FTB - pushy developers

timeandtime

Hi,

My partner and I are supposedly exchanging contracts this week, on a new build. We are just waiting for our authority to exchange to come back from HTB (I have everything crossed!) 

The developers we are buying from have been extremely pushy - literally giving our solicitors a couple of hours to complete work. They haven’t been satisfied with the updates that our broker has given (despite the fact these have been daily.) They have emailed us, called us multiple times a day, asking us to chase our solicitors.. who I must admit haven’t been amazing! 

They have now given us until the 23rd to exchange, or they say they may pull the house. Although, I’ve never had any of this in writing, just threats over the phone. 

We have signed ALL documents and even transferred our deposit to solicitors already, to save us time. What more can we do? Is this normal? I feel physically sick, I cannot sleep at night! The stress is ridiculous. 

diego_94

They are very unlikely to pull the house at this late stage, if they did find a new buyer it would take months to complete so they are best to stay with you. Try not to worry about it, they are just being pushy. Direct them to your solicitor.

kingstreet

Presumably you were given a 28 day exchange target? If so, when does that expire?

MEM62

This is typical developer behavior and most of it can be ignored.,  Just go through the process and complete when you can.

timeandtime said:

They have now given us until the 23rd to exchange, or they say they may pull the house. 

Highly unlikely as they would have to start from scratch with a new buyer and that would put back sale & completion by months.  They just blowing hot air.  Don't stress yourself over it.   
   

TheJP

diego_94 said:

They are very unlikely to pull the house at this late stage, if they did find a new buyer it would take months to complete so they are best to stay with you. Try not to worry about it, they are just being pushy. Direct them to your solicitor.

There are a couple of threads on here where developers have pulled out when exchange hasn't happened when they wanted, I think because in this market there is a que of people waiting for a house.

OP when is the house scheduled to be completed? If there isn't much left to complete on the build then it could be an empty threat. Hopefully that's all it is and you'll be on your way to your first home. 

GixerKate

How long has it been since you reserved the plot?  Usually the expectation is to exchange within 28 days and yes the developers will get pushy if its been longer than that.

Are you keeping the developers up to date with everything you are doing?  I found that as I rang them to provide updates I didn't get chased as much as others as the developer knew I was doing everything I could to keep things moving.

timeandtime

kingstreet said:

Presumably you were given a 28 day exchange target? If so, when does that expire?

We were - it was the 1st of February. However, the developers didn’t even send the contract drafts through, until the 21st of December and only answered all enquiries last Friday. So, we are actually already over the deadline. 

timeandtime

TheJP said:

diego_94 said:

They are very unlikely to pull the house at this late stage, if they did find a new buyer it would take months to complete so they are best to stay with you. Try not to worry about it, they are just being pushy. Direct them to your solicitor.

There are a couple of threads on here where developers have pulled out when exchange hasn't happened when they wanted, I think because in this market there is a que of people waiting for a house.

OP when is the house scheduled to be completed? If there isn't much left to complete on the build then it could be an empty threat. Hopefully that's all it is and you'll be on your way to your first home. 

Thanks, that’s my fear. It’s so competitive at the moment. The house was actually brought forward to April/May completion. So, really not a lot of time left. I’m hoping this works in our favour? 

timeandtime

diego_94 said:

They are very unlikely to pull the house at this late stage, if they did find a new buyer it would take months to complete so they are best to stay with you. Try not to worry about it, they are just being pushy. Direct them to your solicitor.

Thanks! The house will be completed in April/May, so it’s very close. The trouble is, the have said they can’t get through to our solicitor. So, we directed them to our broker, who have given constant updates - I don’t think they could be doing more! 

timeandtime

GixerKate said:

How long has it been since you reserved the plot?  Usually the expectation is to exchange within 28 days and yes the developers will get pushy if its been longer than that.

Are you keeping the developers up to date with everything you are doing?  I found that as I rang them to provide updates I didn't get chased as much as others as the developer knew I was doing everything I could to keep things moving.

We reserved in October, but draft contracts were not sent until late December, just before Christmas. Which pushed it back to January until our solicitors could even look at them - as nobody was working! 

I speak to them about 3/4 times a week, giving updates, listening to what they need. Our broker has spoken to them daily - so they are getting two lots of updates. 

timeandtime

MEM62 said:

This is typical developer behavior and most of it can be ignored.,  Just go through the process and complete when you can.

timeandtime said:

They have now given us until the 23rd to exchange, or they say they may pull the house. 

Highly unlikely as they would have to start from scratch with a new buyer and that would put back sale & completion by months.  They just blowing hot air.  Don't stress yourself over it.   
   

Thank you for this. That is my thinking - but with housing prices at the moment, we will not be able to afford a similar house if we lose this. It is now or never and I think they realise this, so are pushing hard to get their money!