advice on new build wanted

carpyandy

Hello
I have the following predicament and was wondering if anybody could help with some info
I placed a 10% deposit on a house off plan way back in Sept 2014, the house will not be finished until Aug 15, delay after delay
Recently the builder put an additional offer on an identical property which hadn't sold yet.
this offer was to include some white goods, £500 towards legal fee's but most importantly they would pay the stamp duty (£5500). this has left me feeling very let down, so I sent an email to them basically covering the fact I had sold my house to cover the original 10% and im now renting in-between, all of which is costing me ££££ each month and that I would appreciate the same offer. I have since received a reply saying no 2 houses are the same (I can assure you these are) and they would not extend the offer to me.
Can anybody advise on a good route to go down next? or do i just need to keep chipping away at them hoping to get a deal?
Thank in advance
Andy

martinsurrey

one important fact we need to know

is it a 10% reservation deposit, or 10% exchange deposit?

Have you exhanged contracts yet?

kingstreet

Typical reservation fee is about £1k, so I'm going for contracts have been exchanged here.

In which case the deal is done and you're committed.

It often happens that those who reserve earliest don't get as good a deal as those towards the end of the development when the builder wants to get away to the next site.

lincroft1710

I would be very surprised if the 10% deposit is refundable if you decide not to proceed. It is normal for builders to offer incentives when they can't sell their houses, but there is no reason for them to do so on a house that they have already struck a deal on.

But if the deposit is refundable if you don't proceed, you have a bargaining tool.

martinsurrey

kingstreet wrote: »

Typical reservation fee is about £1k, so I'm going for contracts have been exchanged here.

In which case the deal is done and you're committed.

It often happens that those who reserve earliest don't get as good a deal as those towards the end of the development when the builder wants to get away to the next site.

in London we do £10k quite often, but I would also go with this being post echange, but until we know...

kingstreet

£10,000 reservation fee? :eek:

We have sites in Reading and Milton Keynes which I thought would have been a bit more "south-easty" but nowhere near that.

carpyandy

yes it is a exchange deposit
the deposit amount was actually £31k
originally the final date was planed for Mar 15, but delay after delay is costing me £1000's in rent. The builder left a 6 month build extension in the contract Sept 15.

martinsurrey

You have no room for negotiation, you have agreed to the contract.

Best you can hope for is that they'll get sick of you and throw in a washing machine, but even that isnt certain.

best you can do, is be happy that you agreed on a price you were happy with, and you will have your new house soon enough.

kingstreet

Completion is "on notice" anyway, so unless your solicitor included a long-stop in the contract you are stuck with when the builder gets round to finishing.

You are committed to the deal you made at reservation, so anything you get from the builder is a bonus and completely at their discretion.

carpyandy

Thanks for the info
I dipped my toe in the new build market and have been ripped a new one
will not make the same mistake again.

Mickygg

You were happy with the deal when you offered and exchanged.

If you found out the prices had risen and people were paying more would you offer to pay more on completion?

No you wouldn't so why would you expect the developer to do the same?

Don't be greedy, don't let it ruin the experience. As with any new build, completion is a lottery.