Bellway part ex

donerkebab

We are thinking of part exchanging with Bellway - they have offered a fair price on part exchange - within 5% of external EA price. Negotiating on price of the new build we have managed to get 2 % stamp duty paid and carpets/kitchen fitted.

However am concerned - they want to complete within 28 days - with £1k initial deposit then further £5k deposit by end of 28 days - even though new build is not schedule to be completed until May/June 2010 (with no guarantee on build completion) - is this normal?

Other slight concerns they are unable tell me the council tax rate - even though people have moved in to already finished builds of same spec/model.

"Annual maintenance fee" of £150 - thought this was normally flats only - am told this is to cover street lighting and private roads.....

Graham1979

This is pretty standard, most developers want buyers to have exchanged contracts within 28 days of reservation as there's normally no going back from that point. However, if the build isn't due for completion until 2010 then you need to be really sure that you can get mortgage finance in place at that date. These boards have a number of horror stories where people have bought off-plan and can't get a mortgage when the time comes to complete.
The annual maintenance fee isn't uncommon for new estates. For some builds the council will agree to adopt the roads in which case the upkeep/street lighting comes from council tax, in other cases there will be a management company set up to manage it as a private road (which sounds like it will be the case for the build you're looking at).