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Urgent advice please!!
rothers
Posts: 246 Forumite
If somebody could offer some advice I would be grateful.
Next Thursday my family and I are moving into a new build, built by a large developer. The brochure states "Power and lighting to garage (where applicable)". Not all of the houses have garages so I believe that is what the "where applicable" comes in. All of the houses that do have garages have power. My wife and I went to the home demonstration with the site manager only to be told that there is no power to our garage! They state that there is no way of getting it to the garage without going over somebody elses land, which they cannot do. After I complained they tried to work out a way of doing so without success.
The developer have used the "where applicable", the fact that the brochure states that they can change it at anytime without notice and the fact that we were not shown electrical plans for the garage on reservation. The sales advisor at the time of reservation, confirmed to us that there would be power to it as we were going to purchase some gym equipment, which we since have done.
The fact that it was not going to have power was not pointed out to us at the time of reservation or on exchange of contracts. I am extremely angry about the situation and would appreciate any advice in relation to where we stand.
Many thanks for reading this!
Next Thursday my family and I are moving into a new build, built by a large developer. The brochure states "Power and lighting to garage (where applicable)". Not all of the houses have garages so I believe that is what the "where applicable" comes in. All of the houses that do have garages have power. My wife and I went to the home demonstration with the site manager only to be told that there is no power to our garage! They state that there is no way of getting it to the garage without going over somebody elses land, which they cannot do. After I complained they tried to work out a way of doing so without success.
The developer have used the "where applicable", the fact that the brochure states that they can change it at anytime without notice and the fact that we were not shown electrical plans for the garage on reservation. The sales advisor at the time of reservation, confirmed to us that there would be power to it as we were going to purchase some gym equipment, which we since have done.
The fact that it was not going to have power was not pointed out to us at the time of reservation or on exchange of contracts. I am extremely angry about the situation and would appreciate any advice in relation to where we stand.
Many thanks for reading this!
0
Comments
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have you talked to your solicitor about this ? s/he really is the one to best advise you - as s/he will have read the T&Cs and Contract of sale and will know if the developer is legally allowed to do this or not.
i do know that newbuilds frequently end up slightly differently to what was apparently promised in the original sales blurbs..0 -
I doubt there is legally anything you can do unless you have copies of the plans.
Terms like "(where applicable)" and "optional" are very useful phrases for salespeople.Bankruptcy isn't the worst that can happen to you. The worst that can happen is your forced to live the rest of your life in abject poverty trying to repay the debts.0 -
Solicitor said that it is in effect, snagging, albeit a major snag!
He then called me and told me that the developer had given him the excuses stated above. I don't really know where I stand.0 -
I don't really know where I stand.
You don't stand anywhere. You just have to accept it.
Bend over, pull your trousers down, and take a shafting from the developers.
BT will be around later to bend you over and shaft you again, this time for £125 to put a phone line in.Bankruptcy isn't the worst that can happen to you. The worst that can happen is your forced to live the rest of your life in abject poverty trying to repay the debts.0 -
The brochures are always full of disclaimers stating that you should not rely on it before entering in to a contract. I'm sure its technically possible to get power directly from the street to the garage, but its unlikely you have any way to force the developer to do this.
Did the vendor give you any other verbal or written assurances before contracts were exchanged? Did you even look at the house before exchanging? 0 -
Erm, so the garage isn't attached to the house and there's someone else land inbetween... Seems common sense to me that they can't get power there. I have the same problem (not a new build) and theres nothing I can do about it. They can't just tap it from anywhere as it needs to be metered.
They would have to burry an armoured cable really deep in the ground, if they could get over the land issue. Thats not cheap to do.
Wasn't this obvious from looking at the development ? or was it all still under construction?
Are there any other properties closer to the garage that already have electric that you could tap off for a small fee?0 -
Did your developer not show you a plan of the inside of the house (and garage) and get you to sign it to say you were happy with where all the sockets were etc? Ours gave us a plan and gave us the opportunity to choose extra sockets etc. This also happened on our previous house (also new build but different deveoper).
who is your builder?Sealed Pot no 2011
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Thanks for your replies.
We bought the house off plan and were told by the sales advisor that power would be in there. We even had a discussion about the gym equipment in there! I cannot recall whether we signed the electric plans for the garage or not. My solicitor suggested writing to them as they would not appreciate any bad publicity and trying to come to a compromise. I think that is probably the best option now.0 -
why is your solicitor not fighting your corner for you ? - whey doesn't s/he write to them ?0
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Read the horror stories on this Board about buying off-plan and you will be relieved that you have actually got a property to move into.0
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