Surveyors and snagging

egbendu

Hi all,
I‘ve just bought a flat in a development in Greater Manchester, which took ages to complete. When I finally got to the completion date, I was told we were unable to complete because the lenders refused to release the money. To cut a long story short, basically it had taken so long that the mortgage offer had expired and the property had to be revalued, and the surveyors allegedly filled in the form incorrectly thus the money was withheld. This would be bad enough but the developers then charged me interest for everyday I went past the completion date (obviously the same didn’t apply to their delays!) leaving me with a bill for £239. Now I am trying to chase the surveyors for the money and they are typically disclaiming all liability blaming the solicitors who are blaming the lenders and surveyors, and the lenders are blaming the solicitors and the surveyors. Does anyone have any tips on who best to target, I’m thinking of the lenders since ultimately, the surveyors were their agents.

Also the property has lots of snagging issues (like showers that don’t work, windows without catches, naked wires hanging!) which it seems are taking for ever to resolve, does anyone have any tips on how to hurry things up or harass them into making things work properly

Thanks

Doozergirl

I'd be blaming (myself a bit and) my solicitor for not picking up that the mortgage offer had expired by completion day. It's fairly easy to get an extension if you talk to them on time. I'd get your 'terms of business' leaflet and find out who to make your official complaint to.

How long a delay did the surveyor cause on top of that? Is it enough of the interest charged to actually warrant chasing them do you think?

Does your developer still have a Marketing Suite? Going in there every weekend when it's nice and busy to complain about the snagging might help.

egbendu

hi, thanks for the reply,
Indeed I should have picked up on the expiration but I'm sure that falls well within the remit of the solicitors duties. the surveyors error caused the entire delay as the re valuation and extension were merely formalities, that had happened before, basically he filled in the form stating that the building didnt exist!
As per the snagging I live in London, so everything is done by phone