How long do I have?

cmbrookes

I am leaseholder in a shared ownership property with the housing association (HA). I'm the first person in the new build house but the house has been built over a year ago so the defect period with the developer has expired but my first port of call is the HA. I've had a few issues with the house which are clearly no fault of my own and with me being the first person in the house its just down to slack work from the developers tradesmen. 

How long do I get before I, the leaseholder have to sort issues out myself and pay for it? I can't find anything at all in the lease contract with the HA. The only thing it mentions is the 10 year warranty but that's for anything external and structural. This is a money saving post as well as I'm trying to find my rights so I can save money rather than paying for the repairs especially if the issues are through poor quality work. 

propertyrental

What sort of 'issues'?

HampshireH

If the defects period is up then most normal repairs would be down to you. Did you not have snagging inspection done?

cmbrookes

propertyrental said:

What sort of 'issues'?

Water mark appearing on ceiling in living room right under where bath is 

Flugelhorn

ask the HA but I would suspect that that is down to you to sort - sounds like a problem with the trap or perhaps the seals around the bath if you have showers in the bath 

cmbrookes

But we moved into the house close to end of the defect period which isn't our fault at all. Surely there must be some protection for us because if we had lived here since it was built then the issues would have been ironed out during the defect period. The house was built and the HA did nothing with it so the defect period was just wasting away 

Flugelhorn

honestly down know how the "defect period" works, haven't bought a new house since 1990. The HA are the first port of call - have you got any paperwork from them about it ?

cmbrookes

I have a leaseholder contract but there's nothing at all in there regarding this. It just states that's its up to the leaseholder to maintain and repair but we've moved into a defective house after the defect period has expired which isn't our fault. 

If we were given a period when we moved in and that period has expired after we moved in I could understand. 

eddddy

You should have got details of any defect warranty when you bought the property - it would have all been part of your purchase contract.

If the warranty had finished when you bought, that should have all been clear from the contract.


It was then up to you to decide - did you want to buy the house with an expired defect warranty, or did you want to walk away?

It seems you chose to buy the house with an expired defect warranty.


You can try asking the Housing Association if they will do anything as a gesture of goodwill.

user1977

cmbrookes said:

I have a leaseholder contract but there's nothing at all in there regarding this. It just states that's its up to the leaseholder to maintain and repair but we've moved into a defective house after the defect period has expired which isn't our fault. 

Not sure what you mean about it not being your "fault" - it's what you did, and presumably you knew that's what you were doing? If there are no ongoing guarantees then it's up to you to carry out any repairs.

And anyway, I'd be looking under the bath to see what the problem actually is - if it's an easy fix then I'd just do it myself rather than insist that somebody else come round, even if they're technically meant to.

cmbrookes

user1977 said:

cmbrookes said:

I have a leaseholder contract but there's nothing at all in there regarding this. It just states that's its up to the leaseholder to maintain and repair but we've moved into a defective house after the defect period has expired which isn't our fault. 

Not sure what you mean about it not being your "fault" - it's what you did, and presumably you knew that's what you were doing? If there are no ongoing guarantees then it's up to you to carry out any repairs.

And anyway, I'd be looking under the bath to see what the problem actually is - if it's an easy fix then I'd just do it myself rather than insist that somebody else come round, even if they're technically 

Well you presume wrong because nothing was ever mentioned about a defect expiry date and it’s not written anywhere in the contract. I’ve read it with a fine tooth comb. I’m hardly going to try and fix something I’m not qualified to do am I at the risk of making it worse.