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Nu Living Developers - New Build Never Ending Delays!

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r629060
r629060 Posts: 1 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

I am a first time buyer, having bought a 2 bedroom flat from Nu Living in their Barking 360 development in East London.

I paid my deposit in Aug18 and had exchanged contracts by end of Dec18 with completion due in March19.

Since December, the build has been delayed to June, then July and now August19. This has caused me to have to pay out of my own pocket for a new mortgage app and new property valuation - my contract does not have a long stop either.

At what point do the delays become unreasonable and i am able to walk away from purchasing the property?

Nu Living have been truly dreadful in handling the situation with a severe lack of comms and blatant lies as to the true cause of the delays.

Could i ask for compensation and could i be opening myself up for legal action from Nu Living if i was to cancel my contract with them?

Have any others had bad experiences with Nu Living / Swan Housing Association before?

Any help would be really appreciated, im a bit lost as to what to do and have so far hated every single second of my journey buying my first property.

Thanks,
R
«134567

Comments

  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    r629060 wrote: »
    At what point do the delays become unreasonable and i am able to walk away from purchasing the property?
    You can't walk away unless you had negotiated a long stop date in your contract.
    Could i ask for compensation
    You can ask, sure. You're not legally entitled to any though.
    and could i be opening myself up for legal action from Nu Living if i was to cancel my contract with them?
    You can't "cancel your contract". You're obliged to complete the purchase whenever they finish building it.

    Didn't your solicitor warn you of the risks? Was it a "tame" solicitor recommended to you by the developer?
  • diggingdude
    diggingdude Posts: 2,445 Forumite
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    Perhaps put a formal complaint in to your solicitor if they failed to point out the need for a long stop?
    An answer isn't spam just because you don't like it......
  • dan96
    dan96 Posts: 58 Forumite
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    We are in the same position as you having purchased at their Paragon Ilford development. I agree when you say that they have told nothing but lies and we are also currently delayed by 10 months. Our 3rd mortgage offer won’t take us to completion so we’ll be needing a 4th but our contract has a long stop which has been reached and we can pull out if necessary. Not a penny of compensation offered to us.
  • Sconnelly1
    Sconnelly1 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    You aren't alone - I'm in exactly the same position with Barking 360 - have bought a 2 bed flat and exchanged contracts but the build has been put back again and again

    What has really annoyed me is that early March they sent an update indicating that the build was on track, then only 3 days later send another update saying 2 months behind...

    If the development is actually completed in August it will be 5 months late but I'm not holding my breath for that.

    It's caused alot of stress, my mortgage offer has expired and I've had to arrange for extensions for this / have moved twice (as had been staying with family in the meantime)

    I sent an email to the development asking what my options were as I didn't feel the delay was "reasonable" and as yet I've had no response at all.

    However it appears this isn't an isolated incident as there's been an article about Nu Living and the delays with some people facing homelessness! It's in the Ilford Recorder - can't post link but check it out online
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,440 Forumite
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    Sconnelly1 wrote: »
    I sent an email to the development asking what my options were as I didn't feel the delay was "reasonable" and as yet I've had no response at all.

    You need to take a look at the contract you signed to see what your options are.

    It's likely that the only thing in your contract that's relevant is a "long stop date". If that date arrives, and the developer isn't ready to complete - you can withdraw, and get your deposit back.
  • horay89
    horay89 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Looks like they're now offering compensation but it's a paltry sum especially for those who have had to find alternative accommodation in the meantime.
  • Parking_Trouble
    Parking_Trouble Posts: 759 Forumite
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    dan96 wrote: »
    We are in the same position as you having purchased at their Paragon Ilford development. I agree when you say that they have told nothing but lies and we are also currently delayed by 10 months. Our 3rd mortgage offer won’t take us to completion so we’ll be needing a 4th but our contract has a long stop which has been reached and we can pull out if necessary. Not a penny of compensation offered to us.

    My son exchanged contracts recently on a Paragon (Hale Point) flat.
    Very frustrating delays although he is not as badly affected as those who exchanged last year.

    His mortgage offer expires in December and the way things are going it could be tight. They are now saying mid-September a likely move in date but I don't believe it.

    £500 compensation for delays has been offered.

    The sub-contractors doing the cladding went under and this caused earlier delays. The block is now complete. Internals are done, scaffold is down. Lifts commissioned. We can go to see his completed flat next week.

    The main sticking point seems to be the fire risk assessment. There is a lack of transparency about what the issue is and it could either be the LFB being very, very slow or there is an issue with the outcome of the assessment.

    The sales and admin teams just put out bland communication.

    I am minded to contact the Managing Director of Construction, Dean Rosewell to get some information from the horse's mouth.
    Mr Straw described whiplash as "not so much an injury, more a profitable invention of the human imagination—undiagnosable except by third-rate doctors in the pay of the claims management companies or personal injury lawyers"

  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    diggingdude wrote: »
    Perhaps put a formal complaint in to your solicitor if they failed to point out the need for a long stop?
    Any bets that the solicitor was "recommended" by the developer?

    One thing's for sure - the developer aren't stringing this along through choice. They want to get it finished and signed off and the money in... I think we can take a good guess at a couple of the likely causes for delay... Staff shortages (due to EU nationals leaving because of Brexit) and cladding delays.
  • Parking_Trouble
    Parking_Trouble Posts: 759 Forumite
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    Building is complete, just soft landscaping as far as I know.
    Fire Risk Assessment is the sticking point.

    My son used the recommended solicitor. Seemed a good idea at the time.
    Mr Straw described whiplash as "not so much an injury, more a profitable invention of the human imagination—undiagnosable except by third-rate doctors in the pay of the claims management companies or personal injury lawyers"

  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
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    Parking_Trouble wrote: »
    My son used the recommended solicitor. Seemed a good idea at the time.
    Note for the future, this is never a good idea.
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