Complicated question

[Deleted User]

Hello,

We are buying a new build home off plan. It was due to complete in April, May, June, 24th June, July and now they’ve said August. 

Now, I knew very well that this could happen, however I made the developer aware that my young son was autistic and requested additional updates as a reasonable adjustment as we involved him every step of the way. They haven’t been forthcoming with updates, which I could forgive, however we visited the property this weekend. It is the end property on a terrace of four. We discovered the neighbours in the first property excitedly moving in, and the property immediately next door to ours set up with welcome packs. This property was only recently sold. 

So not only have they not been forthcoming with updates, but they have also prioritised adjoining properties that were sold after ours. I’ve asked for reasons behind this, but I can’t seem to get anything out of them. I can also see that they’ve forgotten to install some of our paid for extras like the external tap. 

They gave us a date of 24th June and asked us if we were excited. We held off on giving notice on our temporary rental as they hadn’t contacted our solicitor. It was a good thing we didn’t because they then moved it again. This is the communication that triggered my son. He went downhill and started struggling at school. They knew we were keeping our son involved with any updates so he could prepare for the move, and they have ignored my plea at how badly these constant changes are now affecting my son. 

Where do I stand with this situation? Is this disability discrimination? 

housebuyer143

Deleted_User said:

Hello,

We are buying a new build home off plan. It was due to complete in April, May, June, 24th June, July and now they’ve said August. 

Now, I knew very well that this could happen, however I made the developer aware that my young son was autistic and requested additional updates as a reasonable adjustment as we involved him every step of the way. They haven’t been forthcoming with updates, which I could forgive, however we visited the property this weekend. It is the end property on a terrace of four. We discovered the neighbours in the first property excitedly moving in, and the property immediately next door to ours set up with welcome packs. This property was only recently sold. 

So not only have they not been forthcoming with updates, but they have also prioritised adjoining properties that were sold after ours. I’ve asked for reasons behind this, but I can’t seem to get anything out of them. I can also see that they’ve forgotten to install some of our paid for extras like the external tap. 

They gave us a date of 24th June and asked us if we were excited. We held off on giving notice on our temporary rental as they hadn’t contacted our solicitor. It was a good thing we didn’t because they then moved it again. This is the communication that triggered my son. He went downhill and started struggling at school. They knew we were keeping our son involved with any updates so he could prepare for the move, and they have ignored my plea at how badly these constant changes are now affecting my son. 

Where do I stand with this situation? Is this disability discrimination? 

No. It's not disability discrimination. 
Moving house is hard at the best of times and I sympathize with having an autistic son but I wouldn't give a date to my son knowing it could be moved. I would be more vague to manage expectations. 

It's odd your house isn't ready yet. I would focus on that and find out why. It would be nice to have more updates but not giving them to you will not amount to discrimination. 

canaldumidi

It's really not that unusual for New Build dates to change, sometimes many times.

Whilst I sympathise with the stress this is causing you ad your son, no it is not disability discrimination. To be honest I would have thought the best approach would have been to avoid getting your son excited, or otherwise worked up, until you had a firm confirmed date. That would have avoided the current stress he's experiencing. But of course I amby nomeans an expert on autism. Just someone who knows how stressful and uncertain house-buying can be...

edit: you might want to amend your thread title as a) it's not really complicated and b) the title gives no clue as to the subject matter of your issue .

user1977

Deleted_User said:

Is this disability discrimination? 

No, it's being treated in an identical manner to any other buyer.

No developer is going to be daft enough to make enforceable promises about when building will be complete - I can't see that a court would agree it's a "reasonable" adjustment to try to do so merely because a member of a buyer's family is disabled. If you need certainty about whether your new house will be ready, you need to buy one which has already been built.

[Deleted User]

They told us 24th June was the completion date. It was given as a ‘confirmed date’ to the point we contacted our solicitor and asked if they’d received this. It turns out this was the date for the first property on the terrace and had been given to us in error. We gave no other completion dates to our son until we believed it was confirmed. We weren’t expecting that they would make a mistake with it in this way. 

Also, the situation is complicated as this is nothing to do with long stop dates. The property immediately next door which was sold only recently is complete, whilst ours still has wires hanging out and is still weeks away from completion. I’ve researched and haven’t found others with this experience. 

As for the subject matter, it’s simply a question. It’s in the ‘house buying’ section of this forum so you should assume it’s a question about house buying, which it is. The main question is ‘where do I stand with this situation?’ which is why this question was first. 

canaldumidi, perhaps you should reserve your poor post title judgement and lack of advice for another forum. If you read my post correctly, you’d have noticed that I’d already explained that I was well aware that the completion date can change multiple times. 

And if you knew of the laws behind disability discrimination, you’d be aware that if you’d asked for reasonable adjustments and they weren’t provided, then it could be classed as discrimination. I just wanted to know if this odd situation would could under that law. 

[Deleted User]

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

Is this disability discrimination? 

No, it's being treated in an identical manner to any other buyer.

No developer is going to be daft enough to make enforceable promises about when building will be complete - I can't see that a court would agree it's a "reasonable" adjustment to try to do so merely because a member of a buyer's family is disabled. If you need certainty about whether your new house will be ready, you need to buy one which has already been built.

