Advice needed. Newbuild garden size wrong before completion

jjcdscc

Please if anyone can advise and point us in right direction as to where we stand 
At our welcome meeting back in March,  having just reserved a plot we asked for the garden dimensions of our plot . We were sold on the basis that we had a great size garden measurements on that plot and on drawing from technical team were approx 21m x11m . We have now exchanged and were advised by our solicitor to arrange a site visit to check the boundaries were correct before we sign them off. On measuring the garden its actually approx 17m x 8m ...a massive difference to what we expected. Having raised this with the builder they have now said that our garden IS actually the right size but the sizes on the drawing were wrong!! It was human error and they were done to the wrong scale!! They said they told us to tell them what we wanted because of the error and they would go from there and negotiate!!! So we asked for them to cover our stamp duty as they couldn't get us in before the stamp duty holiday!!! (Our house had a ready date of apr/May when we reserved!) And they have basically come back to us and said they cannot even come close to that and have offered to pay the remaining balance on our carpets!! They have already offered as a good will gesture to lawn the garden cause they couldn't get us in before end June!! Thats all. We feel so cheated and also feel like they have us over a barrel.  We feel we have been mis  sold on a property and human error isn't good enough!! We just don't know if we have a case here and what we can do in a short amount of time as we are due to move in end July.  We are desperate to get in as we have sold our house , have all our stuff in storage and temporarily staying with family so desperate to be in the house !!! They said they offered for us to pull out and they will refund our £1000 deposit if we feel we no longer want to complete.. such a joke of a thing to say to us at this stage when we have sold our house , have solicitors to pay and have now payed a huge deposit to them on exchange from the sale of our house.   if anyone has any advice of how we can get out of this corner that this builders company have us pushed into we would be grateful   . Our solicitor isn't being much help because surprise surprise they are recommended by the builders to use them!!! 

deannagone

17mx8 for a new build garden is smaller than you hoped for, but its still fairly generous (136m2). I have a patio garden that's 5x5 lol.

london21

jjcdscc said:

Please if anyone can advise and point us in right direction as yto where we stand 
At our welcome meeting back in March,  having just reserved a plot we asked for the garden dimensions of our plot . We were sold on the basis that we had a great size garden measurements on that plot and on drawing from technical team were approx 21m x11m . We have now exchanged and were advised by our solicitor to arrange a site visit to check the boundaries were correct before we sign them off. On measuring the garden its actually approx 17m x 8m ...a massive difference to what we expected. Having raised this with the builder they have now said that our garden IS actually the right size but the sizes on the drawing were wrong!! It was human error and they were done to the wrong scale!! They said they told us to tell them what we wanted because of the error and they would go from there and negotiate!!! So we asked for them to cover our stamp duty as they couldn't get us in before the stamp duty holiday!!! (Our house had a ready date of apr/May when we reserved!) And they have basically come back to us and said they cannot even come close to that and have offered to pay the remaining balance on our carpets!! They have already offered as a good will gesture to lawn the garden cause they couldn't get us in before end June!! Thats all. We feel so cheated and also feel like they have us over a barrel.  We feel we have been mis  sold on a property and human error isn't good enough!! We just don't know if we have a case here and what we can do in a short amount of time as we are due to move in end July.  We are desperate to get in as we have sold our house , have all our stuff in storage and temporarily staying with family so desperate to be in the house !!! They said they offered for us to pull out and they will refund our £1000 deposit if we feel we no longer want to complete.. such a joke of a thing to say to us at this stage when we have sold our house , have solicitors to pay and have now payed a huge deposit to them on exchange from the sale of our house.   if anyone has any advice of how we can get out of this corner that this builders company have us pushed into we would be grateful   . Our solicitor isn't being much help because surprise surprise they are recommended by the builders to use them!!! 

That’s a big difference. The price you paid is with the intention of getting a bigger garden. Was the property valued with the actual garden size or predicted garden size? 

Human error is not a good enough excuse. 

