Long Stop Date - Legal Rights!

kellywelly123

Can anyone tell me what my legal rights are if the long stop date is not met? I know I can walk away and get my deposit back but what about additional extra’s that I have paid for? Am I entitled to that money back too? 

We reserved the property in Nov 2020 (£500 reservation fee). 

We then exchanged contracts in Jan 2020 with an anticipated completion date of 21st May 2020 & a long stop date of 6 months from anticipated date (21st Nov 2020).
The developers keep moving the goal post and it’s very unlikely that they will have it completed by the long stop date. In the early stages (prior to lockdown) we provided a list of extras that we wanted to purchased (approx £8k) and the developer said they required the money upfront.
My question is if the developer breaches the contractual long stop date, are we entitled to the money back for the extras as well as the reservation fee? The reservation fee we aren’t too bothered about it’s more the extras. 

I have asked by solicitor the question twice but she hasn’t got back to me. Unfortunately the solicitors were recommended by the developer so think they may be biased. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks

Slithery

What does your contract say? I can't read it from here.

kellywelly123

Slithery said:

What does your contract say? I can't read it from here.

It doesn’t mentioned anything about refunding extras, it only states that we can rescind and are entitled to our deposit back. However if we are not entitled to the extras back then why should we have to lose £8k when it’s them that are in breach? 

davidmcn

What was in writing in relation to the extras?

AdrianC

The time to object to the terms of the contract, and how it deals with the extras, was before you signed it.
If they wouldn't amend it to suit, then you had the option not to sign it - buy somewhere else. Or don't have extras.

The extras are built in - the money has been spent on them by the time the build fails to be completed in time for the long-stop. You do not HAVE to walk away at the long-stop, you can continue to wait. It's hardly the developer's fault that building this year has had a series of setbacks and delays, after all...

kellywelly123

AdrianC said:

The time to object to the terms of the contract, and how it deals with the extras, was before you signed it.
If they wouldn't amend it to suit, then you had the option not to sign it - buy somewhere else. Or don't have extras.

The extras are built in - the money has been spent on them by the time the build fails to be completed in time for the long-stop. You do not HAVE to walk away at the long-stop, you can continue to wait. It's hardly the developer's fault that building this year has had a series of setbacks and delays, after all...

The contracts were exchanged before we added any extra’s hence why they are not part of the contract. 

No you are correct, we do not HAVE to walk away but the long stop date isn’t the only issue we have faced, it’s one of many and I simply want to know our rights should we wish to walk away. 

The long stop is there to allow for any unforeseen circumstances, our completion date was 21st May and we were only in lockdown for 2 months, let’s face it we are now 6 months down the line! 

AdrianC

kellywelly123 said:
...and we were only in lockdown for 2 months, let’s face it we are now 6 months down the line! 

It hasn't been a binary year - lockdown, or absolutely normal.

The entire country has been in some form of lockdown constantly since March - some areas more than others. Materials supply has been badly affected. Trades cannot work in such close proximity as they would normally, if they're working at all.

kellywelly123

davidmcn said:

What was in writing in relation to the extras?

The only thing it says about extras is that the seller requires the buyer to pay upfront. Nothing about any refunds if a breach occurs.

kellywelly123

AdrianC said:

kellywelly123 said:
...and we were only in lockdown for 2 months, let’s face it we are now 6 months down the line! 

It hasn't been a binary year - lockdown, or absolutely normal.

The entire country has been in some form of lockdown constantly since March - some areas more than others. Materials supply has been badly affected. Trades cannot work in such close proximity as they would normally, if they're working at all.

I completely get that and we have been accommodating the whole way through but the fact that they have used the materials on two other plots next to mine that aren’t even sold yet is rather annoying. If materials were holding them up then why are the other 2 houses nearly completed. They aren’t sold so won’t have any long stop agreements. I just don’t understand. 

We recently questioned the build or our house because the show home has a couple of windows on the side but ours don’t. We were initially told that we were shown the wrong plans at the start of the process (the lady was new) and that ours differs from the show home, they apologies for this and we were kind enough to still continue knowing that we wouldn’t have those windows. Then a hole got cut into the side wall where one of the windows should have been so we thought “oh well perhaps they are going to give us the bottom window”, but today we have walked past and they are bricking the hole back up again. 

I have a list of about 10 things that have gone wrong since the start and keep saying “oh it will be ok”, trying to stay positive and enjoy the experience but it’s taking it’s toll now. 

Hope you can understand that I am not trying to be awkward, but if we are still getting messed around after the long stop date I need to know what we stand to lose. 

davidmcn

kellywelly123 said:

davidmcn said:

What was in writing in relation to the extras?

The only thing it says about extras is that the seller requires the buyer to pay upfront. Nothing about any refunds if a breach occurs.

You're not getting a refund. And there hasn't (as far as we can tell) been a "breach" of the contract anyway. Your rights under the longstop clause are to walk away from the purchase. That's normally all you get. 

moneysavinghero

I completely get that and we have been accommodating the whole way through but the fact that they have used the materials on two other plots next to mine that aren’t even sold yet is rather annoying. If materials were holding them up then why are the other 2 houses nearly completed. They aren’t sold so won’t have any long stop agreements. I just don’t understand. 

Your house is sold - the others are not. Their priority is going to be getting the unsold ones completed first so that they can sell them on. They are banking on you not pulling out.