McCarthy and Stone/New Homes Group experiences

Missy79

Hi All, 
I recently made and had accepted an offer on a property, it turns out that the sale is being managed by The New Homes Group on behalf of McCarthy and Stone, presumably on behalf of the vendor who is purchasing one of their properties via some scheme or other. This would be fine except now I am getting very little information/no real response to queries with regards to the property (e.g. building regulations on an extension, other more miner enquiries) which is increasingly getting annoying. Furthermore they want me to pay for their searches (not mentioned previously but now inserted in to the contract) and an indemnity policy to cover the lack of building regulations. Not massive costs but really starting to irritate me along with their demands for a rapid completion.
Now I'm curious if anyone else had any similar (or better!) experiences buying in this way.

greatcrested

As the seller is not the occupier, it is understandable they have limited knowledge of the property. You either accept that fact, or find another property.

Not sure what searches the seller has to do (or why you'd pay for them). You pay for your own searches.

Indemnity policies are usually paid by the seller is the seller is unable to provide proper documentation.

Missy79

The seller has provided the usual searches (mining, water,environment etc), they are all dated from last year, so either from their 'acquisition' of the property or from a failed previous sale, it's not clear. They have inserted a clause in the contract requiring me to pay for them. Similarly, all other paperwork e.g. property information form etc. is also all dated from last year.

With regards to the indemnity policy, I paid for one myself previously as a seller, so yes I'm surprised that they are insisting that if I want one I pay for it myself.

Arefer

I'm also purchasing a property via the NHG in the same circumstances. They tried to make me pay for their searches similarly, but my solicitor refused as this was never agreed and amended the contract to get the costs removed. Tell your solicitor to do the same as the draft contract can be amended until exchange.

They initially pester you to work to a 28 day exchange schedule but just ignore them and proceed normally. I was ready before the 28 days was up, but they are dragging their heels now saying that work on the new build that their vendor was going to purchase has now halted due to the lockdown, and therefore there would be further unspecified delays with completion, which would be on notice basis.

Due to the delays and the current circumstances with covid-19, I've now asked my solicitor to only agree to a same day exchange and completion, once a fixed (not notice) completion date is agreed. This is to minimise risks to completion in the present circumstances such as illness, job loss, mortgage offer expiring due to delays and not being extended/renewed due to a change in the lender's valuation, LTV requirements, etc.

If you exchange now and fail to complete later due to any reason, you will basically be liable for the 10% deposit, costs, difference in final sale price, etc.

Mickygg

With indemnity policies the seller can ask the buyer to cover the cost but it’s never recommended because for a relatively small cost essentially the seller does not have the required certs or docs, so to ask the buyer to pay for these is a bit of a pee take.

I didn’t have fensa certificate for my windows, no way would I have asked the seller to pay for an indemnity as I should of had them, so my fault my cost.

As you are being asked to pay for an indemnity policy that would give me alarm bells that they are not going to be easy to deal with and any future cost issues that come to light will probably all be expected to be bourne by you.

Missy79

Thanks Arefer and Mickygg, you've basically confirmed what I was thinking, I've now put exchange on hold, given the lack of information/documentation I won't be proceeding without a full structural survey which is impossible to arrange right now anyway. I'm becoming very ambivalent about the property as my feeling is they will be unwilling to negotiate even with potentially serious structural issues, making me reluctant to throw more money at it even though I very much like the property. They are unable to provide any information about the property and seem to have the attitude of tough luck. Similar issues with Fensa, electrical certs etc.
Not helped by my solicitor seemingly being pretty useless but that's another story! 

Missy79

Arefer said:

I'm also purchasing a property via the NHG in the same circumstances. 

Out of curiosity, have you had any more unusual issues to deal with during your purchase? My solicitor has raised an issue over the title and property boundaries (at least 1/3 of the garden doesn't seem to be covered by the land registry title) and I'm curious how they're going to react to this complication.