A property was sold to us under the false premise that it was ready. Is this fraud?

SuboJvR

tzzt123 wrote: »

HampshireH,

Have you missed out on the topic of this thread ? I don't see anywhere asking for advice on whether I should pull out or not..

Thanks though.

Some people have already advised as to whether it constitutes fraud or not but your best bet is going to be to discuss it with a legal professional.

If you want to get any sort of compensation out of them though just bear in mind you may struggle as there is certainly suggestion that they can't make ends meet as it is!

walwyn1978

The flats will not be finished AND sold to you. My guess is that they will be sold en masse to another developer or an agency.

Walk away, sacrifice the 3k, get your dog back, and in months time or maybe a year, you'll find somewhere else you love and isn't being sold by people who can't get their act together.

BirdisBlue

I would run a mile from this. Losing a few grand now will seem like a drop in the ocean in a few years if you decide to proceed.

My Mother is a venture capitalist/investor, and after reading through this post and having been surrounded by startup businesses / investors most of my life, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that it sounds like this particular developer has ran out of money.

When people begin to run out of money, especially in construction, they cut corners and the quality of work suffers.

Run.

SuboJvR

Back in January you were much more wary when dealing with Barrett, who are a bigger builder etc, and yet these guys you still want to believe in...?

What does your solicitor make of all this?
Do they agree that the original memorandum of sale was invalid without the terms and conditions supplied to you?

Honestly I don't believe you will ever make that flat your home. I think they have "sold" the show flat to several people and probably still trying to do so to get more money to come in.

It could be a scam, it could be that they have run out of money.

But if they can't even finish the job after all this time I would really worry about what problems lie underneath that you can't see, that you will be chasing for years and years.

It's noble to want to go after them to try and protect others but with all the stress you have experienced I would really try and look after yourselves first.

PS have you checked that there's no covenants about not having pets in the flats? I know this sometimes is a thing, and you mentioned your dog.

thelem

You can't get back the time, stress and solicitors fees, that's just part of house buying.

You might be able to get that £2000 back though. What does the Memorandum of Sale say? Have they kept up their side of the agreement? If not then you may be able to take them to court for the £2000, but I wouldn't expect it to be easy.

If they do sell your property to someone else then they'd definitely not be keeping up their side of the agreement. In that scenario I'd expect them to return the £2000 without quibble.

lincroft1710

Even if you took them to court and even if you did get a judgement in your favour, that is only half the battle. Actually getting the money is a whole new ball game.