New Development - River Walk, Ballymore Eustace

ultracrepidarian

Hi All,

Starting a new thread for River Walk, one of the new developments in Ballymore Eustace, Kildare.

Has anyone else here bought in this development?

Good to stay connected.

Thanks.

Blackbird2022

Hi,

We have also bought a house in this development. We were notified last week that the hand over date has been pushed back. Have you any idea on dates for your property? I really hope it will be before Christmas.

Thank you.

ultracrepidarian

Hi Blackbird,

We were told at the end of November for handover back in May, but we haven't heard anything since. When was your original handover date? I was down at the site last week and they're making great progress on Phase 1, so it could be possible to make it in by Christmas.

Blackbird2022

The original date was 23rd of September and that was then pushed to the 14th of October and now it's from the 5th of November with them 4-6 weeks for snagging, etc.

We purchased a two bed so I'm sure it's different for all the properties too.

That's great that they are making good progress, it's going to be really lovely when it's complete.

ultracrepidarian

That's annoying but definitely worth the wait. The two-beds are amazing - the living/dining area is unreal. We purchased a four-bed that was only foundations when we went to view the show homes and now looks to be more or less complete now. They were finishing the boundary walls, levelling the back gardens, and finishing the interiors from the looks of it last week.

It's going to be a special development alright. Looking forward to getting in now.

Let me know if you get wind of a new handover date and I'll do the same.

Blackbird2022

Oh that's great. They will be amazing.

That's definitely given me hope so if they doing finishing touches like that now.

I will post here as soon as I know anything,

Thanks a mill :)

Illywhacker

Hi,

we have also bought in phase 1. We were given similar dates along the way and have also been told November 5th. When I contacted estate agents today, I was told some houses are starting snagging next week.

I’ll post any developments.

Blackbird2022

Hey,

Oh that's great news. Thank you, we will do the same.

ultracrepidarian

I spoke with the estate agent today and they said that our handover date had been pushed into December but the handover began this week and would go roughly row by row up until Christmas. So, it seems like all (or most) of phase 1 will be handed over by Christmas but we won't be closed until January.

Blackbird2022

Oh well at least that's a nice timeline. Good to hear, thanks for sharing.

Blackbird2022

Hi Illywhacker,

Just curious if you have heard anything yet about the proposed 5th of November closing date? I wonder how much notice they will give?

I'm just hoping it won't be delayed again. We requested a provisional BER certificate and received one this week with an A3 rating, even thought they are advertised at A2.

beepboopbeep

We got in to snag last week and were told that Irish Water is delaying things but there didn’t seem to be a good idea of when that would be resolved. The house was in great shape, though - very little to snag.

Blackbird2022

Oh that's brilliant. Great to hear. And did you get much notice for the invitation to snag? A week or ?

Thank you

beepboopbeep

Yeah, about a week but we haven’t gotten an official completion notice yet so it’s still a little unclear of when our move in date will be. I’m hoping things push on soon with the mortgage rates rising!

Blackbird2022

That's our worry too. We are with AIB and their rates are going up from the 14th of November.

That's strange about the completion notice. We kept hearing it was ESB who were delaying things there.

beepboopbeep

My impression is that the ESB are on site (our house had electricity) but are quite slow to complete the work on the houses so not all are connected yet. Irish Water don’t seem to be on site at all. That’s odd that your house got an A3 rating - don’t the regulations require at least an A2 rating now? We haven’t gotten a BER cert yet, although we haven’t requested one either.

Blackbird2022

Yeah I'm very confused about the rating. I will get my solicitor to follow it up so I'll post here when I find out. I had googled it earlier also and the regulations do stage that it has to be A2.

I hope you hear about a move in date soon.

MaximilienMK

Hi - we've bought a house in phase 1 also. Glad to have found this thread!

Nothing new to add though - similar to Illywhacker, we've been given 5th Nov for snagging but when I was last speaking to the Estate Agent, she told us not be surprised if this was pushed out a little more. We've been told the main hold up is Irish Water.

