Off plan contract cancel for an appartment in Liverpool

monmbo

Summary:In 2024, I exchanged contracts for an off-plan apartment in Liverpool developed by Nexus Residential and sold through RWinvest, paying a deposit of over £60,000.

Timeline & Issues:

• October 2025: RWinvest notified me that completion was scheduled for January 2026 and instructed me to arrange a mortgage.
• January 2026: Access for valuation was delayed until mid-January.
  • 1st Valuation: The lender refused to proceed based on the property report.
  • 2nd & 3rd Valuations: Lenders down-valued the property by £50,000 and £55,000, respectively.
  • Nexus Residential refused my request for a price reduction, so I raised an additional £55,000 in personal funds to secure a mortgage.
• April 2026: I secured an Agreement in Principle and instructed my solicitor (Smith Benedict) to finalize the completion paperwork with the lender's solicitor and the developer's solicitor.
• June 2026: The seller issued a notice giving me two weeks to complete.
  • My solicitor consistently delayed responses (taking 2–3 days to reply to messages).
  • Both the lender's and developer's solicitors raised complaints regarding my solicitor’s lack of communication.
  • Every week, my solicitor falsely reassured me that completion would happen "that week."
• July 2026 (Cancellation):
  • I discovered my contract had been rescinded by the developer 5 days before my solicitor actually informed me.
  • EWS1 Form Issue: The developer's solicitor provided EWS1 forms covering four individual postcodes within the block, but the lender’s solicitor required an EWS1 form for the entire block. Neither side resolved this dispute.
  • Solicitor Omissions: My solicitor claimed the EWS1 form was the only outstanding document. However, when my mortgage broker checked with the lender’s solicitor, they revealed 11 items were still missing/unresolved.
  • It took my solicitor two further weeks to address these, and several items remain outstanding.
• Current Status:
  • The developer has refused requests from RWinvest and my solicitor to reinstate the contract, putting my £60k+ deposit and fees at immediate risk.
  • My solicitor has failed to comply with my request to hand over the full email correspondence file.
• What shoudl I do? do I have a case against the developer? do I have a case against the solicitor?

Thanks

silvercar

The big question is what do you want to happen? Do you still want to buy the property or do you want to walk away with a refund of your deposit (and possibly other costs)?

silvercar

Nexus Residential refused my request for a price reduction, so I raised an additional £55,000 in personal funds to secure a mortgage.

This is a key issue. I would have expected Nexus or RWInvest to let you know which lenders were happily lending at the price you are paying. Expecting every buyer to be able to raise more funds is unrealistic, so what were Nexus doing?

I secured an Agreement in Principle and instructed my solicitor (Smith Benedict) to finalize the completion paperwork with the lender's solicitor and the developer's solicitor.

Why 3 solicitors? Normally your solicitor would also act for the lender.

I'm not sure on the legalities of rescinding a contract and keeping a deposit. If they are re-selling it elsewhere that will take time, so why not sell to you? I thought (though not 100%) that you would only be on the hook for the difference in price if they failed to sell to someone else at the price you had agreed, not the whole deposit.

I would want to know how other people are getting around the EWS1 issue. The developer should know which lenders are prepared to lend on the property and suggest you to try them.

Both the lender's and developer's solicitors raised complaints regarding my solicitor’s lack of communication.

They would do. Very easy for solicitors to blame the other side for delays. It doesn't mean the fault is always with the other side. Could be the developer's solicitors are going slow in the hope people proceed without minor issues being sorted.

I'd hold off making a formal complaint to your solicitors until the matter is closed. Then you can use their official complaint procedure.

jaybeetoo

Given the value of the property seems to have gone down by £55k since you placed a deposit of £60k, you may want to rethink if it’s a good financial decision to proceed even if you lose your deposit. Separately, you could consider what action to take against your solicitor if any. You need to start gathering evidence if that’s a route you wish to pursue.

monmbo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82092742#Comment_82092742

Thanks for your answer.I would like to proceed if possible. I just spoke to my solicitor and he said he has another document to send to teh lender's solicitor which has expired. He thinks he can send them the document on Friday. But I don't think Nexus residential wants to reinstate the contract. RWinvest told me they never done it. So now I think the only option is to recover the money.

user1977

From what you’ve said it seems you were in breach of contract because your lender required items which the contract didn’t require the developer to provide. I doubt that’s something you can blame on anybody else, unless you tell us different about the advice you got at the time.