How to counter a “goodwill gesture”?

dan96

Hi,

After being delayed over 10 months on the completion of our new build home, the developer has now offered £1000 as a goodwill gesture. This is nowhere close to what would be seen as acceptable having faced such a delay, expense and inconvenience. I am well aware that they are not legally obliged to provide anything however I would like to press for more. What’s my best way to approach it?

Thanks
Dan

luiza8

Approach it like the negotiating situation it is. Give your reasons why you believe £1000 isn’t suitable. Be polite and say you appreciate the offer however with everything that’s happened you would prefer something more substantial.

What do you think is a fair amount? There are 2 options. Mention the amount you want or don’t mention it and hope the developers counter offer is higher than what you want.

anselld

Bear in mind that goodwill can evaporate if you push your luck.
Has it really cost you more than £1000?

dan96

Well I mean if you include the fact that we’ve spent £12,000 on rent when the money should have gone towards equity on a house I would say so. The inconvenience of having to get 4 mortgage offers for the same property doesn’t help either.

tacpot12

luiza8 wrote: »

Approach it like the negotiating situation it is. Give your reasons why you believe £1000 isn’t suitable. Be polite and say you appreciate the offer however with everything that’s happened you would prefer something more substantial.

What do you think is a fair amount? There are 2 options. Mention the amount you want or don’t mention it and hope the developers counter offer is higher than what you want.

luiza8 offers some very good advice here, but I think I would avoid saying that your would "prefer" something more substantial; we would all prefer to be given more money, but you have to argue that more money is justified. I would say that you feel a higher figure is justified, and then list the reasons.

However, I don't think the developer will go much higher; delays are to be expected. I'd guess that the contract you signed makes them not liable for any delays, hence they will only give you a goodwill payment for the inconvenience, but not to cover rent. If your mortgage offers have required you to pay fees, and the developer insisted that you refreshed the mortgage offer, I think you probably have a case for them to pay all but the last fee, not a goodwill but as a implied contractual term.

davidmcn

dan96 wrote: »

Well I mean if you include the fact that we’ve spent £12,000 on rent when the money should have gone towards equity on a house I would say so.

But that doesn't mean the delay has actually cost you £12k, does it?

Plus you're gaining any increase in property value since you agreed the price.

Are you entitled to walk away from the contract?

dan96

It’s cost me £12k in that it means I need to pay an extra year on my mortgage.

London prices have fallen so i’d Say otherwise.

I am indeed entitled to walk away as the longstop has been reached.

eddddy

You can certainly try to negotiate a bigger payment, but I'm not sure that you have much leverage.

Would you walk away if they don't offer you more compensation - assuming your contract allows you to do that?


Presumably the contract you agreed to lets the developer delay by 10 months. So you shouldn't really have agreed to the contract, if you didn't want to be forced to accept a 10 month delay.

pioneer22

Set up shop outside the show home on a Saturday and give some feedback to potential buyers.

dan96

We are close to walking away, as this experience has been disastrous. We have also seen something else which we have our eye on however would be happy to stay put if offered the right amount.

@pioneer22 this was done (unplanned) when we were forced to visit the marketing suite to get updates on the situation. Another buyer was there and we told them just how bad these developers are. The following week my solicitor received an email from theirs, quote, “should Your Clients attend the marketing suite again and make such defamatory comments about Our Client to other purchasers then Our Client will have no choice but to consider what options are available to it”... whatever that threat is meant to mean lol

kazwookie

Walk away and forget it, buy something else.