 

[Brookert]

Just to update the thread, the builder refunded all fees and extras as they hadn't got to the stage of being ordered. Customer service from the developer was great, apart from the one sales guy ruining it.

I've just had an offer accepted on a 3 bed detached in a lovely part of Suffolk, absolutely chuffed to bits we came across the house when we did straight after this mess! The best part is, no help to buy, and we have spare cash to do what we want to the house.

 

[HungryHippos]

Good outcome well played mate!

 

[psd99]

It's a shame because the build quality of the houses are superb.

Nearly every single new build I have seen have plaster boards absolutely everywhere and then you wonder why exactly they are so overpriced. You can actually hear neighbours through those walls.

Glad you got this sorted though and you got your funds back. Win win situation for sure.

 

[Brookert]

The only reason I went for it in the first place was the solid internal walls and location ofc. Sad I know. All internal walls are breezeblock and plaster. The brickwork was phenomenal compared to your big house builders.

All I'll say about the new place is, anybody who uses the Orwell River, you'll see me out on the water hopefully next year!

 

[TallPaul1878]

You can do a lot with some nice furniture/pictutes/tiles etc though. White goes with everything. The mag colour not so well in my opinion, it's certainly not better than white imo.

They should just paint them almond white. Not as clinical as brilliant white and not as custardy as magnolia.