What to do when my house builder doesn't finish my house..?!?!

thisiskirsty

Hi

I'm hoping to get some advice! I bought a house on a six-house development from a private developer 18 months ago and he's still not finished the development basically. Both as individual home-owners and as the registered company jointly responsible for the communal parking area, my neighbours and I have been on at him to finish.

We reported outstanding issues and snagging before, during and after move day. We've been in touch with the contractors directly (under the developers say so) to get some of the work done. We've contacted him directly too. Now we're being ignored by all parties, developer and his contractors.

How do we get the house finished?! It's supposed to be covered by "Premier Guarantee", but when a neighbour contacted them, they said they'd never signed off the guarantee (or something similar).

I suggested to my solicitor we take the developer to the small claims court but he pointed out that the only people who really benefit from this are the solicitors on each side - ie, it's more trouble than it's worth.

The driveway shared by the six properties was supposed to have lighting and landscaping as part of the planning application, but neither have been completed. We have hot water panels on the roof that we're still waiting to have positioned. My bathroom window has the wrong window so it won't open. We had to wait a year before our en suite was finished.

I don't know what to do.. please can anyone advise!! :mad:

Thanks

libf

I'm confused... You're living in a house that isn't finished? Your solicitor let you complete before the guarantee was confirmed?

elsien

So what suggestions does your solicitor have to resolve the situation, given that's what you're paying them for?

You don't need a solicitor to go to the small claims court, btw.

matttye

If your solicitor let you complete without confirming the guarantee (Buildmark or otherwise) you may want to think about taking your solicitor to court rather than giving them more work!

SuzieSue

Did you pick your own solicitor or did you use the one recommended by the builder?

thisiskirsty

Thanks for the responses, all. It was essentially 'finished' (as in the house was, the landscaping/lighting wasn't, but I didn't know then that there was supposed to be a lighting scheme at all). It's the snagging list that we were assured would be completed after moving in that is the problem.

Regarding the guarantee, I don't know, I need to look into that as I was paraphrasing from a neighbour.

I've never bought a new build before, so I didn't know what the process/pitfalls were. We were also bullied into completing fast, the estate agents were always telling us that the developer was about to pull out of the sale. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when you're in the middle of it, it's hard to be clever. I was selling my flat, my partner was selling his, so we were in a three-way chain. And my partner's father suddenly died 5 days before completion.

So, yes, there's a lot of things I would do differently in the future, but can anyone suggest how to move forward? SuzieSue, it was our own solicitor, my partner has used him before, as have friends of his.

Elsien, I think I did know that we wouldn't need a solicitor for small claims court, but I wouldn't want to go up against our developer not having clue. So I would want/need some kind of professional advice before doing that.

borkid

I assume the builders are now off site. Re the drives when I moved into a new build the developers contracted another specialist company to do the drives. The first people in the development, had been in for 2 years I think, didn't have a properly finished drive, it was OK but not very thick tarmac. When the contractors came they finished the whole estate in one go. If you've you tried all else maybe you could get some advice from the planning department of the local council. I'm not sure if there is a time limit on how long permission lasts and from what you say the developes haven't abided by the planning permission.

ManofLeisure_2

I would suggest giving your local Trading Standards Office a call. They may be able to give advice as to the best way forward.
https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office

I hope this matter is resolved soon

thisiskirsty

yes, the builders have stopped coming around long ago, they used to make appointments to come over (invariably cancelled/not turned up).

One of my neighbours has been in touch with the planning department, but I don't think they have made any progress.

I will get in touch with trading standards, thank you

thisiskirsty

Unfortunately I'm pretty much back to where I began. Trading Standards passed me thought to Citizen's Advice who told me that they can't advise on new build properties. They said I should speak to the NHBC. But I spoke to NHBC last week and they told me that they only help people who have taken out a policy with them - I have not. So the next suggestion was to speak to Citizens Advice Bureaux. My local one is closed from today for a week for work on their computer system.

Not having much luck!

LittleMax

So if you are not covered by NHBC or the Premier Guarantee it is back to a complaint against your solicitor for not ensuring an adequate guarantee was in place before you completed.