Barratt homes nightmare-first time buyers be aware

Dh..

We are first time buyers and agreed to buy a house from Barratt Homes in September(2014) -due to be finished in January 2015. We have had a nightmare with them ever since.

After contracts were exchanged we were informed the house would be delayed until April 17th(bear in mind we had a really mild winter to build in).More delays followed.

The site manager phoned recently(march 2015) to let us know that the house would be ready on a certain date as he knows exactly how long it takes from here, to which we said we will let our landlord know (as it was only a month away). A few weeks later barratts informed us the move in date was now 3 weeks after this date. As a result of this we are now having to move, with our 14-month-old daughter, back with our parents as the current landlord has already gave a move in date to the new tenants.

We have had to pay close to £3000 on the things such as rent that should of gone on our mortgage; a new mortgage(as mortgages are only valid for 6 months);tenancy renewals, storage facilities etc. Barratt's have took no responsibility. They will only pay for the mortgage services that have expired.

I think this is incredibly unfair and feel we are just at there mercy now. Has Anyone had a similar experience? is there anything that we can do? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

martinsurrey

The contract you signed will have spelt all of this out to you and will have all of the details on what will happen.

nothing you can do as its perfectly normal for delays to happen.

You'll get 14 days notice to complete once the house is finished and has been signed off.

Did you speak to yuor solicitor before handing your notice in?

robatwork

Sorry to say this but.....

Don't think of your moving in date as the end to your problems with them.

lessonlearned

Until you get your 14 day notice to say that the house is build complete then all dates are estimates only.

This will have been laid out in your contract. You have no legal redress because your builder has not broken the terms of the contract.

arbrighton

Mild winter???? hmmmmmm, I remember snow and ice

fierystormcloud

Dh.. wrote: »

We are first time buyers and agreed to buy a house from Barratt Homes in September(2014) -due to be finished in January 2015. We have had a nightmare with them ever since.

After contracts were exchanged we were informed the house would be delayed until April 17th(bear in mind we had a really mild winter to build in).More delays followed.

The site manager phoned recently(march 2015) to let us know that the house would be ready on a certain date as he knows exactly how long it takes from here, to which we said we will let our landlord know (as it was only a month away). A few weeks later barratts informed us the move in date was now 3 weeks after this date. As a result of this we are now having to move, with our 14-month-old daughter, back with our parents as the current landlord has already gave a move in date to the new tenants.

We have had to pay close to £3000 on the things such as rent that should of gone on our mortgage; a new mortgage(as mortgages are only valid for 6 months);tenancy renewals, storage facilities etc. Barratt's have took no responsibility. They will only pay for the mortgage services that have expired.

I think this is incredibly unfair and feel we are just at there mercy now. Has Anyone had a similar experience? is there anything that we can do? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

robatwork wrote: »

Sorry to say this but.....

Don't think of your moving in date as the end to your problems with them.

This ^^^

There will only be more hassle with new build.

This sounds run-of-the-mill to me and typical of people moving and having ambiguous moving in dates.

Don't envy you, but the best of luck.

Oh I can't remember much snow and ice this past winter either...

dgtazzman

Had other dealings with Barratt's that weren't very pleasant. We didn't even get beyond reserving a house.

But also had problems with the builder of my current house on delays. I was 'guaranteed' a move in date on 3 different occasions. On the last one, the site sales rep slipped me the email address of the CEO and hinted I contact him so he'd give the site manager an earful. Luckily this worked and I got a reasonable amount of compensation from them for the hassle. The area managed kept fobbing me off, the CEO on the other hand did the right thing, acknowledged they made mistakes and took responsibility for them. You just need to get heard by the right person.

Your contract will probably state you have no regress till 6 months after the initially indicated completion date.

I was supposed to move in February/beginning of March at the very latest if they had delays. Ended up moving in at the start of June.

They have since replaced the site manager and since the new one started, after sales has been brilliant.

It's stressful, but it hasn't put me off new builds. Actually considering selling up and moving to a different part of the country following a divorce and I will be looking at another new build, only I won't be making any arrangements till the solicitor gets the official completion notice, even if it does cost a little extra rent (I will rent first before buying another house as it's easier imo).

robatwork

I'm sure if you go back to my early posts there will be plenty of hate regarding Barratts. The buying process was fine, but the snagging and aftercare were woeful.

This was a long while ago however so I hope they have improved.

It has put me off buying a new house though - certainly one with a big builder.

Pixie5740

New builds get delayed. At least you're renting just now, could you imagine the hassle if you were trying to sell somewhere as well. Any buyer you had lined up would probably have told you to poke it by now.

Annie1960

I'm in a chain with a new build at the top - it has caused no end of problems.

Mickygg

Oh dear, your solicitors should have advised only hand in your notice on your rental property when completion date is confirmed once building has been completed and signed off as such.
New builds are constantly delayed, as was mine. Mine was delayed by over 6 months!!
Very annoying on all the extra costs, but not much you can do as that's the nature of buying an incomplete house and the risk you take.