Am I Entitled to Compensation for New Build House

Charlie1985

Hi,

I am currently in the process of buying a new build home with Taylor Wimpey. Everything was fine until today. Basically when I reserved the property I was shown the house plans by the builder and assumed that was what I would be getting for the plot.

However today I went to see the build progress and noticed that the cut outs to the windows at the back of the house were in a reversed mirror image to the plans I had originally seen. For example where the lounge would have previously been on the right of the house (as per the plans I was shown) this is now on the left and the kitchen is now on the right. The whole house had been built as a mirror opposite of the plans I was shown.

I spoke with the sales advisor today who advised me I was told this however strongly disagreed with her. When doing my reservation I assumed the plans I was shown would be the layout I would be getting. The sales advisor said its her word against mine however luckily I had my parents with me too on the reservation and they too can confirm we was not told this.

The sales advisor has said each house can be like the plan or a mirror opposite. My argument here is I was not notified of this until today i.e. when I have seen it built. Even the copies of the layout plans I was given when reserving are as per the original layout.

I have exchanged contracts and the builder is pushing for completion in March/April.

Can someone please advise on the following:

1. When plans are made and shown to the customer for their plot is that what the customer should receive i.e. are the plans plot specific? Can the build reverse the layout plan without notifying me?

2. Am I entitled to any sort of compensation from this for the builder? For example I lost out on another house I had reserved and now if I pull out the builder has said they may give me my deposit back but still I am out of pocket of the mortgage and legal fees.

3. Would it be a fair compromise to tell the builder to thrown in flooring for this inconvenience as I have been mis sold the property? What sort of things am I entitled to now from the builder?

4. Now that house is in an opposite mirror image it means my lounge now looks out to a brick wall as opposed to the house. This is very upsetting for me. Would this make a difference to the house price?

Not sure what my legal rights are so any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Charlie

Running_Horse

Oh deary me.

Jon_B_2

Look on your local authority planning portal and try and find the application that applies to your estate. You'll find layouts for your house type and it should advise what plots it applies to.

I suspect they have probably done nothing wrong. Our new build was the same (in that it was a mirror image as the house faced in the opposite direction) but actually the information was there and all told I actually prefer the layout this way. I get more sun in the lounge.

DaftyDuck

Maybe the builder could take a photo of a tenner in a mirror, and give you that as compo?

Or maybe stick a mirror on that wall, so you can see your own house....

fashionvictim

My TW is mirror of the the sales details, big clue is where the front door is (unless it's central of course)

As part of the contract you would of got a map showing your plot and that doesn't show inside layout, but shows front door position on mine.

I'm end of terrace so the rest of the row have the sales layout. I was told this, but then I was also told it would be a mirror of the show home I viewed. And it's the SAME way around as the show home layout.

Sales people are just that, and good luck getting anything extra out of TW.

I don't see why it's an issue though? And as you said you have exchanged as you are committed now. Maybe you just need to get your head around it how it's different to what you anticipated?:)

AnotherJoe

As long as you walk through the front door backwards it will all be OK.

Hopeful2015

I am buying a TW home and when I reserved they wrote opposite plan on the reservation form - what does yours say about the layout?

maninthestreet

You exchanged contracts before the builder even started building the house??

pathtofreedom

As long as it is still the same sizes, eg still 3 bedrooms and not 2 or whatever, I really am not sure what the issue is? Why does it make a difference exactly?

davidmcn

maninthestreet wrote: »

You exchanged contracts before the builder even started building the house??

That's quite common for newbuild properties. Hence "buying off-plan".

PasturesNew

Developers tend to have an approach of "it'll look something like this" along with a liberal coating of "but we might, and probably will, change a variety of things along the way, including layout, finish, garden/plot size and parking arrangements".

You really need to be all over their case and checking everything weekly as it's going up so you can spot if something doesn't look right and dash into the office while there's still chance for them to amend things they've changed from what you saw.