Bought a new build off plan but couldn't access driveway!

davidmcn

Does what they've built correspond with the plans approved by the planning consent? What remedy are you hoping for?

pumas

Turntables may work, but can see a manhole in the way and cost a lot.

Petriix

I'm a little confused. It looks like you can just drive slightly past, pulling the back wheel as close as possible to the drive, one swing backwards on full lock then straighten up and reverse in.

In your picture, the red car is far too close to the wall initially. There is plenty of space for it to be right up against the woodchip. You should point the car at the corner of the house on approach to get as far left as possible then swing right as late as you can to avoid the steps. That would leave plenty of room to swing the front round. You might need to slightly clip the edge of the woodchip but that shouldn't be an issue.

Wkmg

Wow. That’s not going to be fun to sell in a few years. 

Starbabe6

Perhaps the photos aren’t doing it justice, but I can assure you it was not possible. There are steps out of the front of the property (by the wood chip) that meant you couldn’t go closer. Yes, if I reversed the whole way I could reverse in, in that car, extremely tightly. However, we have another newer focus, that clearly has a wider turning circle that could neither drive or reverse in. A Focus is not a large car and was shorter than the car used in planning. Their own staff member admitted he couldn’t drive his own vehicle in, nose first. This is not an issue with my parking skills. 

Starbabe6

And yes, what they built is what is on the plan, but our solicitor says it was not for us to ensure the calculations were correct to allow access, that was their responsibility. They just parrot ‘built to plan’ but the plan was flawed. 

Petriix

I can see the steps. But the car should be as close to them as possible and pointing in a more diagonal direction before you try to reverse. From the photos it looks like it's about a metre away and perpendicular. It's more about the approach than the manoeuvre. You need to start much closer to (almost touching) the steps and angled away from the house.

anselld

Starbabe6 said:

And yes, what they built is what is on the plan

I guess that is the definition of buying "off plan".  You get what is shown on the plan as far as the layout and everything else goes.

Slithery

Starbabe6 said:

And yes, what they built is what is on the plan

Then I don't see how you have any comeback against the developer.

SpiderLegs

Starbabe6 said:

It was too tight. The staff member that tried himself was driving in, but again there was no space to get the turn nose in. 

I have sympathy, but just seeing the width of that drive would have been enough to put me off buying one of those houses. Honestly who wants all the hassle of reversing down a minuscule gap every day.