New House unfortunate issue

zorber

So i started looking at a new house on a new build housing estate. There were two that really interested me and would be suitable. We were told both would be marketed for the same price and neither had been released yet. So i finally made a choice and exchanged a month later. Then within a couple of weeks the other house was released but they released it £20k lower than what we were told it would be. Im not really happy about this as we were led to believe that this design of house would released for the same price. in fact today the rest of the surrounding same type of house have all be released for the lower price meaning im straight into 20k negative equity compared with the neighbours. House hasnt been built yet and we are looking at 6 months from here.

OK before people tell me its tough ive exchanged i understand i cant get out of the contract or not at least without loosing a lot more then the 20k negative equity.

Yes i also understand if the housing market slows then the builders can change the price to suit to keep sales going.

However my point here is i feel that ive been miss-sold, i was told that the properties would be marketed for the price i paid, the reality is this hasnt happened and the decision made to lower the price of the other houses was probably happening whilst i was in the process of exchanging.

If the house builder had listed at the same price and then reduced price because sales had stalled i would have understood and have no argument.

I have complained to the sales office who have forwarded it to head office.
First response came back that they wouldnt do anything.
Not happy with this i replied and complained again classing the issue as being miss-sold.
A fairly quick response came back (same day) saying that they would throw in £4.5k of carpets in. Great but im still not happy and i feel that response was "offer this and see if he will go away".
As i see it i have several options from here
1) request addition ground works which i want doing (hardcore to an area of garden to create hard standing) as well as the carpets
2) request a £10k rebate at time of moving in which splits the valuation difference 50-50
3) start the formal complaint process and request that the satisfactory out come would be a £20k rebate to bring our house into line with the neighbouring houses values. (the formal complaint process of course may not go my way)

I realise i dont have much of a leg to stand on but im interested as to what the suggested next steps should be.

davidmcn

zorber wrote: »

I realise i dont have much of a leg to stand on

You have absolutely no leg to stand on, so anything you get out of it is a bonus.

Tiglet2

Would you have an issue if the other house had been £20,000 more than you are paying? House prices are falling at the current time, hence the reduction.

If you can get a few freebies out of the developer to soften the blow, look at it like it's a win win situation

Thrugelmir

To put matters into perspective. What's the purchase price?

zorber

The purchase price is £365k

Crashy_Time

zorber wrote: »

The purchase price is £365k

You probably need to prepare yourself to lose a lot more than 20k.

whatdoyouthink...

I can't see you getting a £20k rebate. I moved into my new build less than a year ago and the builders have recently released a few houses exactly the same as mine, but for £19k more...hope they don't try coming after me for another 19k!:D

Try and get what you can though, I doubt they'd be paying £4.5k to carpet the house even if that's what they've said. Definitely try getting them to do something with the garden and not just turf which will cost them next to nothing

AdrianC

zorber wrote: »

Yes i also understand if the housing market slows then the builders can change the price to suit to keep sales going.

^ This.

However my point here is i feel that ive been miss-sold

Ah, that ol' standby...

i was told that the properties would be marketed for the price i paid

No, you would have been told the intention was that they both would be. Big difference.

No,, the reality is this hasnt happened and the decision made to lower the price of the other houses was probably happening whilst i was in the process of exchanging.

You clearly thought full price was good value, compared to the wider market locally. Your mortgage lender clearly had no issue, else they'd have downvalued it.
The problem (for the developer) is that you were the only one. That's not exactly their fault.

If the house builder had listed at the same price and then reduced price because sales had stalled i would have understood and have no argument.

Even though the effect is the exact same?

They clearly had little interest at the original price. If they'd had more interest in the house that became yours, then they'd have listed the other at the same price.

bigisi

Unfortunately another case where a customer waves the word(s?) mis-sold around and expects to be entitled to something out of it when in fact mis-bought is probably a better phrase.

lookstraightahead

This is no different from you choosing to pay full price for your doughnuts in a supermarket. It's your deal with the seller. Other people negotiate their own prices. I'm not sure why you think you've been mis-sold, they are not your minder, you make your own decisions. In my opinion all new houses lose value anyway initially.

Pixie5740

What is your solicitor advising?