Barratts Delaying Exchange of Contracts

jsteph28

Hi There, I have recently agreed to purchase a new Barratts Town House and am ready to exchange. this exchange deadline set by Barratts is due expire today 16th August but Barratts are not in a position to exchange due to not providing all info my solicitor has requested. Is there anything i can do speed this up apart from chasing them? at the moment i have signed my contract and deposited my hefty deposit into my solicitors account ready.

Can anyone suggest anything that i could do to speed Barratts up?

THanks

ILW

Why do you not want to chase them?

DVardysShadow

Barratts are in a position to exchange, and I am sure they would. It is you who are not ready, but because of their failure to provide information. In your position, I would be chasing along the lines of "I am waiting to exchange, but we still need X info. What are you plans to provide this?"

ztan

I'm in the same position as you, with Persimmon. Our solicitor has everything from us, including our deposit, however after 3 weeks of badgering us- Persimmon's solicitor have turned around and said they aren't ready to exchange. I think it's all delaying tatics... is your house built yet?

Ours is nearing completion, although this has been delayed as well... so I am under the impression they are just taking the biscuit and making us sweat now we've agreed to buy. They've got us under the thumb.

All you can do is chase your solicitor and the developer to get things moving. Hopefully we'll both be legally exchanged very soon. It would be nice to know it's all done and dusted!?

jsteph28

i have been chasing them but get no where. all they say is were looking into it. they were asked for the info 2 weeks ago and even by their own admission it is a minor query

jsteph28

Hi Zan - The house isnt totally built yet althoughwe have been told we maybe able to view the house in 2 weeks. We havent even been given a completion date yet so it s a bit worrying.

SmlSave

Hi, there's not much you or your solicitor can do but keep chasing them. The big companies tend to deal with things at their own pace - which is very frustrating!

As the house is not yet built when you do exchange you'll probably have a long-stop completion date instead of a fixed one. This means that they'll give you an estimated time of completion but in the end your solicitor will get Notice of Complete when its ready and you'll complete when they are ready.

ztan

Sounds like your in the same situation as me then.

Our house is due to be complete mid September- however that's 6 weeks ontop of the original completion date.

I think it is just a delaying tatic on behalf of the developer, to keep the time frame between exchange and completion lower. It looks better for them that way.

All you can do is keep poking them!

jsteph28

ztan thats a simular completion date i was given. i was told Autumn so i suppose that is anytime between now and then end of november. thanks

LydiaJ

Why are you in such a hurry to exchange on a house that's not entirely built? Search back through this forum and you will find heartrending stories of people who exchange on an incomplete house and then find that the developer doesn't bother to finish the building for months or even years. Once contracts have been exchanged, you can't get out of your commitment to buy, and you have very little leverage if they decide to defer completing the build indefinitely, so you are left in limbo with no house and no freedom to go and buy a different one.

ETA I live in a Barratts house (c 2002) and am not impressed by the build quality. I wouldn't trust them I'm afraid.

milliebear00001

I'd be very wary of exchanging without a fixed completion date anyway. What happens if the finish is delayed and delayed? Do you have a mortgage offer with an expiry date? What happens if you go past that date without completing?