Paying remaining carpet balance is nothing compared to stamp duty costs. Lawn the garden as a goodwill gesture will not add much value to the house in comparison to a bigger garden.Their goodwill gestures are insulting. 

Personally wouldn’t exchange until the garden issue is sorted or find another property depending on valuation with the actual garden size. 

Because the seller recommended the solicitor, they won’t be completely forthcoming due to the vested interest. 

You thought you were getting 231m2 but actual size is 136m2.

That’s 41% less garden space. 

Surely they should reduce the price of the property or you find an alternative depending on the property prices in the area, location, valuation etc. 

But because you have sold you old house makes it slightly more difficult and puts you in a desperate situation. 

If you can have the property valued with the new garden to see if it’s a fair price and if valued lower can use to negotiate. 

Saying that if you have already exchanged, the options are limited because you have already legally bought the property. 

Doozergirl

This is what happens with new builds.  I'm not entirely sure why people but things they can't see, but there you go. In general, they do have small gardens, so this isn't going to be much of a surprise to other buyers.  It doesn't even sound that bad - most developers build the bare minimum
they can get away with, which is a lot less than you're being offered! 

You haven't exchanged as they're offering you your reservation deposit back? Or you have and they're suggesting you can rescind the contract?    If the market is buoyant where you are, it is likely that prices will have risen a bit since you reserved.    Houses aren't retail objects and it's all about negotiation.  If they think they can get what you offered them from someone else, they'll go with it.  The benefit being that those people will have seen the plot.  

It sounds like you have the choice to pull out if it makes you that unhappy.  I wouldn't call their bluff without being fully prepared to pull out, but I suspect that is the only place where you will force their hand if the balance of the carpets is as far as you've got so far.  

RelievedSheff

I'm not entirely sure what you expect them to do here. They can't just magic more land out of thin air to give to you.

17x8m is still a very decent garden for a new build.

It sounds as though you have exchanged contracts so there isn't really much you can do. You are now legally obliged to buy the property.

lookstraightahead

Don't exchange - Gardens are worth a lot of money.

to be honest it's no different from a vendor pulling out, you're now in a good position to buy somewhere else as you have nothing to sell.

Buy somewhere you can see first.

teachfast

Your position is weak as you have exchanged, and basically accepted what they offered already. Take the carpets and lawn and chalk it up to experience. 

GrumpyDil

Yup simple choice. If you want the house finish the purchase, if not pull out.

We had a somewhat similar issue a few years ago which ended up in us pulling out and they resold the property for slightly more.  Right decision for us but annoyingly they gained out of it due to price movement. 

lookstraightahead

Ah sorry op - have you exchanged?

lookstraightahead

RelievedSheff said:

I'm not entirely sure what you expect them to do here. They can't just magic more land out of thin air to give to you.

17x8m is still a very decent garden for a new build.

It sounds as though you have exchanged contracts so there isn't really much you can do. You are now legally obliged to buy the property.

It sounds like the plans have the original garden size and now the reality is it's smaller? 

If that's the case, then it's no different whether it's a garden or a room, it's still not what you paid for.

on the other hand, if the plans were clear prior to exchange then yes the op has made the mistake.

it's not much more than half the garden size they expected.

RelievedSheff

lookstraightahead said:

RelievedSheff said:

I'm not entirely sure what you expect them to do here. They can't just magic more land out of thin air to give to you.

17x8m is still a very decent garden for a new build.

It sounds as though you have exchanged contracts so there isn't really much you can do. You are now legally obliged to buy the property.

It sounds like the plans have the original garden size and now the reality is it's smaller? 

If that's the case, then it's no different whether it's a garden or a room, it's still not what you paid for.

on the other hand, if the plans were clear prior to exchange then yes the op has made the mistake.

it's not much more than half the garden size they expected.

If the plans were dimensioned then yes I agree. But it is very unlikely that they were and they will no doubt have had a disclaimer saying for illustrative purposes only.

Either way it is a mute point as the OP has exchanged contracts.