Buying a new build - help with the process?

kixxb

Our house is currently under offer and we are just waiting for the missives to be signed and have an exchange date of 12th June (based on Scotland)


The new estate we want to move to has a house coming back on the market on Wednesday - it was previously reserved under their express mover scheme but they buyers were unable to sell their property so it's available again.

We have already got a mortgage in principle and spoke to a financial adviser who confirmed that affordability was absolutely not an issue and we could in fact borrow about £100k more if we wanted.

That was in Feb and I know the mortgage process has changed so we want to get a head start on that application asap as the builder want the missives signed within 4 weeks (house won't be completed until October).

From a legal perspective, it is simply a case of submitted a formal offer via the solicitor and then, if accepted, the legal work proceeds while we await the mortgage agreement?

We are also using help to buy and need to submit that applications.

Is this all do-able within the 28 day time frame? Or are builders generally pretty flexible as long as they can see it is all progressing?

I know that these are all questions that should be fielded to my financial advisor and solicitor but we only found out yesterday that the house was coming back on the market and today's a bank holiday!!

andybaird

Hi

Sorry... i dont have any advice as such however i have been watching your threads with interest as we are also looking to move to dargavel village. Trying to get a redundancy package at work to up our deposit (have a new job lined up)

What developer / house style did you go for?

I would probably advise contacting a financial advisor of some sort or solicitor

scottishblondie

When I purchased my new build in 2012 the builder also had a 28 day limit. I had an AIP from HSBC before I reserved and the full mortgage came through in about 3 weeks, but my solicitor was unhappy with some of the clauses in the contract and so the negotiations went past the 28 day limit. By the time the missives were concluded about 6 weeks had passed, and the builders were threatening to sell my house to someone else.

My solicitor also advised me against undertaking any legal work that would cost me money before the full mortgage was approved, but I guess if you are happy to take that risk you could insist. However, getting the full mortgage is likely to take longer than previously due to the MMR changes, and the HTB application will probably also slow things down.

I think it is unlikely that you will be able to conclude the missives within the 4 week deadline. As long as you keep them in the loop about how things are progressing, though, I don't think you need to worry.

kixxb

Thanks both.
Andy - it's a Taylor Wimpey we are going for.


We have our own solicitor but will probably use the financial advisor that they recommended - only because a) it means they will be able to be kept in the loop a bit more and b) we've actually spoken to him a few times and were really impressed - he didn't seem to be working in the interest of the builder and actually advised us against part exchange as we'd be disadvantaged (the builders were really pushing for this).


Will kick of the formal mortgage application today - should probably have done it sooner but we didn't know for certain that the house would become available again.


I'll get our solicitor geared up to submit the offer and then get the mortgage process kicked off - we know that affordability isn't an issue but understand that the process is more complicated now with the recent changes.


Fingers crossed it will all come together, if not, there will be other houses!