Snags??? Is this right??

Sagat06

HI folks,

My parents are currently buying a property in Co Carlow, now the whole saga has dragged on for nearly a year now, but that not that half of it.

They have completed 2 snag lists so far the first had about 30 items to be repaired or completed, the second had about 20. Now they have received a letter from the vendors solicitor threatening to charge them an interest penalty as per the building agreement. Now we have gone up and had a sneaky peek at the house and its still miles away from being completed fully. Which means they will have to get another snag done at another €120. They have been promised several finishing periods rather than specific dates (covering their ass*s I suppose). Now my parents say that their solicitor never ran through the contract of sale (sign here here and here now pay me and get out). I just want to know are they caught between a rock and a hard place or do they have any legal comeback from any direction. The builder would be only too happy if my parents pulled out of the sale as the price of the house has gone up 20% since it all began.

Any ideas???

Tazz T

Interestingly, I was taking to my own solicitor yesterday about this. We snagged our house a couple of weeks ago after recieving a completion notice from the developers, yet the place was a mess, bathrooms not finished, broken doors, holes in the wall. I'm surprised you only had 20 or 30 items. Our list was 16 pages long and I wasn't at all happy about the workmanship.

However, it would appear that the law is really on the side of the developer here. Unless there is a 'major' snag ie, a crack in a supporting wall, hole in the roof, structural damage, then you have to complete or face interest charges, losing your deposit and the house being put back on the market. All other snags are 'minor' and cosmetic, including items you would think were major like broken doors, ie, if it doesn't prevent the house from being habitable, it's a 'minor' snag. All you can do is close and get an undertaking from the developer to do the work after completion.

Although actually getting that to occur after completion is a pain in the ass too.

TempestSabre

Same thing with my own house. I was doing my own snag though, but it took weeks and weeks and they never did everything on the list. Getting them back after we signed was nigh on impossible, though to be honest I wouldn't want them fixing anything they were so bad. Solicitor was useless. Basically I waited till they did everything I couldn't or wouldn't do and did the minor stuff myself. Until then I didn't sign or complete.

If your main aim is to make money then theres not much choice as you've already gained 20% less tax is you sell. But if you want a house without problems and don't intend doing any work yourself then it might be worth reconsidering.


You can be sure after you move in you'll discover a load of more stuff too.

bullrunner

WE had the same problem..we did our first snag and sent it to builder, our solicitor and the builders solicitor. A few days later my solicitor was given 10 days notice of a closing date. The builder hadnt finished the vast majority of the snag by the closing date, so our solicitor sent another list of unfinished items to the builders solicitor..politely suggesting that these should be fixed PRIOR to closing. 4 weeks AFTER!! the builders closing date the builder was finally finished the snag..and it took us another 8 days to close from there...

Sagat06, perhaps you should get your solicitor to send the builder a copy of whats unfinished on the snag list? They may not be aware of any snags outstanding....