Buying New Build....House built the wrong size.

PAPABEAR77

Morning everyone.

I wanted to find out if anyone has been in a dilemma like what we are in at the moment.

We have exchanged contracts on a new build home. The house is still being built and has just had its roof put on.

A few days after exchange we got a call saying the house has been built to previous revised plans and the front elevation is smaller than the plan you signed off on.

Where would we stand legally on this? We have everything in writing including the revision of the property we and the house builder signed off on and documentation from the house builder about the change in property size.

Any help appreciated.

Regards
Gaz

AdrianC

What does your contract say about changes to plans?
How big a difference in size are we actually talking about?

eddddy

You need to read your contract with the developer, but usually it will say that if there is a significant change, you can back-out and get your deposit back.

If you're saying that the house is now smaller than expected, but you're still interested - I guess you could try negotiating a lower price. (But the developer may not agree.)

If you do negotiate a lower price, you'd need to go back to your mortgage lender to adjust the mortgage offer etc.

PAPABEAR77

We believe we can terminate the purchase if there is a significant change that we haven't approved. I just wanted to see if anyone else had been in the same boat.

We weren't told about the change until after the contracts were exchanged so never had an option to approve the change.

We are talking about one foot lost in length on every room attached to the front elevation.

davidmcn

PAPABEAR77 wrote: »

We believe we can terminate the purchase if there is a significant change that we haven't approved.

I presume that isn't exactly what the contract says. You'd need to give us the exact wording really. Have you asked your solicitor for their opinion? I hope this isn't a "tame" solicitor recommended to you by the developer?

We are talking about one foot lost in length on every room attached to the front elevation.

Ok, that's probably not trivial, though we don't know the size of house. Percentage difference in floor area?

AdrianC

PAPABEAR77 wrote: »

We believe we can terminate the purchase if there is a significant change that we haven't approved.

"I believe" isn't good enough. What does your contract actually SAY?

We weren't told about the change until after the contracts were exchanged so never had an option to approve the change.

Such are the perils of exchanging on a property that hasn't been built.

We are talking about one foot lost in length on every room attached to the front elevation.

So... two foot difference? On a total width of...?

PAPABEAR77

Once i'm home I will put on here exactly the terms used in the contract.

We are talking a house that is 1516 square feet that has lost 55 square feet of space.

AdrianC

...or a snidge over 3.5% of floor area, a little more than 1/30th.

TadleyBaggie

I would ask for a 5% reduction in the price.

AdrianC

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I would ask for a 5% reduction in the price.

You can always ask...

But are they actually in breach of the contract that was signed, agreeing to buy it for the original price?

PasturesNew

The value of the house hasn't been changed by the change because houses don't get priced in £1s, but in £10k chunks in the main.

So your problem is not really the value of the house, but the annoyance. If you're not bothered, just annoyed, you could do something else.

Rather than asking for money, you could put a notional value on it and go for a higher value of "extras".... things you might've got round to doing.

e.g. if a notional value of, say, £5k off the price could be mathematically equated to it, you could, instead, ask them to fit XYZ flooring, do you a built in wardrobe and install a good sized shed in the garden - stuff that, if you'd picked up the phone and phoned round and had the work done might've ended up costing you (at full retail price) £10k.

Try to leverage it to your financial advantage without any money actually changing hands.