Buying a new build, but misleading upgrade terms. Advice pls.

house_buyer_2

Hello,

I'm about 6 months into the process of buying a new build home (deposit paid, exchanged contracts), and having a lot of difficulty with my developer over the cost & standard of fittings.

We have selected a number of upgrades to the basic spec, and have found the supply of these fittings significantly cheaper elsewhere.

This has lead to us to try to hold the developer to their 'price match guarantee' only to be told that the price match is for their cost EXCLUDING VAT versus the comarable one INCLUDING VAT...

Is this just a massive con to disguise the fact that their products are massively over-priced?? The developer says only their contractors / suppliers can do the work pre sale completion, making the materials VAT free...

Have i got any come back / leverage to get the fittings cheaper? Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

MrRedundant

It sounds fair to me.

I.e like for like

For them to fit it they do not need to use VAT (i.e if its £200 plus VAT) as its a newbuild it costs them £200. If the external party charges £190 plus VAT then it costs £218 thus they are cheaper. I assume this is because they would expect the service to be charged as standard rated rather than a newbuild zero rated. Whether you could pursuade the other companies to confirm zero rating on the supplies might help although it may be no one external can touch the building until its completed and thus not a newbuild.

The upshot is you are comparing £200 to £218 and saying £218 is cheaper trying to discount the VAT.

It would probably come down to terms and conditions I suspect but I do see the logic of their argument as the total invoice value is cheaper

house_buyer_2

Thanks for the reply.

I know what you're saying, but i suppose my main gripe is that the offer is a misleading, it's stated on the terms as:

"VAT Free
Products free of VAT before moving in are wardrobes, paving, fires, karndean, kitchen units, gardens, mirrors.

Price promise
XXXX are confident that products offered by them as an upgrade are competitively priced in the market and therefore should one of cur products be found cheaper then we will match this price. Our
aim is to give customers a wide range of choice at a competitive price.

The terms of the price match are:
- A written quote must be received by your Advisor within 14 days of receiving your final shopping list of items
- The price match must be from a local retailer
- Like for Like product including labour costs & VAT (if applicable)"

To me this reads that if the product is on their VAT free list, then the price match would be done comparing VAT free versus VAT free...

Have i just completely misread this, or are they not fulfilling their terms?

Thanks.