False advertising? Already exchanged contracts - Any advice?

emjaybeee

Hello,

I am new to the forums and me and my fiance have just purchased a new build property off plan. We exchanged contracts on 19/12/14 with the house half built. We are due to move in mid-March.

I will get straight to the point.

We have a major, fundamental issue with the colour of the brick used for the brick wall that is 6ft high which runs between our property and the next.

Let me show you. Click on the link below this paragraph. Note the colour of the brick wall in the first picture to the left hand side is the same colour as the house.

imgurdotcom/a/BANak

Now look at how the property looks in reality from all of the remaining images including the panorama image. The red colour of the brickwork is from the other identical house which is further up the road and runs all the way up and is physically attached to our house.

We think this looks horrendous. The red and the yellow colour obviously do not go together.

We have since spoken to a reputable builder and the logical way the builders should have done this is to meet the two colours of the brickwork between the properties half way down. This makes the colour distribution fair and 50/50.

We are extremely upset by this. All we're asking for is the wall to be knocked down and replaced with the right coloured bricks to match our property.

It favours the other property as the brick wall matches the colour of that house.

PLEASE NOTE the other property is IDENTICAL to ours in spec other than the colour of the brickwork.

We have spoken to their sales manager who has said "It looks fine." He is not willing to knock the wall down.
We have spoken to their estate agent who has said "it's whatever they planned to do."

Where would we stand legally if we were to pull out now that we have exchanged contracts?

We do not want to move into the house in this current state. We have no other option but to pull out if they aren't willing to make the changes, and ultimately make the property how it should look when it was bought off plan.

Cheeky_Monkey

Seriously?

If you pull out now you will be in breach of contract and lose your deposit.

sinizterguy

Unless the colour of the wall was stated specifically somewhere you're on a hiding to nothing.

emjaybeee

sinizterguy wrote: »

Unless the colour of the wall was stated specifically somewhere you're on a hiding to nothing.

Thanks for your prompt responses.

Isn't the picture and the spec of the house enough to go off? The picture clearly shows the brick wall is the same colour as the house.

Would you personally move into the house with a red brick wall attached to your Cotswold style bricks?

Just bear in mind we cannot change anything for 5 years on the estate.

kinger101

What they've done may be contrary to the Consumer Code for Home Building (page 17 onwards)

http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/Consumer-Code-for-Homebuilders-Third-Edition-April-2013.pdf

Not sure how useful a "code" is compared to law.

I'd escalate this above the site manager. I'd also get the council involved; perhaps they've deviated from the planning permission.

Failing that, try public humiliating them via a newspaper/Watchdog.

bsms1147

Looks the same colour to the one it's attached to at the other end. Can't match both of them.

Anatidaephobia

emjaybeee wrote: »

Would you personally move into the house with a red brick wall attached to your Cotswold style bricks?

Yes, I would.

emjaybeee

bsms1147 wrote: »

Looks the same colour to the one it's attached to at the other end. Can't match both of them.

It's the same spec house up the road and adds value to the other property. Why should it be the other house and not ours?

Just to reiterate, I have spoken to a reputable builder who has advised that the logical way to build the wall would be to split both colours evenly with the crossover point in the middle.

kinger101

emjaybeee wrote: »

It's the same spec house up the road and adds value to the other property. Why should it be the other house and not ours?

Just to reiterate, I have spoken to a reputable builder who has advised that the logical way to build the wall would be to split both colours evenly with the crossover point in the middle.

Well, no. That would look odd as well. The logical way would be to build both houses, and the wall, from the same coloured bricks. The fact they've built two houses with different bricks (rather than just the wall) means they've made a monumental FU rather than a small one.

I don't think they'll change the bricks on the wall now, so you could try to negotiate on something else - e.g, kitchen/bathroom finishes. Just be as annoying as possible, for example complain at weekends when the sales office is busy. They might concede if you're becoming a nuisance and scare enough buyers away.

lee111s

emjaybeee wrote: »

It's the same spec house up the road and adds value to the other property. Why should it be the other house and not ours?

Just to reiterate, I have spoken to a reputable builder who has advised that the logical way to build the wall would be to split both colours evenly with the crossover point in the middle.

Explain how it adds value because of the colour of the brick?

There's no way they'll change it. It's a brick wall, if it was bright green I'd uderstand but it's brick wall.

As for the first picture, that'll be for illustration purposes only and unless you were told that it's exactly who it would look when it was built, including the colour of the wall, you're not going to get anywhere.

Looks like you're out of luck, but really, it makes no difference.

There's houses on my estate the same colour brick as yours, their gargen walls however are the same colour as my house, which is thr same colour used on the wall you're unhappy with and it's never once occured to me "that looks out of place" or "that house is worth less than mine because thier wall is a different colour.

kinger101

lee111s wrote: »

Explain how it adds value because of the colour of the brick?

There's no way they'll change it. It's a brick wall, if it was bright green I'd uderstand but it's brick wall.

As for the first picture, that'll be for illustration purposes only and unless you were told that it's exactly who it would look when it was built, including the colour of the wall, you're not going to get anywhere.

Looks like you're out of luck, but really, it makes no difference.

There's houses on my estate the same colour brick as yours, their gargen walls however are the same colour as my house, which is thr same colour used on the wall you're unhappy with and it's never once occured to me "that looks out of place" or "that house is worth less than mine because thier wall is a different colour.

I think it's either something that bothers your or doesn't to be honest. I would annoy me, so I'd want something in return. The reason being, it looks a bit odd, and I'd expect a competent builder to avoid this. In the same way I'd expect someone in a shoe shop to sell me two black shoes rather than one black and one brown. It's not rocket science.