Negotiating new build after reservation fee paid

Borisbuffon

Hi all, I’m new to this forum but wanted some advice on my current situation!
I potentially rushed slightly into reserving a new build and part ex. They have thrown in a good few extras, without really any negotiation. However during the rushed discussion when signing/paying I noticed that the garden size had been reduced in newer plot plan that the sales rep had. I asked at the time and was told sometimes these can change but any change is to improve this for the buyer.
Since then I have spent hours looking at the plot plans I have (I’ve not been given any revised plan) and can see it’s going to be reduced in length by about 3 meters (estimate as seems to be the width of a garage).
I’m wondering if it’s possible to try negotiate on the price because of this or have further incentives added?
I’ve not finalised anything as my property is still to be valued before I agree anything further but would be good to know before I get to that stage.
Thanks

whatdoyouthink...

Give it a go, you'll not know unless you try. The worst they can do is say no.

Not sure I agree with the sales rep telling you they reduce the garden size to improve things for the buyer - Seems like a line straight from the BS manual.

Borisbuffon

Yeah I was thinking of the same manual to be honest.
I’ll definitely try, just wasn’t sure how successful people normally are when negotiating after reserve has been agreed, seems all advice I can find is to do all negotiations prior to reserving.

LMS94

It's worth a go.

We had a similar issue with a KeepMoat property that we reserved - we would have a smaller garden than the rest of the neighbours by around 3m squared.

We queried it and we basically got a response of "you should have asked us"... "we don't price houses on the amount of land they're built on"... the list goes on.

We pulled out.

If you don't ask, you don't get. If you also have a bad gut instinct, it's probably worth pulling out (we have since found out the property we were going to purchase had been delayed by 3/4 months!!).

Good luck

Borisbuffon

We’re getting into the build to see the area for the garden and we can decide if it’s still worth it, but will certainly be asking about price! Got a feeling we’ll be told the same load of nonsense tho. I think it will be reduced by about 30m squared (3m in length and about 10m wide)
See what happens on a few days, appreciate the help!

[Deleted User]

Have you got prices on surrounding plots with bigger gardens? It might be worth phoning and asking. If they are the same price, you might be able to use that as a negotiating tool. But you are correct in seeing the property to see how much difference the missing garden area makes.

LMS94

Also, is it a popular development? If so, they'll be less likely to negotiate as they know someone else will come along and take it.

Borisbuffon

There’s 2 of the same houses in the development been sold already but I can’t find how much they sold for anywhere. It’s annoying! One has a much bigger garden and the other is next door which will now be bigger too.
I’m not really sure how popular they are. They have others for sale, none other that I have reserved though, with a couple at PartEx stage so sounds like they’re struggling a bit with them.
The sales rep has been saying all along that there’s another couple really keen to buy the one we’ve reserved and they’ve been back on the phone asking if it’s still reserved, but taking that with a pinch of salt! I’ve got it reserved until 20th so see how it goes asking for a bit more. However, I will pull out if I’m not happy with the garden.

Borisbuffon

Update - part ex offer came back today and it was a fair price, pretty happy with it! Went to see garden, well more the neighbour’s which is bigger and still felt unsure. Called them to ask if we could come to a compromise with them covering stamp duty, but said no. I understand because they have someone else wanting it. Unfortunately I just can’t see past the fact that they’ve considerably reduced the size of the garden, I may regret it but I’ll be walking away! Thanks for those who helped!! I’ll find another! ��

MysteryMe

You've done the right thing, plot size is not something you can alter once you move in and it is quite a chunk of land they've taken away.

Sibz

Borisbuffon wrote: »

Update - part ex offer came back today and it was a fair price, pretty happy with it! Went to see garden, well more the neighbour’s which is bigger and still felt unsure. Called them to ask if we could come to a compromise with them covering stamp duty, but said no. I understand because they have someone else wanting it. Unfortunately I just can’t see past the fact that they’ve considerably reduced the size of the garden, I may regret it but I’ll be walking away! Thanks for those who helped!! I’ll find another! ��

Tough decision to make... especially as its an important one. Hats off to you for making a stand on developers toying with peoples space/homes. Good luck to you