Buying new home - now Stranded

Pickthall

Hey folks, I'll try and keep this succinct for clarity.

So in July (2019) we reserved on a new property with the house to be ready between December (2019) and February (2020).
We then had to move out of house at end of January as we'd lose our seller (they couldnt move their mortgage and waited a fair while which was understandable) 
We were then told the house would slip into beginning of March, that turned to end of March, then now it was April and now the site is closed for Corona Virus
So my family is stuck in temporary accommodation not knowing what is happening.  I managed to get the builder to pay expenses (not rent) for any losses past March onwards They'd simply not put in a solid completion date as new companies don't these days apparently. 

The house is very close to being complete i.e. its mainly external finishing off. Its been painted and services have been installed. My Solicitor is so ineffectual, though my expectations of what he can do maybe too high. 

Any ideas of what I can once the site opens? to get this sorted ASAP.  Im trying to see how much leverage I have and what the consequences are if I could pull out (not that I want to of course) Of course I understand there are more serious things at play but at the same time, this is a stressful time for me and my family as we dont have a home or any of our belongings . I'm suspect I've just got to suck it up 

AdrianC

Once the site re-opens, I'd imagine the developer will prioritise your place anyway - after all, it's a quick win to get some capital in, right?

If your solicitor is so ineffectual, why did you use them? Let me guess... the developer "recommended" them?

davidmcn

Pickthall said:

Any ideas of what I can once the site opens? to get this sorted ASAP.  Im trying to see how much leverage I have and what the consequences are if I could pull out (not that I want to of course)

Can't tell you unless you tell us what your contract says. Is there a longstop date beyond which you can pull out? Is it even worthwhile discussing that just now, when nobody knows when construction can restart? Sounds like it will be finished pretty soon after that anyway.

Pickthall

AdrianC said:

Once the site re-opens, I'd imagine the developer will prioritise your place anyway - after all, it's a quick win to get some capital in, right?

If your solicitor is so ineffectual, why did you use them? Let me guess... the developer "recommended" them?

The solicitors was recommended to me by the estate agents selling my house, and of course one never knows how good they are until you use them sadly.

As for the contract, Im getting the details from the solicitor to see where I stand he said there were some time scales but dependent if the roof was on when we exchanged?! Anyway you could be right, any action we'd take would probably take longer than the house being ready

Pickthall

Found out from my solicitor that July the 31st I can walk away from my contract should I choose to. In the contract it had expected build finished on Jan 31st so there is a 6 month over run over clause 
Its good to have leverage and may even renegotiate the asking price if it gets that far

Comms69

I wouldn't expect lockdown to be lifted before end of June. Not a lot of time there until end of July. 

eddddy

You need to check the status of your mortgage offer (assuming that you're buying with a mortgage). An offer is often only valid for 6 months.

Hopefully, your solicitor would have warned you if your mortgage offer expires before the longstop date of 31st July - because that could be a very risky situation for you.

Some lenders will extend offers - in normal circumstances. But the mortgage market is in a bit of turmoil at the moment, so it may not be so easy, especially if you want a high LTV mortgage.

As you say, you can renegotiate the price if it's not ready by 31st July - but again, that's subject to you being able to get a revised mortgage offer. Some lenders are now capping new mortgage offers at 60% LTV - i.e. you'd need a 40% deposit.


Edit to add...
When you say your EA 'recommended' the solicitor, it isn't always because they are a good solicitor.

Solicitors often pay referral fees to EAs. So the EA refers you to the solicitor who pays them the biggest fee, rather than the solicitor that is best.

Pickthall

Thanks Edddy - 
Yeah our mortgage will need to be extended or reapplied for before then so it could be problematic, though my Financial adviser is relaxed about it, we are in the 60% LVT territory so there should be some wriggle room. The mortgage company may say its not worth as much so it could force us to lower the offer. 
I thought my EA recommended the solicitor because the buyer was using them and yeah, there could have been some referral fee. Hindsight and all that I guess

AnotherJoe

You can't tell.
I went with EA recommended solicitor (I was just selling) on the grounds that the EA wanted a quick easy sale rather than a few quids worth of commission and the solicitor was outstanding.