Closing of sale on a House

nsnoefc1878

I paid the deposit on a house in May 07 and they have until mid November 08 to finish it or I am due my money back and now they are trying to get me to close on it despite the site being a total disgrace and basically dangerous and really unliveable. Is anyone else in this situation? I am willing to fight this tooth and nail as when spending such vast amounts of money you should expect and demand top service. I don’t believe developers should be allowed to get away with this type of behaviour as if you bought a €5 bowl of soup in a restaurant and it was not right you would hand it back so when spending 100's of thousands of Euros you should demand even more. I also feel the law is not protective enough of buyers in this regard and favours the developers far too much.

bmaxi

Are you talking about a one off house or a housing estate? Basically, before you close a sale you should have a surveyor or other competent person compile a snag list which the builder will have to address before the sale is closed. In this you should include any problems you have with the house or site. Are you using a solicitor?

nsnoefc1878

It is a one off house on a site, but I think I may be the only person to have bought on it and the site is a god awful mess. I am using a solicitor and am getting an architect to do a report on it hopefully next week. in my opinion the site is totally unlivable, my house may be 80 or 90% complete but you really couldnt live there. They are trying to get me to close as the 18 month limit they had from when I paid the deposit is up in 2 and a half weeks.

bmaxi

You need to talk to your solicitor. You are paying him to represent your interests and no solicitor worth his salt will sign off under the conditions you describe. Any advice you may get here will only be general whereas your solicitor should be familiar with the specifics of your case.

nsnoefc1878

Cheers, I am speaking with my solicitor at present, just wanted to check if there was anyone else in the same situation...misery loves company and all that

daheff

i'd guess they are trying to complete the sale with you as you probably paid way more last year than they could ever hope to get now if you pulled out.
Because the contract gave 18mths to complete, the builder is (imo) thinking that you will use this clause to exit the contract...and hes going to lose thousands if you pull out.

nsnoefc1878

I agree with you, but to me this is not about my deposit now, i have given up ever seeing this again. If they havent finsihed the house and site by the close date i should be out of it and dont care if I get the deposit back or not but no way am i going to live in a house on what looks like a warzone, that may never be finished effectively making my house worthless. you would accept a €5 bowl of soup if it wasnt right so how these people expect me to accept this house in its current state after having 18 months to get the job done is beyond me

EKRIUQ

What does your solicitor have to say about this? their the ones controlling the money

nsnoefc1878

He asked me if I want to negotiate on price which I dont. I just want out now and would gladly frogo my deposit if it meant ridding myself of all this and the builder not trying to come after me for the contracted price. I have told my solicitor I will fight this now as i wont close even if my house is finsihed but all around it is a total disaster with other houses with barely the foundations built, its like a scene from afghanastan or vitinam during the war.
I have an architect going up next week to assess the place and his report will tell alot and if it goes to court then he will have to act as expert witness. Its a joke really, how they can have the neck to call me to close on a house ion a site in such a state. I dont believe alot of it will ever be finished especially if they go bankrupt.