Taylor Wimpey - Change to Room Layout just before exchanging

CarineG

Dear all,

My friend and her partner are currently buying a house from Taylor Wimpey through the Homebuy Scheme.

They are a few days from exchanging and my friend has just been told by TW that the half wall that was meant to be between the kitchen and the dining area (making it an open space kitchen/diner) is now a full wall due to fire/buidling regulations. hey are not taking the wall down.

I am slightly suprised as surely the house wouldn't have been through planning permission with this half wall if it was non compliant?

The concerning part is that half of their house on the ground floor has no window and this full wall will now prevent daylight from entering the dining/lounge area. This particular room only has one window.
Furthermore, this is quite a significant change in the layout of their house and TW has not offered anything for the inconvenience.


I'm currently having a look at the floor plan and building regulations but I would very much appreciate if anyone had any advice on this.

bodgerx

Sounds like a bargaining point to me. They'll have to be pretty tough a few days from exchange though - and they will have to sort the mortgage out if the price goes down.

With it being Homebuy the builders maybe reluctant to reduce the price.

All they can do is ask...

GDB2222

Just to be sure, are you days from exchanging or days from completing?

If you haven't yet exchanged, don't! Ask for your holding deposit back as the house is substantially different from what you were told by the sales guy.

CarineG

GDB222 - my friends are a few days away from exchanging (not completing). I have informed her not to exchange as the terms of the contract are substantially different now.

Bodgerx - It is indeed a bargaining point, however my friends would much prefer to have their open plan kitchen/diner instead. The house they are being sold is now different from what they have agreed to buy.

PasturesNew

Ask for £10k off. Take the wall down.

Loads of houses have open plan, what makes that one so significantly different that they're using it as an excuse?

I bet somebody c0cked up and built the wall in error.

GDB2222

Alternatively, it does need the wall to meet fire regs... Do you believe the fire regs are just an old load of rubbish, and do you want to find out?

Really, the only question is how to get the holding deposit back?

GDB2222

That's IMHO ofc!

(Ever so 'umble sir.)

CarineG

They have either c0cked up or they always intended to build a full wall due to a requirement by building regs but have lied to the buyer from the start.
If they 'cannot' take this wall down maybe it implies that it is load bearing (the bathroom is above).

BDB222 - If it is load bearing, it's not just a matter of taking the wall down, there would be a need to see if it would be sound to do so structurally.

Would it be adequate in this situation to ask for the following from Taylor Wimpey:

- copy of the planning application with plans that were submitted
- indication of what building regulations this wall was built to

If they cannot provide this information and back up their statement then my friends would need to take a view on whether they are going ahead with the purchase and ask for a big discounts.

Doozergirl

Planning and Building Control are two different departments. Quite frankly,planning don't care if what they are passing complies to Building Regulations and Building Control don't careif what they pass complies with the Planning Permission. So asking for a copy of the PP means absolutely nothing; they are already telling you that they are deviating from the plan so that's that. The question about which part of the legislation they are working to is pertinent though.

Where are the stairs in this house and how many storeys does it have? I think this BR argument must relate somehow to a means of escape in the even of a fire... Can you post us up a copy of the floorplan? On the bright side, there is more than one way of skinning a cat!

Presuming this is a modest house then it would actually be very easy to remove part of a partition wall and make good, if they can negotiate decent compensation, it might be financially beneficial....

CarineG

Hi Doozergirl,

It is a modest 2 bedroom house with only 2 storey.
The staircase is directly of the hall/entrance.

I will will pm you the floor plan.

Running_Horse

CarineG wrote: »

This particular room only has one window.

I think you will find that most rooms have only one window.

Is it really such a hardship? Or just a chance to get the price down and have a moan.

I have no sympathy for the big housebuilders, but perhaps you could ask to see the particular regulation.