Barratt Homes Complaint

richard2511

No we were not given the chance to purchase the property again. They re marketed it and sold it to someone else at the same time as us trying to exchange.

We did not use their solicitors.

They extended the original deadline because their solicitor sent us the wrong paper work completely. It wasn't even for the site that we were purchasing a property on. Our solicitors received the title documentation after the deadline of 19th April had passed and could only start work once they received this.

The length of the extensions are irrelevant. Their solicitor's did not provide us with the information we needed to exchange. They could have gave us another year to exchange, it wouldn't have helped. Until they provided us with the correct information our hands were tied.

marksoton

richard2511 wrote: »

We did not use their solicitors.

Until they provided us with the correct information our hands were tied.

Fair enough.

But the problem is until exchange you have very little ,if any protection.

Those costs you've incurred were at your own risk. I'm not saying it's morally right but i'd be surprised if you get anything from them.

richard2511

We don't want people thinking this is just about the money.

We are doing this to raise awareness. We are truly heart broken that this happened to us, when we were so close to exchanging.

The whole 28 days to exchange, in my mind, is ridiculous and like you said, there is no protection for the customer.

Newbiebuyer2016

We had 28 days to exchange on a Barrett's home OR 7 days from mortgage offer if delayed.

They basically said if we were dragging our feets the house could be remarketed.

As it was the lender delayed then a new deadline was set, my solicitor claimed they were still waiting on paperwork from otherside, so I rung head office and said THEY were causing the delays. 10mins it was resolved.

It does seem that you have a huge gap to sort this? Did you or you solicitor not chase or did you just sit and wait for them to resolve it?

richard2511

My wife works in the solicitors that dealt with it and I can say she did a lot of chasing... as you can imagine with it being her own house, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the purchase.

Barratts solicitors are just useless, in our mind and have cost us our dream house.

richard2511

We received a phone call this morning to state that Barratt Homes have received our email and we will be hearing from them shortly.

In the email we have requested a meeting with the CEO. We will keep our fingers crossed.

AdrianC

richard2511 wrote: »

In the email we have requested a meeting with the CEO. We will keep our fingers crossed.

You might be being a bit optimistic there. Barratt are a £4bn turnover, 5,000 employee PLC. This is WAY below CEO level...

richard2511

It is being dealt with by Regional Director at the moment. There is only one level above this as far as I can tell, CEO.

robatwork

You have to remember something else about Barratts or 99% of new houses.

They are built to a strict (and incredibly dull) formula. It's like Ikea furniture, there are only a few designs.

If you miss out on your dream home, there will definitely be another one exactly like it popping up somewhere close by.

AdrianC

richard2511 wrote: »

It is being dealt with by Regional Director at the moment. There is only one level above this as far as I can tell, CEO.

At least one, probably two.
There's a national sales/marketing director.
There's regional managing directors reporting to the chief operating officer.
Which of those two the regional sales director (who's probably who you're dealing with - or, rather, somebody in their office) reports to, I don't know offhand...

I doubt the CEO's even heard of your development. That's not his job.