New build exchange deadline - how strict?

hanate

Hi, I'm in the process of buying a new build with the help to buy equity loan as a first time buyer

Currently I am waiting on my conveyancer to submit form 1 but they've not been granted access to the help to buy portal to upload their documents, they're currently in contact with them though. Also, my conveyancer is waiting on enquiries from the developer's solicitor

The developer has given me 42 days from the day after my conveyancer has received the contract pack and this deadline is approaching imminently
A lot of time was wasted waiting for the lender's valuation with a further week wasted when the developer updated their help to buy code which meant I had to re-apply for the help to buy equity loan

The developer's reservation agreement contains the following clause:

If contracts have not been exchanged by the Reservation Expiry Date and the Buyer has not by that date satisfied the obligations in clause 5 or in the event the Buyer has satisfied the obligations in clause 5 by that date <property developer> reasonably concludes, having regard to all the circumstances that exchange of contracts will not take place within a further period of 42 days from that date then <property developer> may (on that date or at any time thereafter) by serving notice on the Buyer(s) (or any one of them or to his/her/their solicitor) terminate this agreement where upon <property developer> shall be free to market the Property to any person (or renegotiate the terms of purchase with the Buyer(s)) and shall be entitled to retain the Non Refundable Proportion as an administration fee. The remainder of the Reservation Fee shall be returned to the Buyer(s) (or any one of them) as soon as reasonably practicable.

Which seems to suggest the real deadline is a further 42 days from the initial reservation deadline. However, I'm not 100% sure on this

How strict are the developers on the exchange deadline?

tinytiddles

Ours was within 28 days but for us it was 28 days following issue of the contract pack to our solicitor. We bought ours when the pandemic was still having a massive impact on peoples ability to get a mortgage so ours only issued the contract pack once we got our mortgage offer through. I would suggest having a chat with the sales office as our developer said that basically as long as they can see things moving along they don’t generally pull out. Good luck!

hanate

Thanks, that gives me some hope

It's been quite stressful waiting to exchange

666666

Mine also has the 28 days clause on the reservation but weirdly they also ask on that reservation form how long we expect to exchange and our solicitor told us probably 10-14 weeks so I wrote 10-14 weeks and they didn’t say anything when we returned the form. 

Now we are on day 35 since contract pack was sent to our solicitor. Our solicitor raised a lot of queries and took the seller solicitor 2 weeks to respond to the first round of queries. I honestly feel if things are moving along and you are not the one hindering the process it doesn’t make sense for them to pull out because then they will have to start over again with a new buyer and it would take even longer. 

hanate

One can only hope, I selected some optional extras a few weeks ago since the property had moved onto the first fix stage

That said, if the developer did choose to re-list the house, I don't think they'd be able to sell it for more considering other developers nearby have released comparable houses for the same money

GixerKate

It can be pretty flexible, my suggestion is to keep the Sales Office for the developer up to date so that they know you are serious about the purchase and then if it does take longer they should be pretty reasonable.

On our reservation paperwork it said we needed to exchange within 28 days, we were told it was more of a target than anything. In actual fact it took over 9 months to exchange!

chelsclutton

As others have said, as long as you keep the sales office updated as much as possible there shouldn’t be a problem (especially if the house is still a bit of time off being finished). We reserved our new build in December and were advised of the 28 day exchange - draft contract was issued in January and we still haven’t exchanged as we are waiting for our house sale to go through..hopefully we will be exchanging in the next couple of weeks

hanate

Thanks, gives me hope, I am definitely over the deadline now. But, the sales office haven't been chasing yet

So far I've taken a step forward but slipped two steps back. Today my conveyancer tried to submit form 1 to Help to Buy and they couldn't. This is because I didn't think to update Help to Buy with the actual money (less some fees) that the lender was going to send to my Solicitor, this figure was only mentioned on the mortgage offer covering letter

So, now I'm waiting on my third ATP😭

Golden_Glow90

It was a long time ago since we bought our new build but we reserved at the end of October but didn’t exchange until January. It was meant to be 28 days but solicitors and developer took ages getting back to each other and then the Christmas holidays happened. 

Elfbert

We ended up with 121 days between reservation and exchange (contract states 28 days), following an utter clusterflub on the developers part. They only chased us once, right near the end, when we were waiting on answers to some final questions. They backed off the second I pointed out it was us waiting for them, and we finally exchanged about a week and a half later.

hanate

I think the sales office are starting to turn on the pressure. I received a phone call today asking if I've received and signed contracts. However, I am still waiting for my updated ATP and my conveyancer is still waiting on answers to some enquiries which the sales office already know about

Assuming ATP comes through on Monday and my conveyancer submits form one the following day. I should receive ATE on Friday if all goes well. I am fairly confident I can exchange by mid-April

Property is still at the first fix stage but it's estimated to be ready by the end of Q2