New Build Issues Before Moving In

lmandeville

Hi all,

We purchased a new build town house back in October with a completion date of this month, this may or may not slip, they are trying to push through as it is their financial half year end at the end of June. That doesn't bother us too much even though my wife is expecting next month.

We have recently been informed that the ensuite layout needs to change to bring the toilet closer to the SVP, why this wasn't picked up on design I'm yet to get an answer to, however, I went to site to view the change and sign off the proposed plans. The layout was not as the plans so I haven't signed it off yet, again not really an issue but what else I saw was.

The consumer unit (fuse board) had been moved from the drawings we accepted from the kitchen in the units to the hallway at stomach height, we were not consulted on the move, it has just happened. After being told we could move it back by the sales person and confirmed with the site manager it now appears it can't. We have brought furniture for this space.

We now also have a 1.5m x 0.5m loss on our living room where they have moved the adjacent cloakroom under the stairs to give more head room, again not consulted at any stage I just found out cause I happened to be on site. So space lost in living room and gained under the stairs in a dead area.

We questioned a strange looking box in the apex of the house brickwork which now turns out to be a bat box. Again no mention of this at point of sale or since. We have no idea what this means from a maintenance, hygiene and noise point of view.

A few other bits around quality and swearing written on the walls but these were the major things.

I've sent two emails now to the sales manager and then their boss, both of which have hardly answered my questions and basically said that its tough and not moving the points above. I believe that they are breaking their contract of sales as well as a number of other codes they are suppose to follow.

I'm not sure what steps I should be taking from here to reach some form of resolution. We are suppose to be moving in the end of this month and they just don't seem to care that we have lost living space and inherited a bat box.

Any advice would be appreciated

Jon_B_2

Take a good look at your contract you signed and the consumer code for housebuilders guide that they should legally give you when you reserve. Who is the housebuilder?


Also, speak to your conveyancer.


Big rule for buying new builds, do not let them rush your build to complete before their financial half/full year results. I would purposefully negotiate moving in the month after.

BlueIsTheColour

We had the same bat box issue, we just took it down the day we moved in. Site manager had a whinge, we said nobody ever told us it'd be there, they'd not put them on earlier build houses cos they 'forgot' but said that wasn't my problem. Bat box is in our garage now... Others have left them & reported no issues with them.

ethank

You should have been consulted over all of these issues. Who is the builder?