Fairview New Homes Refundable Deposit

chickmug

Thanks for letting us know it may help others to hear of the ooutcome:beer:

jimxc28

i had exaclty the same issue. We reserved a plot, and the sales woman wrote that incase the credit score failed we'd get it back. the credit score passed and all was fine, i met the hmmm "I.F.A".... and arranged everything. the day before completion was to happen, halifax pulled out and the mortgage was declined. FV then offered no help nor did the IFA. I said, ok then, can i have the deposit back? NO. I was told this by the moronic, vague, faceless voice at FV, some sales progressor who said, i cannot have it back due to a DEFAULT on my account which i had not declared. a default which, back in 2002 was for 30quid. this particular default was not on experian but on equifax which i had never checked let alone known about! I said it was absurd and arguments proceeded. I was then introduced to their RENT-to-BUY scheme. the sales woman, hha, said if you rent the property you wanted to buy, then you can try again to buy later on - AND if you're successful and go on to purchase it, FV will refund ALL the rent paid. I requested this in writing and i got it. "if you purcahse the flat you're renting FV will refund you all the rent."
My #1000 depos was then used as the deposit for the rental agreement and we moved in.

we rented from nov 2008 to march 2009. part of the rental agreement is that they have the right to give you 2 weeks notice if they have someone, a buyer, to move in. they started sending letters saying people are interested in your plot, if you move out we'll give you #1000, #2000 etc etc. Istarted getting called from the sales woman saying she has someone interested and can they come round and view the apartment??? We were 50-50 about buying the property we were renting, simply because it was north facing and reeked due its close location to the internal idiotic communal bin room. So the new people came round, twice. we facilitated their viewing, by allowing the viewings at short notice and making sure the flat was spotless and even arranged to show space etc. I then got a call saying they've sold our plot.............the new people had bought it. so we had no choice then to move out. So we went to enquire about other plots.

now here's the issue: The first thing i asked them when we heard about the new buyers and us having to either choose a new plot or move out was, is the rent-to-buy refund applicable if we buy anothe plot. the sales woman said ""YES OF COURSE"". Trusting her.........yes, mistake, i didn't request this in writing. Simply cos not wanting to !!!! them off and jeopardise our chances of getting a new place here. So we chose a flat and proceeded with all the application crap, yes, using their IFA again and all that............same issue happened. Declined. the IFA said, soz, see ya. FV said, right hmmm. and nothing. I was shocked and had the prospect of having to move out. So i went to halifax myself and secured a mortgage on the spot. the lady saw the two previous applications, but said they had never failed, they had just not been processed through credit scoring. It seems the IFA selects who goes in and who doesn't. Anyway, to the real issue............now we've moved in, i wrote to FV asking when i would receive my REFUND. A sales progressor requested the letter i said i had promising me the refund. I sent, and the DIRECTOR wrote back, a few lines saying, from the letter, quoting the line i quoted above, i would have thought i was self-evident that this refund does not apply to you. I consider this matter closed.

Now, i am in the process of following up on this, because 1) we had no choice but to move to a new property, since our rented was sold on, 2) i got assurance from the sales people that, the refund would be applicable on buying another plot, since you're still buying from fairview, 3) my mortgage application was failed through their IFA and i personally secured my own mortgage and bought one of their plots, thus giving FV a sale, 4) legally completing in ONE day with their appointed solicitors thus giving FV a veryt quick turn-around, and 5) facilitating the sale of the rented plot for the new buyer thus giving FV a second quick sale.

Personally i believe this Director doesn't know any of the above points, but still why should the refund rule be so black n white; i still purchased a flat from them after renting from them for 5months. Now it's my word againt their sales rep's.

simply another case of GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING no matter how irrelevant a conversation or agreed points may seem at the time. you never know when you may need proof.

I will update my progress.

jimxc28

i had exaclty the same issue. We reserved a plot, and the sales woman wrote that incase the credit score failed we'd get it back. the credit score passed and all was fine, i met the idiotic I.F.A useless bunch of morons and arranged everything. the day before completion was to happen, halifax pulled out and the mortgage was declined. FV then offered no help nor did the IFA. I said, ok then, can i have the deposit back? NO. I was told this by the moronic, vague, faceless voice at FV, some sales progressor who said, i cannot have it back due to a DEFAULT on my account which i had not declared. a default which, back in 2002 was for 30quid. this particular default was not on experian but on equifax which i had never checked let alone known about! I said it was absurd and arguments proceeded. I was then introduced to their RENT-to-BUY scheme. the sales woman, hha, said if you rent the property you wanted to buy, then you can try again to buy later on - AND if you're successful and go on to purchase it, FV will refund ALL the rent paid. I requested this in writing and i got it. "if you purcahse the flat you're renting FV will refund you all the rent."
My #1000 depos was then used as the deposit for the rental agreement and we moved in.

