New build home/Garden not complete on completion day.

Brian010

Hi everyone, looking for some advice and would be grateful for your views and personal experiences. 

Our completion date for our new build was the 28/01/2021. The day before our move in date we were sent an from the sales office to advise that the garden would not be complete due to bad weather conditions. We did visit the plot on a few occasions where we were reassured that the garden would be complete for us moving into the house. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow and we still have no garden, I realise that this is weather dependant but I am very annoyed that we were only told the day before move in when in fact they must have known in advance that the garden would not be done. The site manager has spoken with us and has reassured us that it will be done when the weather is better, but how long is too long and shouldn't be have been informed in good time instead of a day before. It really has been a kick in the teeth because one of the main reasons we moved out of London was due to garden space and fresh air. 

Please advise if there is anything we can do? Are we due compensation? And why was the home finalised for completion when in fact it isn't complete as the garden is not done. We did query this many times and were reassured that the garden would be done and is included.

Many thanks!

Thrugelmir

The developer has no control over the weather. Laying turf will only take a day. 

mundibananas

I don't think anybody has been sitting in their gardens over the last few weeks let alone do any gardening!! Have a bit of patience, if they said they will do it, they will do it - not even housebuilders can control the weather! 

whatdoyouthink...

By the garden not being complete, do you mean it just needs turfing? When we moved into our new build the garden wasn't turfed for a good few weeks after. It's no biggie. 
Compensation? No. I very much doubt you've have been sat out in your garden over the last couple of weeks anyway.

GixerKate

What exactly is outstanding in your garden?  Normally it is just turfed and you don't want that at the moment as its pretty unlikely to survive.

We moved into our new build a few months ago and our back garden is just bare earth, more mud now.  There isn't anything that can really be done at the moment so we are waiting for the weather to improve and then will landscape it.

RelievedSheff

When we move into our new build the garden wasn't turfed. It was a few weeks before they did it. It wasn't a big deal.

I'm interested where you are located of you have been missing out on weather to use the garden in the last three weeks. Ours has been mostly covered in snow and ice!!

davidmcn

Your rights are no more and no less than what it says in your contract. So, what does that say about it?

frogglet

I think you are being overly dramatic. The weather has been really rubbish. Are you really sitting out in the garden?
 If you want to do some borders, you don't need the turf to start that. 
We are waiting to turf our garden   but its too wet and cold so don't want to do it twice.
If it's access paths they havent done I think it would be reasonable to get them to do it.

Vampgirl

What exactly is missing from the garden? Whether its reasonable or not really depends on what is supposed to be there. If its just turf missing then that's to be expected with the weather we've been having lately. If you're supposed to have some hard landscaping and it is missing (a path from your back door to your back gate maybe, or a patio) then yes I can understand that might be a bit frustrating and inconvenient, but you've already talked to the site foreman and you know that they're waiting for the weather to improve - so I'm not sure what else you are expecting from them?

For comparison purposes: our new build came with a tiny "patio" (6x6 slabs) and a pathway to the back gate, no turf from our developer (unless you paid extra - we didn't). So for 6 months we managed quite easily with a mud bath garden, until we were able to get it landscaped when Spring came around.

Doozergirl

GixerKate said:

What exactly is outstanding in your garden?  Normally it is just turfed and you don't want that at the moment as its pretty unlikely to survive.

We moved into our new build a few months ago and our back garden is just bare earth, more mud now.  There isn't anything that can really be done at the moment so we are waiting for the weather to improve and then will landscape it.

Ditto!      

Joyful

I moved in to a mud patch. I will need to put in drainage. I was advised when I moved in at the end of October they could not rotovate the ground due to it being so wet. It has been estimated March/ April before the Gardners can do it. Totally dependent on the weather.