Avant threatening to re-list house for sale

BigRig101

Hi everyone, 

This might be a long post so will stick a TL;DR at the bottom.

Myself and partner are currently trying to purchase a new build with Avant Homes. We decided to go with the builders recommended solicitor (a mistake) due to convenience and the reviews seemed good on Google and trustpilot etc.

Contact was good at first, the first 14 days after reservation and instruction it was back and forth. On the 20th September we received an email from our solicitor that she had sent out a document pack to sign, this included the TP1 form  a deed of covenant along with a few others. This would be the last time we have any contact with her.

So the documents arrive, we read through them and it turns out the house has on it, an Estate Rentcharge. On this basis, we are unwilling to sign UNTIL we have seen evidence that there has been certain exclusions regarding section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925. There is mention of a Charge Deed document in the packup we have however we don't have access to it.

This leads us to today's situation. We have sent multiple emails to our solicitor, had many missed calls or 'she will call you back' but no contact. We have spoken to head office at Avant and they acted oblivious and presumed everything was fine and emsleys were just waiting for us to sign.

Avant have now given us until the end of the month to sign and return the documents or they are threatening to put the house back up for Sale. How can we be expected to blindly sign a document committing us to a purchase of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and why is our solicitor not doing anything about this, unless they are on the homebuilders side?

We have already paid out 5k+ in extras and flooring, are they really able to just relist the house and put us out of pocket and back to square 1 (not to mention potentially lose my buyer) because we are waiting for confirmation from our solicitor over a serious legal issue regarding the property?

It feels like they have been caught out (I presume most people won't clock onto how big of an issue an estate rentcharge is and just sign), so they are purposely dodging our emails and calls until they can say 'well you didn't sign so it's going back up for sale'.

Not really after solutions here as such, just advice on who to contact regarding complaints, the legal side of things and what we can do to ensure we don't just get scammed as that's what it feels like right now. We really don't want to sign this document only to find out the rentcharge is an issue and the house is unmortgageable in 5 years time.

TL;DR - Builder and Solicitor dodging calls and emails regarding an estate rentcharge. Builder threatening to relist the house if we don't sign.

DE_612183

You could ditch the solicitor supplied and use another one - they may get Avant to delay the re-list until you have got everything in order.

get a final bill from the incumbent solicitor

I think you can ask them to transfer all documentation to the new solicitor anyway.

BigRig101

DE_612183 said:

You could ditch the solicitor supplied and use another one - they may get Avant to delay the re-list until you have got everything in order.

get a final bill from the incumbent solicitor

I think you can ask them to transfer all documentation to the new solicitor anyway.

We have considered this, we called a few companies to get their thoughts and they all seemed to suggest they wouldn't take it on, and would recommend we stick with our current one. Albeit the circumstances have gotten considerably worse since those phone calls.

EssexHebridean

Go back to the original terms of engagement letter you had from the solicitors - it details not only the solicitor who will have conduct of your matter, but should also detail the escalation process above them via a named individual. Send an email to that person with roughly what you  have said here - stick to details and facts, don't let emotions or frustration get in the way. Detail the times and dates you have called and left messages or sent emails with no response. 

Unfortunately you will struggle to get a firm to take on a matter part way through, the best you might hope for will be someone willing to take it on as a completely new matter - so start afresh. That of course will take more time and may cause additional issues. 

BigRig101

EssexHebridean said:

Go back to the original terms of engagement letter you had from the solicitors - it details not only the solicitor who will have conduct of your matter, but should also detail the escalation process above them via a named individual. Send an email to that person with roughly what you  have said here - stick to details and facts, don't let emotions or frustration get in the way. Detail the times and dates you have called and left messages or sent emails with no response. 

Unfortunately you will struggle to get a firm to take on a matter part way through, the best you might hope for will be someone willing to take it on as a completely new matter - so start afresh. That of course will take more time and may cause additional issues. 

The issue is the woman in charge of our case is a director at the company, not sure there is anyone higher that we can contact, although we will try. Maybe one of the other partners at the firm.

Yes this is what we have encountered when calling around, most are unwilling to take it mid case and to start from fresh would surely be worse and give Avant more reason to put the house back up for sale. 

EssexHebridean

There is always someone in all bar single partner entities who is responsible in the event of a complaint - they may not be higher, perhaps on a level. Look up the detail and follow the process. It's important you do that in case you need to take a formal route to try to claim back any money lost to the developer down the line. 

In the case of the firm you mention - if the email address of the named responsible person is not ion the Terms letter then you will find it on their website.  

km1500

also, it is unlikely they will vary the terms of the estate charge - you will need to accept what they say or pull out

BigRig101

km1500 said:

also, it is unlikely they will vary the terms of the estate charge - you will need to accept what they say or pull out

Well the issue is our solicitor told us over the phone (never in writing, conveniently), that the rentcharge 'wasn't the type where they could take out a lease over your house'. However everything we have read in our contracts suggests that it is, so we are just looking for proof basically.

We are hoping that we won't need a deed of variation and that the exclusions for section 121 LPA 1925 are already in place, which is what was implied, but after asking for it in writing, we've had radio silence.

chanz4

simple make sure pay the rent charge, no issue

GixerKate

when you say rent charge do you mean a management charge for the maintenance of the green areas of the estate that are not adopted by the local council?  these are pretty normal for new builds, the make-up of these however is in the detail - is it one where the residents themselves can take over the management company or is it always going to be managed by a third-party?  if its the latter I would have to think really hard about buying the house.

And unfortunately yes, its likely they can re-list the house if you don't sign within a timescale (usually 28 days), check the small print of your reservation form.