we rented from nov 2008 to march 2009. part of the rental agreement is that they have the right to give you 2 weeks notice if they have someone, a buyer, to move in. they started sending letters saying people are interested in your plot, if you move out we'll give you #1000, #2000 etc etc. Istarted getting called from the sales woman saying she has someone interested and can they come round and view the apartment??? We were 50-50 about buying the property we were renting, simply because it was north facing and reeked due its close location to the internal idiotic communal bin room. So the new people came round, twice. we facilitated their viewing, by allowing the viewings at short notice and making sure the flat was spotless and even arranged to show space etc. I then got a call saying they've sold our plot.............the new people had bought it. so we had no choice then to move out. So we went to enquire about other plots.

now here's the issue: The first thing i asked them when we heard about the new buyers and us having to either choose a new plot or move out was, is the rent-to-buy refund applicable if we buy anothe plot. the sales woman said ""YES OF COURSE"". Trusting her.........yes, mistake, i didn't request this in writing. Simply cos not wanting to !!!! them off and jeopardise our chances of getting a new place here. So we chose a flat and proceeded with all the application crap, yes, using their IFA again and all that............same issue happened. Declined. the IFA said, soz, see ya. FV said, right hmmm. and nothing. I was shocked and had the prospect of having to move out. So i went to halifax myself and secured a mortgage on the spot. the lady saw the two previous applications, but said they had never failed, they had just not been processed through credit scoring. It seems the IFA selects who goes in and who doesn't. Anyway, to the real issue............now we've moved in, i wrote to FV asking when i would receive my REFUND. A sales progressor requested the letter i said i had promising me the refund. I sent, and the DIRECTOR wrote back, a few lines saying, from the letter, quoting the line i quoted above, i would have thought i was self-evident that this refund does not apply to you. I consider this matter closed.

Now, i am in the process of following up on this, because 1) we had no choice but to move to a new property, since our rented was sold on, 2) i got assurance from the sales people that, the refund would be applicable on buying another plot, since you're still buying from fairview, 3) my mortgage application was failed through their IFA and i personally secured my own mortgage and bought one of their plots, thus giving FV a sale, 4) legally completing in ONE day with their appointed solicitors thus giving FV a veryt quick turn-around, and 5) facilitating the sale of the rented plot for the new buyer thus giving FV a second quick sale.

Personally i believe this Director doesn't know any of the above points, but still why should the refund rule be so black n white; i still purchased a flat from them after renting from them for 5months. Now it's my word againt their sales rep's.

simply another case of GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING no matter how irrelevant a conversation or agreed points may seem at the time. you never know when you may need proof.

I will update my progress.

property.advert

I actually had a much bigger issue with Fairview though some years ago. I bought a property off plan and had to wait some 18 months for completion. The holding deposit in those days was £400 but this was used to fund commission payments to the sales staff.

We were asked to put down 10% on exchange but we negotiated that down to 5% due to the long lead in time. I suppose that had I been unable to get a mortgage, I could have lost that money (circa £12000) but as the property had risen in price by some 50% or so, I'm sure I'd have found some lender.

jjw1981

I am currently having the same issue as jimxc28 had except they didnt tell me they had sold the flat i was renting for a year and then buying, my neighbour told me as it was his mate that had bought it. Now im stuck in aproperty untill Feb 2010 and wasting money on it. I also spent £2500 on carpets because i was getting a carpet pack in Feb 2010 when i bought the flat!

When questioned FV responded by saying we told you you wouldnt get the '1 Year freeze deal' and 'rent back' deal in March in an email via you letting agent. I have acopy of this email and it says nothing of the sort.

They also advised me that i was told by their sales rep that if i didnt buy after three months then they would sell on the open market. Again, false statement as the sales rep in January agreed with me to freeze the deal for 1 year. This sales rep has convieniently disappeared and has not been consulted. I have all phone records from that day (9th January) but i dont have the words in writing!

FV wrote to the new owners of our plot saying they had offered us incentives to move out and we had declined. Again, false and they have no proof.

The mortgage valuation by the Halifax for the new owners states that they were unable to inspect the internal condition of the property as 'the tenant denied us access' not only did i not deny access, i didnt know they were selling it.

To top this all off, the sales reps on site were making out that my partner and i were the ones causing the delay to completion and that we had been rude to them and that i had in fact told one of them to f-off!! Correct me if im wrong but is that not Slander? which you can sue for cant you?

We have net the new owners of our plot and have shown then all the paperwork we have and they have shown us theirs!

I have now gone to some 'third partys' with all the above and Fairview will be getting a very comprehensive response from one of them in the very near future!

I will also keep you updated.

How can a company allow their employees to act in this way and cause such distress to people and then attmept to cover it up? HOW?????

franklee

jjw1981 wrote: »

How can a company allow their employees to act in this way and cause such distress to people and then attmept to cover it up? HOW?????

Because people don't bother to get such important details in writing? My rule is if the other side refuses to put something in writing then they are likely untrustworthy.

I take it the new owner doesn't mind having a tenant, you don't have to move out till you are served notice (so keep an eye out for it and check it's not already been served) and even then you could string it out if you want.

liam4murray

I live in pembroke park and i've found out what Fairview are really like. they seem a greedy company who only care about making money and not that of the people who have brought a property. I have loads of bad stories about them and different stories about pembroke park. they are are a horrible company and i would urge anyone who is looking to buy in pembroke park, then please dont.