Buying a new build

Loupieee

Hello

Looking for advice.

We’ve almost purchased a new build house. Deposit paid, but no contracts exchanged yet.

The house we purchased was the last one on the estate.

We’re profoundly deaf.

At the time of enquiry, an interpreter came with us and for 2 hours we went over the details.
We asked if there were any offers on: we were told, stamp duty paid & solicitors fees paid OR some upgrades.
When asking what the upgrades were, we weren’t given a straight answer or what the budget was, and was told they’d get back to us.
They never did.

So, being a full time worker and unable to call the sales
Office, I spent many hours emailing and waiting for slow replies. In the end we took the offer for stamp duty and solicitors fees as we worked out the upgrades to be too costly and the sales office didn’t tell us the budget. The sales office said they couldn’t work out our budgets until we had put the sale through.

We were due to move in April. It’s been moved back to May, now it’s been moved back to June.

I’m due to give birth at the beginning of June and now it’s becoming stressful as no move in date has been given... we’ve got a bare house that needs carpets, flooring and painting & I’m about to give birth in next few weeks.

We were suppose to exchange contracts today, however, we found out over the weekend, that several people in our estate were offered between £13,000 - £16,000 worth of free upgrades/incentives on their purchase.

We’re crushed. Knowing that people are walking into their brand new home fully ready & we’re struggling to get a date to move in, so we can arrange for flooring, so my new born baby doesn’t have a cot on a stone cold floor. It’s really upsetting me.
If we’d had the move in date of April or May, the house would have been ready for new baby.

They also haven’t replied to us about fitting a smoke alarm for the deaf (legal requirement for the alarm to be fitted for the suitable use of the occupants).

We’ve missed out on hard hat visits as they don’t give sufficient notice to when there is someone on site, so I can organise time off work.

I don’t want to deal with the sales agent that’s on the development. I feel he’s useless and has been fobbing us off and with the communication barrier, it’s become a stressful time.
I’m trying to locate the sales manager and am thinking of asking the solicitor to hold off on the contract exchange until we can speak with a manager.

Does anyone have any advice, if at this late stage, the new build company can assist?
Is it too late to ask for the incentive of the upgrades?
What would happen if we delay the exchange of contracts?

Thanks

Louise

AnotherJoe

Your complaint is not dissimilar to others , you weren't as good at negotiating as the other buyers and now have buyers remorse. Add to that, your new build is running late. This is normal.
You haven't exchanged yet it seems (are you absolutely sure? That's unusual with a new build usually its exchange quick, with delayed completion ) so it's down to how hard you want to play it now.
You could say you are pulling out unless you get the upgrades other buyers got and see if that works. If it doesn't then either lose face and continue with the purchase, or pull out and start looking elsewhere, at least the situation regards where you are when baby arrives (congrats !!) will be solid..
I don't see what else you can do.

P.s. of course it's possible if you do pull out then they may cave at that point once you've called their bluff and shown how serious you are.

Aspiration

Congratulations on your soon to be arrival!!

I personally would not exchange until you've heard back from them and perhaps written communication may be quicker than having to organise another translator?

There's nothing to lose by asking for the up grades, you would still be the best option for the developer as almost ready to exchange so I would expect them to compromise in some way.

Good luck and please do keep us all posted with how it goes.

Thanks,

John

Viki2410

We haven't had exactly the same experience as you but our site manager is useless, so I got hold of the contact details for his boss and copy her in on all correspondence which now means that instead of waiting 3 days for a response, I get one in 3 hours.

Because you haven't exchanged, you can still walk away, but you will lose your reservation fee and your solicitors fees you have paid so far. You can call their bluff and ask for more and explain you do not feel you have been treated fairly as the site was aware of your issues etc.

Otherwise, if they turn round and say tough, you have to make the decision to either go ahead as you are or lose what you've already put it. It depends how much you really want that house.

Good luck!