Claiming back solicitors fees

jimspark

Hi,

Long time lurker seeking advice.

We have just had to cancel our reservation and pull out of the purchase of a Newbuild freehold property. The reason being that we were not advised that the property deeds contain various covenants relating to estate/management fees, rentcharges, heat supply agreements, application and cost implications for the sale of or alterations/additions to the property amongst other things at the time of reservation.

We only found out about these things when we received the property document pack 6 days (4 working days) before exchange. At this point we have already lost £150 of the reservation fee and £300 on solicitors searches. We are now awaiting the solicitors abortive bill.

My question is has anyone been in a similar position and had any success on reclaiming the solicitors fees from the developer based on the fact that they did not disclose enough information about the property for us buyers to make an informed decision when purchasing?

Just for clarity, the solicitor is from the developers recommended panel that we were 'forced' to use (insofar as they pretty much said that an outside solicitor would not be able to complete the purchase on the required timescale and we would therefore lose the property). We have received no help or advice from the solicitor. These issues with the property only came to light through us reading through every document in detail and carrying out our own research. We only received answers to (some) of the questions we put to the solicitor, the day before exchange.

Myself and my partner are both first time buyers with no previous experience of home buying etc so this has all been a steep learning curve. We had no idea that this sort of thing is allowed to go on. Surely they should be required to provide this information at the point of reservation, not a few days before exchange at which point a buyer is already financially and emotionally invested in the property?

Any thoughts or experiences much appreciated. Once this is all done and dusted I intend to post our full experience in the hope of helping others to avoid our situation.

Jim

foxy-stoat

Most new build developments have a estate and management fees, if your talking about heat supply agreements, are you on LPG as you dont have mains gas in the area and as for alterations/additions - are you planning on extending the new property?

I think a new build isn't for you and look at buying an older property.

You wont be able to claim solicitors costs I am afraid.

jimspark

Thanks for the reply.

It is not so much the fact that there is an estate fee that concerns us, in fact I see that as a positive as the grounds should be kept and the neighbours won't be able to do anything too silly with their houses.

It's more the fact that the full details of the associated covenants etc weren't disclosed to us at the stage of us being asked to financially commit to the purchase.

We had no plans to extend but would have liked the option to install a sat dish/shed etc. Any of which would have required a permission (that would carry a charge) from the management agency. All of which we weren't told.

I don't particularly begrudge losing the £450, I consider it a (rather expensive) lesson learnt. It's the solicitors abortive bill that has me concerned, especially at £200 per hour.

We have come to the same conclusion, we will be looking at older properties in future.

gary83

Be aware though if you look at older properties you’ll be in exactly the same situation, although it’s highly unlikely you’ll have management & estate fees etc you won’t find out about the covenants until your solicitor points them out to you. They never feature on an estate agent’s/rightmove ad.

jimspark

I appreciate that and I realise the grass isn't always greener.

But that's just it, i would expect the solicitor to point them out to us. Which hasn't happened in this case.

We just feel like we have been purposefully misled and can't believe that this is allowed to go on.

G_M

jimspark wrote: »

But that's just it, i would expect the solicitor to point them out to us. Which hasn't happened in this case.

We only found out about these things when we received the property document pack 6 days (4 working days) before exchange.

The solicitor did their job, allbeit later than you'd have liked.

We just feel like we have been purposefully misled and can't believe that this is allowed to go on

the solicitor is from the developers recommended panel that we were 'forced' to use

No. You chose to take their advice and use a solicitor who has an interest in maintaining a good reationship with the seller in order to maintain their flow of clients....

foxy-stoat

jimspark wrote: »

I don't particularly begrudge losing the £450, I consider it a (rather expensive) lesson learnt. It's the solicitors abortive bill that has me concerned, especially at £200 per hour.

Assuming they gave you a quotation for the whole transaction before you agreed to use them, they cannot charge you more than that. If you were a few days away from exchange then the bulk of their work was done, maybe less the final few hours of exchange and completion of contracts and transferring money over.

Thrugelmir

jimspark wrote: »

We had no plans to extend but would have liked the option to install a sat dish/shed etc.

Standard covenents on a new build development. Once all the properties are built and sold, and the developer moves on. No one will enforce the covenents. All down to aesthetics.

You'll find all sorts of covenents written into older properties as well.

jimspark

I don't doubt this at all. As I say the reason that we are unhappy is that we feel we have been deceived. I'm amazed that this appears to have become the acceptable norm.

That we could be asked to essentially write a blank check for unregulated estate fees and be sold a freehold with whatever rules attached that they deem reasonable without actually being able to see them without paying for it.

I can't imagine many other scenarios where people are expected to purchase things in this way.

At least we know what to ask/look out for next time.

Lesson learnt ...

Thanks for the replies

foxy-stoat

jimspark wrote: »

I don't doubt this at all. As I say the reason that we are unhappy is that we feel we have been deceived. I'm amazed that this appears to have become the acceptable norm.

That we could be asked to essentially write a blank check for unregulated estate fees and be sold a freehold with whatever rules attached that they deem reasonable without actually being able to see them without paying for it.

I can't imagine many other scenarios where people are expected to purchase things in this way.

At least we know what to ask/look out for next time.

Lesson learnt ...

Thanks for the replies

They cannot increase management fees unreasonably - it will be part of the planning consent to have outside green communal spaces and the costs of maintaining these are passed to the home owners. The fees are pretty small in the scheme of things.

If you think the convents on new builds are scary you should have a look at the ones I had that were on the original deeds in 1945 when I moved out of an old council property. All very odd for the average homeowner and in the real world very pointless and in the majority of cases irreverent and never enforced.

Seeing as you are first time buyers I dont think you should of pulled out of this purchase as it is a steep learning curve what the "norm" is in property ownership.

I hope you find somewhere that suits.

Thrugelmir

jimspark wrote: »

I don't doubt this at all. As I say the reason that we are unhappy is that we feel we have been deceived. I'm amazed that this appears to have become the acceptable norm.

Been the norm for decades. No deception as everything is laid down in black and white.