New build completion delay - advice needed

coltegal43

Hi, we are looking for some advice regarding completion date delays in our new build. 
We are FTB and had an offer for a new build flat accepted earlier this month and paid our reservation fees, and was told estimated completion date would be Sept/Oct this year. We've been working on our mortgage application with a broker and hoping to get an approval soon (expecting next week). 
Just got a call from the estate agent informing us that the completion date will be postponed to "early" 2021 due to Covid-19. This delay might mean we'll have to restart our mortgage application all over again (depending on how long the mortgage is valid). We haven't exchanged contracts yet and we're just wondering whether we have any room to negotiate in terms of compensation or discount? Also we're worried further delays would put us outside the stamp duty holiday window - is there a way to preempt this?
Also any help or advice on what kind of things we should be watching out for before exchanging contracts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot in advance.

RelievedSheff

What exactly do you want compensation for? What have you lost?

Mortgage offers are usually valid for 180 days with the option to extend them by a further period. Most lenders allow an extra 180 days for new builds although you would have to check with your lender if that is the case with them.

You can ask the developers if they will pay the stamp duty if the completion date goes past the stamp duty holiday.

As you have not exchanged contracts yet you can ask for whatever you like.

coltegal43

RelievedSheff said:

What exactly do you want compensation for? What have you lost?

Mortgage offers are usually valid for 180 days with the option to extend them by a further period. Most lenders allow an extra 180 days for new builds although you would have to check with your lender if that is the case with them.

You can ask the developers if they will pay the stamp duty if the completion date goes past the stamp duty holiday.

As you have not exchanged contracts yet you can ask for whatever you like.

Thanks a lot for the help. Sorry for not making it clearer in the original post - by compensation I suppose we meant the extra rent we'll have to shell out since we won't be moving in in October anymore. 

Wondering if anyone here has similar experience and have successfully negotiated for a discount! 

AnotherJoe

I'm sRe some will have and some won't. Only those on your newbuild estate will be in the exact same position though so it doesn't help you at all.

No reason you can't  ask for £x off for the rent (though TBF that's a bit spurious since most of your mortgage will be interest anyway)  but also a clause that says if it completes  later than (end of stamp duty period) they Pay that. 

They can agree or decline or try to meet somewhere in between 

lincroft1710

You can only ask, no guarantee the developer will co-operate. I may be wrong but whoever advised you of the Sep/Oct completion date either did not know what they were talking about or were not being totally honest

coltegal43

 AnotherJoe said:

I'm sRe some will have and some won't. Only those on your newbuild estate will be in the exact same position though so it doesn't help you at all.

No reason you can't  ask for £x off for the rent (though TBF that's a bit spurious since most of your mortgage will be interest anyway)  but also a clause that says if it completes  later than (end of stamp duty period) they Pay that. 

They can agree or decline or try to meet somewhere in between 

Great advice, thanks a lot. Will definitely ask to include the clause - one of the main reasons we put in the offer in the first place is because of the stamp duty holiday. 

coltegal43

lincroft1710 said:

You can only ask, no guarantee the developer will co-operate. I may be wrong but whoever advised you of the Sep/Oct completion date either did not know what they were talking about or were not being totally honest

Thanks! I do hope they weren't being dishonest - they did include the October "estimated" date in the reservation form (the date not legally binding, of course), but I wonder if the whole thing was just a sales tactic...