Repudiation Notice

fella1977

I bought an apartment off plans in early 2007. It was supposed to be originally finished in Aug 2008 but the original contract gave the developer until May 2009 to complete. After hearing nothing until April 2009, 2 weeks before the end of the contract, i received the completion certificate. After viewing the apartment it was clearly not ready but we were advised by our solicitor to snag anyway as we would be in breach of contract if we didnt.

My solicitor sent a letter to the developer saying that we did not accept the validity of the completion notice. This was supported by a letter from the company who did the snag and also loads of photos which clearly showed that the apartment and common areas were not complete.

The developer never responded to our claim and just told us that our snag was complete. We have now received a Repudiation Notice saying that if we do not close the sale within 7 days, the apartment will be placed back on the market and the developer will sue us for the difference in price between purchase price and whatever they can get. I suspect this difference will be in the region of approx €200k plus based on the current valuation.

We therefore have 2 choices: Either we talk to the developer and renegotiate the price or we stand our ground and the case may eventually go to court where they attempt to sue us.

Has anything similar happened to anyone and do you think if we do not close the sale, that the case would go to court?

D3PO

what a sham stand your ground infact id suggest countersueing him

The_Conductor

You did everything to the book- you snagged on schedule and kept your end of the bargain. You have photographic and documentary proof that the property was not completed as contracted (confirm this with your solicitor). If I were in your position I would instruct my solicitor to respond to the repudiation notice- and make a working assumption that you will eventually end up in court.

Its highly probable that the developer is acting under the direction of his/her financial institution- and as such, it is a reasonable assumption that wholly aside from your interactions with them- the financial aspect of the contract may be outside of their hands.

Its a reasonable assumption that you will ultimately end up in court- however given the manner you did everything by the book, and the manner in which you have documented everything- I would be quite surprised if you didn't come out the better of this.......

The_Conductor

D3PO wrote: »

what a sham stand your ground infact id suggest countersueing him

On what grounds? Its contract law- nothing more, nothing less. The legalities are reasonably cut and dry.

gurramok

Crazy stuff, the law needs strengthening for the buyer.

Maybe go to the media or get a TD to pick up your case? You are probably not the only one affected, get video evidence as well.

Read your contract and consult your solicitor before taking the above advice

havana

Stand your ground. Tell them you are willing to complete once apartment completed. Is your bank still willing to lend you the funds needed? I was sent a repudiation notice but was unable to complete due to bank reducing valuation. I negotiated and after a pretty stressful saga i'm just about to close for 120k less than i had originally signed for.

D3PO

smccarrick wrote: »

On what grounds? Its contract law- nothing more, nothing less. The legalities are reasonably cut and dry.

Im not a solicitor so I couldnt say but Im sure there are grounds for countersuing for loss of interest on the deposit provided given the conpletion date was missed and so on so forth.

all im saying is id stick it to anybody whos trying to bully me into a corner.

antoinolachtnai

There was a case in the news recently where deposits were lost. It was similar to your case, at least insofar as that the deposits had been held for longer than 24 months and therefore were not covered by homebond.

Did you go back to check that the snag was not complete when they said it was?

I'd say the developer would have completed your development if he'd had the money to do so, and then forced you to close. He doesn't have any money, so he hasn't.

You obviously need legal advice for your specific situation, but I would be very careful about handing over any money whatsoever if the solvency of the developer and his ability to complete the development is not certain.

I wouldn't waste a lot of money on trying to recover your deposit either. But you need to talk to the solicitor.

fella1977

Since posting the article, I have spoken to another solicitor and a barrister to get some impartial advice.

They both indicated that our claim that the apartment was not complete when the completion notice was issued is shaky and if it ended up in court, both thought we would lose.

In saying that, they thought I should stand my ground and wait to see what their response is when our solicitor writes to them saying that we are not going to negotiate the price and are sticking to our stance that the completion notice was issued early.

They said that the letter from the developer is the first serious threat and they have to appear very heavy handed. They said the developer might come back to try again for a deal. They said the developer is entitled to take us to court but that if it went to court would take approx 18 months. In that time frame, he might well have gone bust or may decide it is not worth going to court as we have no assets and or money for him to sue us for.

They said there is no black or white answer and there are lots of these threatening letters being sent but none getting to court yet and in most cases some settlement is made.

What are your thoughts on the chances of this actually ending up in court or any other advice?

Just another couple of points to make. The development in question is 6 blocks but the last block is not being finished. The developer has another development in the city where they slashed the price by 30% on 1,2 and 3 bed apartments.

Thanks

jonnycakes

this all happened over a year ago.have you had any settlement with the issue like get your money back or sue the developer?id say a lot of people are in the same boat at the mo.anybody else have similar experiences?you should contact a newspaper - theyd lap it up

Victor

jonnycakes wrote: »

this all happened over a year ago.have you had any settlement with the issue like get your money back or sue the developer?id say a lot of people are in the same boat at the mo.anybody else have similar experiences?you should contact a newspaper - theyd lap it up

Is that you Marla Singer?

Its generally not the done thing to drag up old threads like this. Is for the original poster to comment, not for you to ask.