New build and public right of way through the house!

AnotherJoe

Carly what have you asked for ?
If it’s compensation, then unless you are going to move into rental, there can’t be any exchange.
If it’s another house on the plot, unless they say yes, same applies.
You need to press for one or the other.

What you can’t get is exchange on your current house. I think you can just write that off for the foreseeable. .

CarlyE

Agreed. At the moment Solicitor is giving them a chance to reply/exchange/offer something before we go in pressing for anything. Let’s hope we get something early next week to see what they have to say as so far other than being told they are speaking with council we haven’t had any update or contact from them.

moneyistooshorttomention

Perhaps you could find out information sooner for yourselves - ie do you know any of your local councillors (wondering about ringing one up to find out for yourself)?

AnotherJoe

CarlyE wrote: »

Agreed. At the moment Solicitor is giving them a chance to reply/exchange/offer something before we go in pressing for anything. Let’s hope we get something early next week to see what they have to say as so far other than being told they are speaking with council we haven’t had any update or contact from them.

Strikes me that’s a fools errand, they aren’t going to have a ROW overturned in a few days, process has to take place and the incompetence of the builder doesn’t give them carte blanche to override that.

So what I suspect this means is they will drag it out for a few weeks and then offer you some (most likely )derisory compensation.

I think you need to decide what you want. Would you for example be happy to be in rental (paid for by them) for a year or two whilst they sort this out, then move in? Or do you just want ten grand and sell your place and move into rental and buy elsewhere ? Are you sanguine seeing your purchasers give up? If they were posting here that’s what most would advise I’d suspect.

capital0ne

Its a new build - don't buy it - end of.

You have more consumer rights on a can of baked beans than a new build house.

New builds are so badly built you will have nothing but problems and a massive drop in value once you own it just like a new car!

Finally, it doesn't matter as you won't be buying it, but look out for it being a leasehold property that doubles in rent every ten years. It may just be a strip of land in front of the house. This will render it unsaleable.

Finally never use the new build company's legal team to buy it, get your own solicitor.

Good luck

moneyistooshorttomention

I'd certainly agree that, IF the ROW gets overturned, it's more likely to take months than days to do so....and that is an "if" at that.

I think your solicitor is probably being more than a little over-optimistic about your negotiating powers on this. Their stance is most likely to be to just try and wear you down and down and further down by you getting more and more desperate to complete right NOW (whilst they continue to fuffle around trying to change the route of the ROW).

I would imagine there's every chance this incompetent builder will put a succession of would-be buyers of this house through a "Nearly...nearly.....errrrm...not" process on buying this house before it's resolved one way or the other. The most likely scenario being that this builder is waiting for someone/anyone to go ahead and buy this house without it being resolved before they Complete and telling themselves they'll probably find someone like it if they just hold out.

No harm in giving them a deadline (a very short one - ie days) of doing whatever-it-is you tell them you want from them (eg a better house). Personally - I'd start house-hunting again and give this builder a deadline of end of coming week to agree I was going to have that better house - or I wouldnt be buying from them at all and would be ensuring everyone else knew better than to even try and buy the affected houses. They do need to know they can forget the "We'll always find some other mug" way of thinking they've probably got. Followed by - at 4.45pm on the dot Friday I'd make an offer on another house instead (if I'd found a suitable one).

EachPenny

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Perhaps you could find out information sooner for yourselves - ie do you know any of your local councillors (wondering about ringing one up to find out for yourself)?

It is unlikely that a councillor will be much help.

Those who know what they are doing will be aware that getting involved in any kind of advocacy role when it comes to things like PROW diversions opens up cans of worms, especially in this situation where the building is already constructed. Making an unbiased decision to divert a ROW is difficult when the decision has already been made by a pile of bricks and mortar. A councillor getting involved and potentially influencing the decision making process will only add to the problems.

Councillors who don't know what they are doing in a situation like this are a danger to themselves and everybody else involved in the process. I have the T-shirt.

The best you are likely to get will be an update on progress, which the OP already has I believe.

Smodlet

IF, OP, it turns out, as seems very likely, you have little/nothing to lose, I would be very tempted to go public(er) than you already have. I can so see this as an item on your local news channel.

I wish you a successful and satisfactory conclusion to this nightmare and the developers absolutely everything they have coming... But we all know that never happens, don't we? They deserve the GoT/Gunpowder kind of retribution but we can all dream, can't we?

Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

S

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally - I'd see "going public" as the tactic I'd make darn sure the builders knew I would use if they didnt give me what I want (ie that better house). It's one of the very few cards OP has up their sleeve - and they don't want to play it too soon. The virtue of that particular card is that they would play it IF it came to it. Maybe the builder will try and "buy them off" if they know that card hasnt been played yet - but will be if it comes to it.

I've played the "I WILL say if you don't...." card in a different direction and it worked. I didnt have to say - and got what I wanted (in that case a lodger that owed me money because they'd tried to steal from me got it made very plain what would happen to her boyfriends career if it came to it). Fortunately for me - with her not having a career of her own at that point - she saw the point of her boyfriend needing to remain publicly unsullied by "criminal doings".:);)

Smodlet

Yes, apologies if I was not clear but I kind of thought I had covered that with, "you have little/nothing to lose". I meant, having explored all other avenues. It is certainly one of the very few axes/swords of Damocles the OP would appear to have available. I think we are on the same page, moneyistooshorttomention; I hope so.