Taylor Wimpey asking to complete on 20th Dec

fuzzb3k

We're buying a new build from Taylor Wimpey and originally reserved our plot off plan back in April. At the time they gave us a 2 month completion window, which was from the beginning of October to the end of November.

There have been a couple of problems (that I know about) that have contributed to delays to the build. They installed the wrong size staircase and then installed wrong size Velux roof windows, both of which have now been corrected.

When I called a couple of weeks ago they told me that completion was likely to be end of November, but they weren't able to give us any commitment to a date.

I popped into the sales office yesterday to see if I could get a better indication of when we'd be looking to move in, and they told me that they'd like for the legal completion to happen on 20th December. Without us saying anything, they offered to give us a cheque to cover 1 month's rent of our current place if we'd complete on 20th December. I imagine they want to complete then in order for the sale to be included in their year-end figures.

Completing on 20th December is very inconvenient because our Christmas plans will be distrupted. Also, trying to arrange the carpet fitter, deliveries of white goods etc. is going to be a nightmare at that time of year. We'd also need to start paying the mortgage from that point, even though we're not likely to be able to move in for a few weeks.

So, I don't think their offer to pay us 1 month's rent is fair, and given their motivation to include this sale in their year-end figures, I'm just wondering how far they'd go to get us to move in by then. I don't think we'd be able to get anything that would affect the valuation, so incentives are out of the question because they'd have to go on the CML form, which would then have to be re-approved by the surveyor and mortgage company.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, i.e. being encouraged by the builder to complete in order to meet their quarter-end / year-end cut off?

anselld

Seems to me they are being generous! Most people won't stop work till 24th so it should not be a problem with removals etc.

It also incentivises them to complete (you do want to move in presumably?), whereas if you dig your heels in they will just put your completion to the back of the queue and focus their efforts on other properties which could complete earlier.

PS ... what do they mean be "legal completion"? Don't complete if it isn't finished and ready to move in!

ValHaller

fuzzb3k wrote: »

Completing on 20th December is very inconvenient because our Christmas plans will be distrupted. Also, trying to arrange the carpet fitter, deliveries of white goods etc. is going to be a nightmare at that time of year. We'd also need to start paying the mortgage from that point, even though we're not likely to be able to move in for a few weeks.

So, I don't think their offer to pay us 1 month's rent is fair

No one is forcing you to move in on the 20th. You can choose how to spend the month's rent they are giving you and if Christmas was important to me, I might spend it on another month's rent and do the move after Christmas.

You don't say when your rental month runs from and to, but blimey, your LL might be up for a deal where you only pay for the days if it avoids the house falling vacant over Christmas and New Year

fuzzb3k

Thanks for the advice. Legal completion is the date we get the keys and the property becomes ours, I'm not sure why they referred to it as 'legal completion' as opposed to simply 'completion', maybe they are the same thing? I don't think they are allowed to complete without it being finished these days, because they need a CML certificate to hand over to the lender.

Here's some other info that might be relevant to this question:

• The development is in the South East.
• The only incentives we managed to negotiate were white goods for the kitchen, although they ended up reducing the price by £2,000 due to a complication on the CML form.
• We purchased for £498,000.

fuzzb3k

ValHaller wrote: »

No one is forcing you to move in on the 20th. You can choose how to spend the month's rent they are giving you and if Christmas was important to me, I might spend it on another month's rent and do the move after Christmas.

You don't say when your rental month runs from and to, but blimey, your LL might be up for a deal where you only pay for the days if it avoids the house falling vacant over Christmas and New Year

Our rental period runs from the 12th of the month, so we could give notice on 11th December to move in to the new place by 11th Jan. We'd have 22 days to move, not taking into account holidays.

fuzzb3k

anselld wrote: »

Seems to me they are being generous! Most people won't stop work till 24th so it should not be a problem with removals etc.

It also incentivises them to complete (you do want to move in presumably?), whereas if you dig your heels in they will just put your completion to the back of the queue and focus their efforts on other properties which could complete earlier.

PS ... what do they mean be "legal completion"? Don't complete if it isn't finished and ready to move in!

Good point about being shunted to the back of the queue, I hadn't thought of that.

ognum

fuzzb3k wrote: »

Our rental period runs from the 12th of the month, so we could give notice on 11th December to move in to the new place by 11th Jan. We'd have 22 days to move, not taking into account holidays.

many, many people move out of one house and in to another in one day, some do that just before Christmas!

marlot

It can be a really good idea to have a few weeks in hand when moving into a new build. It allows you to get the carpets, curtains, etc fitted at a nice easy pace.

Plus, if you want any rooms a different colour, the garage floor painted or anything else like that, it so much easier without any clutter.

Depending how far you are moving, and how much stuff you have, you might even be able to save the cost of removal men.

littlesparkles

We had a long stop date of 21st Dec with TW last year. In the end they have us the 10 working days notice required a week earlier and we completed and moved in on 14th Dec.

We moved in the same day with TW paying the removal company (but this was declared on the CML form). We had a legal undertaking from TW for carpet fitting to take place over the three days prior to completion. This meant all of our carpets and hard flooring were down when it came to completion day so you could do the same so that there isn't a problem as you get closer to Christmas - but try to arrange your fitters ASAP because they generally get very busy near to Christmas!

We ordered our appliances as soon as we got the 10 days notice of completion and had them delivered the day after completion - most electrical companies do Saturday deliveries for just a bit extra.

Good luck!

lessonlearned

Yes they are aiming to get your house on the legal completion figures for year end. (31st December).

20th December is a Friday so the last day they will be able to L/C to meet the 31st deadline. The site agent and all trades will cease work on 20th December for a 2 week shut down.

The sales negotiator will probably break up for the Christmas break on Monday 23rd.

There is absolutely no need for you to move in on the Friday, you just get the keys and the house becomes yours.

The 1 month rental payment is very generous. Take it and enjoy your planned Christmas and then move into your new home in the New Year when the men are back on site (just in case there are any issues).

That way you can get the heating on and the house warmed up, your carpets down and get your white goods delivered etc at a more leisurely pace. You will save yourselves a lot of stress.

fuzzb3k

littlesparkles wrote: »

We had a long stop date of 21st Dec with TW last year. In the end they have us the 10 working days notice required a week earlier and we completed and moved in on 14th Dec.

We moved in the same day with TW paying the removal company (but this was declared on the CML form). We had a legal undertaking from TW for carpet fitting to take place over the three days prior to completion. This meant all of our carpets and hard flooring were down when it came to completion day so you could do the same so that there isn't a problem as you get closer to Christmas - but try to arrange your fitters ASAP because they generally get very busy near to Christmas!

We ordered our appliances as soon as we got the 10 days notice of completion and had them delivered the day after completion - most electrical companies do Saturday deliveries for just a bit extra.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing. It's reassuring to hear from someone who went through a similar experience. It's also good to know that there is a remote possibility of completing earlier than the 20th.

I've organised the carpet fitter to come and measure up this Weds, so hopefully he'll be able to pencil us in to fit the carpets over the busy period.