I’m not sure why none of you seem to be reading my post correctly. 

I requested additional updates on the build which they agreed to. I never asked them for a confirmed completion date as a reasonable adjustment. 

user1977

Deleted_User said:

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

Is this disability discrimination? 

No, it's being treated in an identical manner to any other buyer.

No developer is going to be daft enough to make enforceable promises about when building will be complete - I can't see that a court would agree it's a "reasonable" adjustment to try to do so merely because a member of a buyer's family is disabled. If you need certainty about whether your new house will be ready, you need to buy one which has already been built.

I’m not sure why none of you seem to be reading my post correctly. 

I requested additional updates on the build which they agreed to. I never asked them for a confirmed completion date as a reasonable adjustment. 

Perhaps the problem is you haven't been clear enough in your post? If they've agreed to the additional updates then I'm not sure where you think any disability discrimination is coming in? 

And yes, a more specific subject line than "complicated question" would be useful! Almost everything on the forum is a question.

user1977

Deleted_User said:

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

Is this disability discrimination? 

No, it's being treated in an identical manner to any other buyer.

No developer is going to be daft enough to make enforceable promises about when building will be complete - I can't see that a court would agree it's a "reasonable" adjustment to try to do so merely because a member of a buyer's family is disabled. If you need certainty about whether your new house will be ready, you need to buy one which has already been built.

I’m not sure why none of you seem to be reading my post correctly. 

I requested additional updates on the build which they agreed to. I never asked them for a confirmed completion date as a reasonable adjustment. 

Perhaps the problem is you haven't been clear enough in your post? If they've agreed to the additional updates then I'm not sure where you think any disability discrimination is coming in? 

And yes, a more specific subject line than "complicated question" would be useful! Almost everything on the forum is a question.

And just to clarify again for User1977, this information is already provided, but we requested the additional updates and weren’t provided with them. So the reasonable adjustment weren’t followed. 

What did your contract say about these updates?

[Deleted User]

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

Is this disability discrimination? 

No, it's being treated in an identical manner to any other buyer.

No developer is going to be daft enough to make enforceable promises about when building will be complete - I can't see that a court would agree it's a "reasonable" adjustment to try to do so merely because a member of a buyer's family is disabled. If you need certainty about whether your new house will be ready, you need to buy one which has already been built.

I’m not sure why none of you seem to be reading my post correctly. 

I requested additional updates on the build which they agreed to. I never asked them for a confirmed completion date as a reasonable adjustment. 

Perhaps the problem is you haven't been clear enough in your post? If they've agreed to the additional updates then I'm not sure where you think any disability discrimination is coming in? 

And yes, a more specific subject line than "complicated question" would be useful! Almost everything on the forum is a question.

And just to clarify again for User1977, this information is already provided, but we requested the additional updates and weren’t provided with them. So the reasonable adjustment weren’t followed. 

What did your contract say about these updates?

Thank you for replying on topic. 

The additional updates weren’t on the contract, but I had them agreed via email between myself and the developer, so it is in writing at least. 

I actually appreciate that they made a mistake with the completion date by giving us the one for the other end property, but they’ve had no further contact on this and seem reluctant to explain why our property is weeks behind. 

Twixty3

I would have thought a reasonable adjustment would have been more along the lines of making say, an adjustment to a proposed room lay out to accommodate your son not updates. 

Like -

What’s meant by the duty to make reasonable adjustments?

The Equality Act 2010 says changes or adjustments should be made to ensure you can access the following things if you’re disabled:

• education
• employment - ask your employer for adjustments
• housing - ask for adjustments in your home
• goods and services like shops, banks, cinemas, hospitals, council offices, leisure centres
• associations and private clubs like the Scouts and Guides, private golf clubs and working men clubs.

Builders  updates when there are delays would generally not be good and it seems to me that they would just make a tense situation worse. 

You have obviously been able to call round to see the house and be on site so I’m not sure more updates would have created a happier situation. They may just have resulted in more emails from you to them and such like. 

Tiglet2

Unfortunately, there can be many reasons why a new build is delayed, from employee shortage/illness to materials not being in stock and delays with deliveries.  This is exactly why the developer cannot make promises as to completion dates.  Solicitors also will not commit to any dates before they are in possession of all the paperwork needed for the purchase.  You have already said that you know this, so I am not sure why you now think this is an issue and/or disability discrimination?  I don't think the law includes developers having to make reasonable adjustments to a buyer with an autistic child.   

I also support Canaldumidi's point about thread titles.  Calling a thread "Complicated question" on a House Selling and Buying forum does not give any clue as to what advice is being sought.  It requires posters to open the thread to find out.  There are many people on this forum with expertise in leasehold, stamp duty tax experts, mortgage brokers, conveyancing solicitors, estate agents, Help to Buy, Land Registry, all of whom have areas of expertise where their advice is very valuable, but they are not Jack of All Trades.  You wouldn't want the advice of a tax expert on a land registry issue.  People post on many threads seeking advice, but it is far easier for experts to give that advice when the thread title includes the area of expertise required. 

Please do o not give notice on your rental until you have exchanged contracts.  This is advice readily given by solicitors and on this forum.  If you do, you leave yourself and your son very exposed to the possibility of being homeless.