False advertising? Already exchanged contracts - Any advice?

Better_Days

Could the wall be rendered with a neutral colour acceptable to both you and your neighbour?

freezspirit

sorry to ask this but behind the wall will that be yours or their garden or both where there will be a fence separating them?


personally it looks like the builder/developer had surplus of red bricks and was trying to get the wall up before anyone noticed as its odd to start your end and not to have started on the red brick side.


If the "garden" will be split then it would of looked better to have started the wall with the same brick as the house and met in the middle with a column of black bricks to show property boundary.


Something is puzzling me why each house on the estate used different coloured bricks, red, pinky then the next house looks like orangery bricks, if that the case then on each house plot should use the same coloured bricks for that house on the walls.

xylophone

Would it be possible to grow evergreen (scented, flowering) climbers up the wall to hide the colour and soften the rather raw new estate appearance?

emjaybeee

Just a quick update.. our estate agent advised that all brickwork on site would be red regardless of house colours. In his experience no wall has been two different colours.

That brings me onto my next point, so why in the CAD drawing did they draw it with a beige wall? We were buying off plan so that's the picture we had to refer to.

If it had a red wall against a beige house things would be different.

Not to mention the fact that they over looked our chimney and actually forgot to install one (cosmetic). As you can see from the panorama photo, the other identical house has a chimney. They are now rectifying this as apparently, they were already aware of the missing chimney on our house. We actually spotted this and questioned why the other has house one.

Following on from this, just to make the point again, there's no chimney pictured in the CAD drawing.. This is rather flawed.

AdrianC

...and that's why the pictures are disclaimered as "artists impressions".

pinkteapot

emjaybeee wrote: »

Just a quick update.. our estate agent advised that all brickwork on site would be red regardless of house colours. In his experience no wall has been two different colours.

The EA isn't "yours". He/she works for the builder. They and the salesperson all just want the sale to go through.

You can try asking them nicely if there's any chance of getting it changed - the answer will no doubt be 'no'.

As above, your solicitor is the only one in the whole process who's working for you and is on your side. They can advise on whether you have any rights, can look at the documentation you have and advise on whether the house is 'what you ordered'.

Sadly, as others have said, you probably don't have a leg to stand on. It will depend on what was specified in writing about the finishes I suspect, and I doubt they went into detail about the exact bricks for the wall...

NobodysChild

stator wrote: »

I agree it does look crap, I wouldn't be happy with it. I'm afraid I don't know if you have a hope in hell of getting it changed though.
Rendering the wall and painting a neutral colour would look best for both houses.

Jhoney wrote: »

It would irk a little.

Can they not do something to lighten them halfway? Like a whitewash solution- but professionally with appropriate materials for external use?

There must be something that can be done. Even painting your part of the brickwork

I have to agree that it does not look great, but I don't think you have a leg to stand on tbh. It wouldn't stop me buying it, and I would probably just try and grow ivy over it or something, but as you are paying (probably) good money, then you have a right to have the house looking how you want it imo.

How much will you lose if you drop out?

Mallotum_X

Personally I dont understand anyone having such a string reaction to the wall colour. It does not devalue your property or add value to the neighbours.

Personally I think most people would not even notice unless it was actually pointed out to them.

But ultimately it bugs you, you can get the plans from the council, which will have specified the agreed brick colours - samples will almost certainly have been provided. Each house will have been noted on the plans as to the colour of bricks used. There should have also been plans submitted on boundary treatment, although frequently these are separate plans submitted after initial planning permission so may well just give a typical treatment rather than specific to each garden wall.

Your solicitor can check the contract to see what is specified in it. The wall may be mentioned in which case you may have the brick colour specified. You did select the solicitor yourself rather than using one recommended by the builder?

But in terms of forcing the issue I doubt it is worth the cost. There is no loss in value, so nothing to claim in that respect. But turning up and making a fuss in the sales office may help. If they agree to a change, get it in writing there and then - hand-written on a sheet of headed paper and signed will be enough.

kinger101

pinkteapot wrote: »

Personally I think the better option was the multi-coloured wall (half and half).

Something like this?

Perelandra

kinger101 wrote: »

Something like this?

Well... perhaps starting off red at one end, beige at the other, and gradually replacing bricks with the other colour as the two meet in the middle... that would create an impression of an overall blend from beige to red.