Can't wait to move in! Has anyone looked into snaggers? Any recommendations?

@Blackbird2022 A2 may be the current requirement but this particular development was approved in 2018 so I suspect you'd have to check what the requirement was in 2018

beepboopbeep

@MaximilienMK the A2 ratings apply to houses where construction started after November 2019. It was the second half of 2021 when these houses were started and the brochure has an A2 BER logo on it.

My snagger commented on how high spec the houses were relative to the usual developments he snags, which is a good sign!

Blackbird2022

Oh no, I hope it's not pushed back again. We are so eager to get in also.

We haven't contacted any snaggers yet so would be interested to know if people have recommendations too.

Hopefully the BER rating is just provisional and will be updated to A2 when the house is complete? 🤔 I will update when I hear from my solicitor anyway.

ultracrepidarian

@Blackbird2022 BER should definitely be A2, as @beepboopbeep said the construction started in 2021 so they're legally obligated to be A2.

@MaximilienMK, we were recommended Snag My House, snagmyhouse(dot)ie. We haven't gotten our date for snagging yet, so I can't comment on them first-hand.

Glad to hear people are getting in to snag. Hopefully, the hold-ups are minimal. I'd imagine they're keen to get some people in before Christmas and get some more money and start to promote phase 2.

lifewithabigspoon

Hi. So glad to have found this thread! We’ve bought in phase 2 and have been given a completion date of April 2023..can’t wait to move in 😊 Good luck to ye who are hoping to be in by Christmas! @ultracrepidarian let us know how you get on with snagmyhouse. Was recommended them also

MaximilienMK

Thanks @ultracrepidarian for name of that snagger! I'll check them out. @beepboopbeep Glad to hear that they seem to be in good shape. Would you recommend your snagger?

Our solicitor received a letter yesterday stating that there was delays. We presume it means our 5th Nov snag date is being pushed out again - ESB and Irish Water delays. A bit unfortunate but expected.

Has anyone heard any news on what the 'Design Centre' is for?

Illywhacker

@MaximilienMK i got similar notification. It’s great that they will allow us to snag prior to the connections which is something.

The BER cert I got was A2 but watermarked as ‘provisional’. Bank said it’s useful to have as an indication that the green mortgage will be approved but they do require the final one.

I think design centre, Creche, gym etc are not necessarily going to happen anytime soon. I believe Ballymore are not obliged, planning wise, to follow through on them. Estate agent said gym more than likely won’t go ahead. They might have more information on

I'm not a local but I am very familiar with the area. If anyone has questions about schools, amenities etc please feel free to DM me.

ultracrepidarian

The estate agent said similar to us, that the creche and gym are unlikely and are subject to whether they think the area needs them. They said the location of the gym is likely to be converted to another house. Not heard anything about the Design Centre, but I think it's a mini-town hall type building, so residents can use it for different things like OMC meetings, book clubs, bake sales, etc. Not sure how likely it is to be built though, especially considering there was no mention of it in the OMC fees for upkeep.

Blackbird2022

Do you know exactly what is included in the OMC fees? I never got a breakdown.

Did people find these expensive? We are first time buyers so unsure of how common it is or costly it is? But some people I mentioned it to seemed surprised at the cost.

Blackbird2022

Okay, so I just got confirmation that our property is A3 rated because of its orientation.

lifewithabigspoon

If you dont mind me asking @Blackbird2022 what is your house orientation. Ours will be East-facing

Blackbird2022

Hey @lifewithabigspoon no problem, so the front of our house will be south-facing.

ultracrepidarian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799589#Comment_119799589

Our solicitor said the fees were on the pricier side but because they include bin collection they were reasonable. The fees also include landscaping and maintenance of the development.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800580#Comment_119800580

Interesting, it must be to do with the large glazed areas at the back of the house. I wonder if you have any recourse for them not reaching A2 on your house?

tnegun

Surely the onus is on the developer to get it to A2? Your solicitor should also refuse to accept it and the bank could have an issue too as the house isn't technically compliant.