New Home Deposit

HAWKWIND_3

We recently reserved a new home with a £500 deposit. A deadline was set for exchange of contracts which we were unable to meet because the sale of our buyers property fell through. The builder cancelled our reservation and will not refund our deposit. I cannot see that this will have cost the builder £500, so I wonder if we are able to claim any of our money back, as you can with mortgage release fees etc?

Jonbvn

AFAIK, the reservation fee is non-refundable. You should have a document which says this.

plane_boy2000

the £500 was not a deposit - it was a reservation fee. (the deposit is paid later through your solicitor)

The fee was a fee (like an admin charge) and they will have made you aware / it will have been in the paperwork you signed that it was non refundable.

The cost to the builder will have been far in excess of the £500 fee - I assume that they gave you 28 days to exchange contracts, so for that 28 days the builder has had his cash tied up, and has not been able to sell the property to anyone else. Him keeping the £500 looks fair to me, and to be honest this trying to claim back everything and anything is getting beyond a joke - everyone thinks they should get everything back even when they were aware of the terms before they signed!