New Build - Paid SUBSTANTIALLY more than neighbour

Carrie_bie

In south west London, the demands for houses are so high (or at least that's what they tell you) that you can expect to pay 5K more for your new build house just because you were behind someone else in the reception queue on the developer's open day.

One of my colleagues queued up early on his open day and managed to get his identical house for 20K less than the last couple in the queue on the same day. Value is driven by supply and demand...

teddysmum

When my son took me to see his new build, which he and his wife had just agreed to buy, I pointed out that the price on a banner on his house's end wall was lower than what he was paying. He queried it with the builders,who told him that there had been a price rise while his house was still at the empty shell stage and that the next of that design would be even more expensive as it wasn't due to be raised until some months later.


He then found that his neighbour across the cul-de-sac , in a mirror image of hi house,had paid even less and had a slightly larger garden.


This was happening even in the early 1970s,when we bought our house which was more or less finished,as the next phase of four ,at the shell stage was priced higher,but had smaller
gardens.

Crashy_Time

davidmcn wrote: »

I thought it was a 30k rise? i.e. the neighbour bought before him?

"Now, after exchanging contracts (completing in around 2 weeks) I've just found out our plot 2 doors along (exact same house type, build, just a very minorly smaller back garden) has been sold for £30,000 less (£236k down to £205k)."


No, looks like a 30k loss straight off the bat

davidmcn

Crashy_Time wrote: »

"Now, after exchanging contracts (completing in around 2 weeks) I've just found out our plot 2 doors along (exact same house type, build, just a very minorly smaller back garden) has been sold for £30,000 less (£236k down to £205k)."


No, looks like a 30k loss straight off the bat

The OP doesn't clarify, but I presumed that was information from the registered sale i.e. several months ahead of their own transaction.

Lunchbox

A flat completely identical to ours, three floors higher (not top floor or a ‘penthouse’) was £50k more expensive. A few weeks after we reserved, the developer raised the prices by 20% and everyone in the block exchanged and completed within a week or two of each other a few months later having paid vastly different prices. It’s just how new builds work and you just have to make sure you’re happy with what you’re paying regardless of anyone else.

DJP1987

Guys, firstly I want to thank everyone for the replies on this. It's appreciated and has made me realise what not to do in the future.

However, today the plot thickened.

So, we had our demo visit today and the site manager, lovely man, let slip that Plot 11 was actually being bought by the Developers own quantity surveyor. I could see the sales rep twitching as he was saying it because she's aware I have logged this as a complaint with their head office (what you don't ask, you don't get right? I'm sure they don't want an unhappy resident 3 doors from the site office).

Now, are there any rules around insider trading or anything on sites like this? Given he's the company's Senior Quantity Surveyor for the region (found out his name and looked him up), surely there's something unethical about me being in a purchase process, 2 doors down having £31k knocked off the asking price and then a day or two later an offer being accepted on it from the Employee?

Again, I think it's a code of ethics, insider trading or something along those lines. The PR would obviously be poor so I'll not name the developer until they don't give me a satisfactory resolution!

ReadingTim

DJP1987 wrote: »

Guys, firstly I want to thank everyone for the replies on this. It's appreciated and has made me realise what not to do in the future.

However, today the plot thickened.

So, we had our demo visit today and the site manager, lovely man, let slip that Plot 11 was actually being bought by the Developers own quantity surveyor. I could see the sales rep twitching as he was saying it because she's aware I have logged this as a complaint with their head office (what you don't ask, you don't get right? I'm sure they don't want an unhappy resident 3 doors from the site office).

Now, are there any rules around insider trading or anything on sites like this? Given he's the company's Senior Quantity Surveyor for the region (found out his name and looked him up), surely there's something unethical about me being in a purchase process, 2 doors down having £31k knocked off the asking price and then a day or two later an offer being accepted on it from the Employee?

Again, I think it's a code of ethics, insider trading or something along those lines. The PR would obviously be poor so I'll not name the developer until they don't give me a satisfactory resolution!

No mate, it's really not. It's called a staff discount, and some companies offer them. Airline staff, for example, often get cheap flights - my brother, who works for BA does. Housebuilders are exactly the same, and I should know. I used to work for one.

AdrianC

If this was the most sought-after first plot to sell on the site, then you might have some grounds for a gripe. But it's not. It's the runt of the litter, the last one left on the shelf. They reduced it for general public purchase...

...and then somebody who may or may not also have a staff discount decided "soddit, for that lower price, I'll go for it. Didn't think it was worth the full whack, but..."

You, otoh, decided your plot was worth the full whack. You're merely getting buyer's remorse now.

New house developments are not a dutch auction.

bowlhead99

DJP1987 wrote: »

Now, are there any rules around insider trading or anything on sites like this? Given he's the company's Senior Quantity Surveyor for the region (found out his name and looked him up), surely there's something unethical about me being in a purchase process, 2 doors down having £31k knocked off the asking price and then a day or two later an offer being accepted on it from the Employee?

Again, I think it's a code of ethics, insider trading or something along those lines. The PR would obviously be poor so I'll not name the developer until they don't give me a satisfactory resolution!

I know when I worked at Tesco I used to be able to walk through the checkout with a discount card and my weekly shop came to a good bit lower than the people before or after me in the queue, if they bought the same thing.

When I worked at McDonald's, I would get free chicken nuggets or milkshakes on my breaks.

Decades ago, my grandfather's close family used to get free air travel with BOAC (now BA) because he was an engineer with them. Even after he retired.

When my sister worked for Sky she got a Sony TV on the cheap. When my friend worked for a supplier of theirs he got a discounted subscription.

When I bought some luggage from a portfolio company of a venture capital trust I'd invested in, I got it half price.

A friend working for a car company can get a big discount off the showroom price if he buys new.

A senior quantity surveyor for a housebuilding business doesn't have to pay full price to buy a house they built.

I don't think you can say that any of those things are 'unethical'.

You are saying that he paid less than market price. What would be unethical is if they decided to reward the senior staff member by giving him a big bonus so he could go and buy a house for £31k *more* than the going rate... thus artificially inflating the sold prices on their estate and making you and other members of the public think that people were generally paying £260k for houses on that development as an open market rate, so that you would be willing to pay 260 instead of 230, because you'd been misled that people think they're worth £260k, when actually the £260k was an artificially inflated price not at arm's length.

But they didn't do that unethical thing. Instead, they sold to you at what you thought was a fair price for quality and location when compared with all of the other new or old properties you could have bought anywhere across the country; and separately they gave a 15% discount to an employee.

It's not a big deal and the other posters on the thread are right that similar properties will have different prices as an estate is sold anyway. You don't have a chance in hell of getting £30k off your property now you have signed a contract at whatever you signed it at. So, don't worry about it.

All property companies have a vested self-interest in inflating their property prices. To instead give staff discount in a way that doesn't artificially inflate the sold prices of their properties but suppresses them instead, is helpful to all of us wanting to buy property, not to the company which wants to sell more at higher prices.

DJP1987

Thought I'd throw in here guys that on the back of my complaint, the developer has agreed to turf and patio my back garden (which is around 120m2) as a settlement.

Appreciate all the responses and the sense talked even against me - but there's proof here that if something is as extreme, there's still some worth in following it up. I'm getting around £3,000 worth of work done here just so

Lessons learnt from me in the future - but the GOGW from the developer feels substantial and is making my moving process much easier and happier (albeit, massively stressful, who could enjoy moving?!).

Thanks again all