Put a reservation in on a new build home, have a couple of questions

-pete-_2

Hi everyone, first time buyer here so please forgive any ignorance or incorrect use of terminology!

This morning we were in discussion with an independent financial advisor and we were going to use him to get a DiP to start securing our first mortgage. He has all of our details and has offered us some rough estimates as to what we can expect our repayments to be and the terms that are on offer, the firm is only a small family run company and rather annoyingly he will be away from the office next week, he also charges £250 for their service.

This afternoon we went to put a reservation down on a Taylor Wimpey new build property. We signed over the paper work and put down our initial £500 reservation fee, they were trying to get us to use their financial advisors as they don't charge TW clients for the process.

At the time we said we would prefer to use our own guy as we felt he would be better at getting us a preferable rate and would actually put some real effort into it rather than just getting us through the system as fast as he can.

At the moment my girlfriend is currently freaking out that the week our advisor is going to be away is going to cut massively into the agreements expiry date and that he won't be able to get everything done in time, therefore meaning we loose our £500 and potentially the house.

What are peoples experience in this? Is TW just trying to force everything through as fast as possible for their benefit? Is the £250 and time that we spend with our mortgage advisor going to be worth it? How long should it take for them to turn this stuff around?

Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, we are going to be using the Help to Buy scheme, I know this can make things a little more complex!

Thrugelmir

Providing you are actively moving the potential purchase forwards. Developers will be flexible. They are simply trying to avoid time wasters.

Jon_B_2

Whilst I believe in not using a developers recommended solicitors, I have no hesitation suggesting their recommended financial advisors. It's free and to be fair I'm sure they will get you as good a deal as any.

kingstreet

As a newbuild specialist, we get access to products not available to general brokers.

In addition, for example, where Halifax normally only lends upto 80% on a newbuild we have access to 85%, 90% and 95% HTB Mortgage Guarantee products and better HTB Equity Loan rates.

We also get access to newbuild admin and troubleshooting teams with several lenders.

Just keep an open mind and talk to different people and see what they can offer.

Haylescom

Don't panic on the exchange date; ours came and went almost a week ago and the hold up currently is that the builders haven't sent contracts to our solicitors!
I will say though the financial advisor we had through the builders was really good and our mortgage is completely sorted already.

fashionvictim

My 28 day reservation ended in months ago, still not exchanged with Taylor whimpey as our buyer wants a completion date before exchange. And Taylor wimpey keep moving the build window, so who knows when it will be finished.

They did chase until we had the mortgage agreed but honestly don't let them panic you, they just want to know you are committed. I totally felt the pressure at the start, I shouldn't have worried.

Also remember mortgage offers only last a few months ( ours 4 months) so we now have to renew it.

You don't really want to rush into exchanging on a property that isn't going to be ready for months, just keep things ticking over. And remember they can ( and will) move the build dates to suit only them.

rtho782

We actually reserved with Taylor Wimpey today.

We found they refused to negotiate at all on pricing, included extras etc.

We were also told of a £184 "estate charge" per annum despite it being a freehold. It seems they do this so they can make a bit of extra money rather than letting the council adopt the roads.

From research online, reading documents such as this one: http://arma.org.uk/downloader/f15.pdf

And hearing a friend's experience on another new build site where the charges went up 500% in 5 years, meaning this could potentially end up being more than our annual running costs for insurance and tax on 2 cars and a motorbike, and that there is nothing we can ever do to challenge the "reasonableness" of this charge...

We've decided to pull out, even if it means losing the reservation fee.

It's all the disadvantages of a leasehold without any of the protections.

Oh, and if we change the colour of our door, we can be sued. Yeah, right...

Tygermoth

We also reserved today - it was a great deal (3 bed detached with Garage in a non overlooked location on a little spur - for the same price as a semi detached with allocated spaces all within the estate itself) So we were a little keen.

Please excuse our ignorance but when is the deposit due? exchange or completion? the paperwork seems to suggest it could be at either point so i am confused.

also sorry for the hijack.

Jon_B_2

rtho782 wrote: »

We actually reserved with Taylor Wimpey today.

We found they refused to negotiate at all on pricing, included extras etc.

We were also told of a £184 "estate charge" per annum despite it being a freehold. It seems they do this so they can make a bit of extra money rather than letting the council adopt the roads.

From research online, reading documents such as this one: http://arma.org.uk/downloader/f15.pdf

And hearing a friend's experience on another new build site where the charges went up 500% in 5 years, meaning this could potentially end up being more than our annual running costs for insurance and tax on 2 cars and a motorbike, and that there is nothing we can ever do to challenge the "reasonableness" of this charge...

We've decided to pull out, even if it means losing the reservation fee.

It's all the disadvantages of a leasehold without any of the protections.

Oh, and if we change the colour of our door, we can be sued. Yeah, right...

What a load of rubbish.

The roads still get adopted by the council. It is an estate management charge for the upkeep of green areas etc.

Most new estates come with this charge despite being freehold as the councils have washed their hands of maintaining parkland and green spaces on new land. The developers would rather do without it I'm sure.

Thrugelmir

Jon_B wrote: »

Most new estates come with this charge despite being freehold as the councils have washed their hands of maintaining parkland and green spaces on new land. The developers would rather do without it I'm sure.

With the delegation of powers from Central Government. Councils will have to fund such activities themselves from their own resources i.e. council tax etc. Seems only right that those who enjoy the amenities pay for their upkeep.

rtho782

Jon_B wrote: »

What a load of rubbish.

The roads still get adopted by the council. It is an estate management charge for the upkeep of green areas etc.

Most new estates come with this charge despite being freehold as the councils have washed their hands of maintaining parkland and green spaces on new land. The developers would rather do without it I'm sure.

We were specifically told that the roads do not get adopted by the council. Further research suggests this is partly deliberate, as positive covenants (that require you to do something, pay a charge, rather than restrictive covenants, that prevent you from doing something) do not run with the land usually. However, as they have the benefit of the road to drive your car to your house and get it in your parking space, subsequent buyers are still stuck paying it.

Talking to friends and family that have bought on new builds, these charges DO creep up and up and up, and also get random ad-hoc charges added on at times. One friend has told me they even tried setting up a residents committee to challenge it and did not get anywhere.