Have I been mis-sold?

wpl94

My partner and I bought our new build home over a year ago now, and during conversations prior to reserving our plot the sales team stated that there would be a shop built on the site “within the next two years.”

Unfortunately there is yet to be any confirmation of a shop being built on the site. Contextually, the nearest shop of any convenience is a ten minute drive away, and the nearest supermarket is about the same in the opposite direction. Walking takes about half an hour for both. 

I for one feel that we were mis sold on this matter, we would not have bought the house had we known it would take this long. 

Were we mis sold and are we entitled to any compensation?

km1500

Was it part of the sales contract you signed ?

gazfocus

Generally speaking, shops are thrown up relatively quickly, however, the developers might be waiting for someone to agree to run the shop before building it.

I don't believe you could get any compensation, even moreso if you don't have anything in writing giving an exact time frame for when a shop would be 'open'. 

Brie

I doubt it frankly.  For one thing you've been there just over a year and they said within 2 so there's time yet.  And if it doesn't come through there may be the usual excuses...."well we had agreement in principle with Tescos for a mini shop but they pulled out due to changes in their financials".   

But you'll have to go through all the sales stuff and see what was promised and what was implied.  All it takes is some waffle like "we hope to have..." to scupper any possible come back.

MEM62

Miss-sold is a specific term that relates to certain financial products.  You cannot be miss-sold a house.  

Ayr_Rage

As Judge Judy would say, you are premature in your complaint.

If those two years are not yet up then how can you know what is going to happen in the remaining period.

Does the planning consent from the council stipulate that a convenience store MUST be built as part of the project ?

comeandgo

How can a developer have say on when a shop will be up and running.  They may construct a building suitable for a shop but they can’t control who will run it or when it would be open.  I bet they couched what they said, it full of may and might.

DullGreyGuy

MEM62 said:

Miss-sold is a specific term that relates to certain financial products.  You cannot be miss-sold a house.  

Thats odd because The Ombudsman Service (not the FOS) defines miss-selling on their website even though they cover energy, communications, D&G and POPLA. Not sure why you think only financial services companies can give false or misleading information about a product

goater78

I don’t think I would want a shop on a new build estate. Would be a magnet for antisocial behaviour. 

Sunsaru

My friend moved to a freshly built new village with the promise of their first shop being within the next 2 years. I think it was 5 years in the end.

EDIT: The nearest shop was at least 15 mins by car.

user1977

km1500 said:

Was it part of the sales contract you signed ?

The converse is more likely - generally developers' contracts will specifically say they're making no promises about how the rest of the estate will be developed. And that you shouldn't believe anything they told you in the sales cabin, unless it's repeated in black and white in the contract...

OP, if this was really important to you and you were expecting the developers to be legally bound somehow, presumably you discussed it with your solicitor at the time? Was planning granted for a shop?