New house, builder 3 months late and lying

Supersparx

Hi, I don’t know where to turn next and I am hoping thatsomeone on here can help.
We exchanged contracts in March and was told completionwould be the end of July, 4 months. We have been told now it will be the end ofOctober, 3 months late. I know that the builder only offers an estimate due tobad weather but the house has been dry since June with nothing going on theinside. All our plans were based onmoving in July / early August and that is one of the reasons we chose thisplot. Is there anything I can do about their lying, I have been told that weare not the only ones this has happened too. This seems to be company policy, enablingthem to get deposit money early knowing that there is no chance of completionon the given date.
My solicitor has stated that they have 6 months from the endof the date given at exchange, 6 months from July and that is that. Surely theycan’t be allowed to lie to get money early.
If they pulled their fingers out this house could still beready in August, and I have not beengiven any reason why this delay has happened. Any ideas if I there is any way Ican get them to speed up construction?
Many thanks

Furts

Do the developers have cash flow problems? Are they at risk of going out of business? Have the sub-contractors been paid?

Or are they over stretched elsewhere and unable to keep up?

Pursue these enquiries through your solicitor/conveyancer.

Also I suggest you make contact directly with the sub-contractors in a friendly, concerned, but informal, manner to determine some answers.

I assume you have a NHBC policy, or similar, to protect you should the builder go out of business?

Everything may be OK, but you need to have a Plan B should the worse happen.

The only idea I can think of is adverse publicity through the local press. But this is a double edged sword, particularly if it contributes to the builder going bust.

When I was involved in Completion Dates nothing stated by the builder was legally binding, so it could not be challenged. Purchasers were expected to have total flexibility - this may have changed over he years, so perhaps other mse users can update this.

Tabby2

Persimmon by any chance?

littlesparkles

I bought a new build in 2012 and exchanged with a long-stop completion date. Both parties had to be ready to complete by the end of December. This was written into the contracts. We expected to complete in October (was told this by the builder) but bad weather delayed this until December. Perfectly acceptable as this is what the contracts said. Not great for us as buyers but it was part of the agreement! We were to be given 10 working days notice of completion but the builder notified our solicitor with 14 working days notice which was good.

If your contract said that completion could be delayed by 6 months then it is not that the builder has lied. You signed the contract which signalled that you accepted these terms. Always read the details and plan for the worst case scenario!

okborednow

Playing devil's advocate for a sec do you have any proof that the contractor was lying? I know the property will be ready late but that's a different thing to the developer knowing from the outset that it definitely would not be done in the time quoted.

Also as far as i know they won't get any money until completion, the solicitor hold the money between exchange and completion so there's really nothing financial in it for the builder to exchange sooner.

What company was it?

littlesparkles

Also my house was dry (roof on etc) from September and pretty much all the internals were complete by the end of October but the adjacent properties were not ready and there were external works that had to be completed before the house was officially accessible and complete.

ian103

I suspect they are busy working on the part complete properties to make them weather tight whilst the good weather holds, the other problem you will now be having is this is now the silly season when everyone is on holiday.

Also I wouldn't push them too hard as the quality / finish will only get worse.

Typical house builder - only had one new house and I vowed never ever again, the builder was a nightmare and I had a number of heated discussions with site manager, contracts manager and even the area MD - mud on roads, damage to car, very early starts, poor work, failed / poor repairs, the site / access left in a dangerous condition, burning rubbish on site. There were many of the owners who were having similar discussions - the builder was total carp, and the latent defects that came to light have been staggering - luckily we moved (no cavity wall insulation, porous roofing issues, a whole apartment block built with no wall ties)