Advice needed - garden is smaller than on the plan

Richmond38

Hi,

I have bought a new build off-plan which is about a month away from being fully built. A couple of months ago I noticed that the placement of the houses relative to each other did not quite match the plan. I was concerned because it looked like my house had been moved backwards which would shorten the garden since it is at the perimeter of the estate. I raised this with the salesperson and she contacted the site manager who assured her that they had measured everything out to a high precision because they use highly accuarte instruments.

Sometime later I took some measurements from the plan and I worked out that my house may have been moved back up to 10 feet. This was a lot more than I first thought so I raised the issue again with the salesperson. She said she couldn't ring the site manager again as he thought she was crazy to suggest that their measurements were wrong. She suggested
that I could raise the matter with the solicitor.

Since nobody could give me an answer as to why the placement of the houses didn't match the plan I decided to find out for my self hoping to put my mind at ease. So I climbed into the building site and measured the garden myself. Unfortunately this did not ease my mind because I found that the garden was about 6 feet shorter than it should have been. This may not sound like a lot but the garden is small. It should have been 37 feet on longest side, it's actually about 30-31 feet. On the shorter side it should have been 27 feet and it's actually about 22 feet. I reckon I have lost about 100 sq/ft of garden. Presumably my front driveway is now 6 feet longer but the garden is far more important to me. I have already agreed to pay to upgrade the fence from bar and post on the longer side of the garden. My neighbour and I are sharing the cost and we are being charged for 11m (36 feet) of fence.

I plan to complain but I thought I would post here first for some advice on how to proceed. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem to this?

Thanks.

pigeonpie

many new builds have a disclaimer on them to the effect that the final product may be slightly different from that shown on the original plan. Does your's?

wbcoms

Have you exchanged contracts? If you have, then in the paperwork there will be detailed site plans and you can compare the site with the plan. If there is a discrepancy then the builder will be in breach of contract... you will then be in a better position to pull out of the purchase.

If you haven't exchanged (but I expect you probably already have) then your only real option is to cancel the reservation if this problem is that big for you.

marcovan

Have to agree with above post. I'm about a couple months off my new build flat been completed and there is small print on the developers website to state that their plans measurements are estimates only and subject to change. The colour is also slightly different from the artists impression too!!

That's the gamble I guess you take when buying off-plan

Debt_Free_Chick

Agree - the initial site plans are generally "an artist's impression" and not specific plans, built precisely to scale.

In addition, it's pretty much impossible to translate any boundaries from paper to the ground - unless you have a definite immovable reference point like a railway line.

claireandella

I don't want to worry you, but, if the plans you originally viewed were the same ones used to obtain planning permission and your house is in a different position this could cause a problem. If this is the case, and the plans you saw were not merely an artists impression, technically the planning permission under which the house was constructed may not have been implemented, as it does not presumably comply with the approved plans. If this is the case you may have some redress against the builders and I would raise this with them.

A local housing estate in my area was not constructed in accordance with the permission (a bungalow was given a loft conversion with dormer windows not shown on the plan, and the adjacent house was 1 metre higher than it should have been due to an error in calculating ground levels) and the developer sold the properties to unsuspecting purchasers. The problems were not picked up by their Solicitor (presumably because he only dealt with the transfer and had no personal knowledge of the properties and no reason to measure them, depending on the property information form responses provided by the seller). The Council subsequently became aware of the problem, requested an application for retrospective permission, refused the permission as the problems significantly affected other neighbours, and required that the bungalow loft conversion be removed and the house be demolished and rebuilt properly!! Despite appeals, this was actually what happened and the builder had to foot the bill as he had not been honest in his responses to the Solicitor. As far as I know a private case is being brought against the builder for the stress etc endured by the purchasers.

I'm sure that your problem will be far more easily resolved but it is good to know that, even after selling a property, you may still have some comeback!

mrsS_2

I bought a new build about 10 years ago which backed onto a farmers field. the builders had completely messed up their measurements and on the right hand side of the plots had to give the farmer back 12ft of each garden- as the road was at an angle by the time it reached my house it was only about 8 inches.
I had already moved in so they just had to ask me nicely if they could move the fence a few inches-(of course- for the nice selection of shrubs I was given as a bribe who wouldnt?)-however- I was the first one in and no-one else had exchanged so the builders just moved all the other fences and basically said "tough"

I dont think anyone even managed to get a reduced price.

Richmond38

Thanks for the responses.

The plans I have are not an artist's impression. They are the detailed technical plans drawn to scale. The sales exec takes measurements directly from them. For instance, when she worked out the cost of upgrading the dividing fence she took measurements directly from these plans and calculated that the fence would be 11m long. Now that I have measured the actual garden I know that this fence will be 9m long but I am being
charged for 11m. I will have to challenge this.

It's not sounding too hopeful that I can get much done about them reducing the size of the garden but I am still going to try.

Thanks again.

Robert_Sterling

An expensive house near where I live was build too near the road.
It had to be demolished and rebuilt about one metre further back.

terrierlady

I have never heard of a sales rep measuring for fences etc, the surveying department does that job thats why people buying new build are always annoyed awaiting quotes back from Head office, even carpets etc I do know that Bryant's etc have extra prices on computer but anything like garden sizes is always measured by the site agent etc.Site agents will be happy to peg out garden for you but not quote garden sizes.

Kensington

Richmond38, my neighbours and I have EXACTLY the same problem as you. In fact, every bit of your post sounds very close to home...

Prior to reserving the house, I had asked to measure the plans so that I knew how long the garden was and how far away the new block of flats behind me was going to be. When I measured the plan at the site office, the dimensions showed the garden to be at a certain length which I was content with. In addition to this, I inspected and measured the plans at the nearby library, and they showed the flats to be some 20m away, but now they are probably around only 15m away. This is quite significant as the block is 4 storeys high.

Of course, being new build, I could not measure up until access was possible. When I got this opportunity, I found that the garden was in fact smaller than on the plans I measured. The problem is, not only has the garden length been reduced, the block of flats being built behind us (phase 2 of the development) as a result is also closer to us.

I raised this with the salesmanager and he in turn called up the saleswoman to ask her to measure. Her reponse was "37 feet". Now, excuse me for being cynical, but all plans are metric, so where or how she meaured exactly "47 feet" from I dont know...

I spoke to my solicitor regarding this matter, and they told me that, as I had signed the papers which contained the conveyance plan, I had agreed to the terms. What I tried to say to him was that this was not what was sold to me, and even if i did sign, , I had already paid the reservation of ££££ and it would have meant me losing that reservation. I couldnt get anywhere with the solicitor (who incidentally was recommended by the developer).

In terms of your driveway, I dont think the houses have been "moved forward" as such, but simply the flats in phase 2 have encroached. crazy to suggest that their measurements were wrong.

I am convinced that the developers are in the wrong, and am sure that if the entire terrace knew about this then we would would perhaps get at the very least an apology or explanation. I have not pursued this matter as there has been simply too much going on around me recently to do so. If you are in no rush to complete, you can perhaps raise with the developer you are going to Trading Standards (Properties Misdescription Act) or the Planning Enforecement Team and the Council.

Hope this is of use, and it would be very interesting to know that you are indeed quite nearby.