Can I get a refund on my deposit on a house after contracts were signed by the Builde

Pip1989

Hey guys so I have bought a house in an estate being built by a builder but have heard a lot about flooding in the area and caves that were under the ground and could cause damage to you and make it hard to get insured on the house.

I have already signed contracts and paid my 10% deposit! Am I legally allowed get my deposit back if I decided to pull out of the house?

Victor

It would be rather difficult. One option would be to sell on the property.

However, do investigate the issues more thoroughly. Is there Homebond or some other protection involved?

mad m

Hmmm, signed contract! Have you talked to your solicitor?

The builder if he is decent may give it back but doesn’t have to, only thing to consider has the houses gone up in price since you signed?

myshirt

You have signed the contract, so no. If you pull out now, you lose your deposit. If you even ask, you risk the builder's solicitor immediately insisting on completion of the contract within the timeframe set down. If there is a sniff of to trying to delay it, or your bank/solicitor transfers funds late, frustrates the contract somehow, you are in deposit losing territory again.

It's a right mess. Get advice, but it does look like you will have to go ahead here.

cute geoge

What i would do if there is no chance of getting your deposit back is frustrate the builder/devoleper with engineer reports of the inferior site chances are he will get afraid of more buyers pulling the plug thus refund your deposit .In my book most of them developers are gangesters of the highest order and you will need to fight fire with fire

Mokeydope

cute geoge wrote: »

What i would do if there is no chance of getting your deposit back is frustrate the builder/devoleper with engineer reports of the inferior site chances are he will get afraid of more buyers pulling the plug thus refund your deposit .In my book most of them developers are gangesters of the highest order and you will need to fight fire with fire

Could be costly though and a headache

Surely this can be flipped in the current market

CeilingFly

Never believe local gossip without doing your own verifiable research. More than likely its utter bs. You can also read the planning file online and that gives plenty of info.
Usually you find "rumours" are spread by nimby locals who probably objected to the development

Tails142

If the bank get wind of flood risk you may be unable to get the mortgage/insure the property.

Also your own solicitor has a duty to the bank to prove good title etc, if you make him aware of the flood risk issue he may be unwilling to sign off on the title, tread carefully.

Is this in midleton by chance?

Liam McPoyle

Best bet is to ring an insurer like FBD or similar large one and ask them for a quote. All the big players will have access to flood mapping and geocoding and they will be able to tell you if the property is in a flood risk zone. Get that checked out then if it is indeed in a risk area, speak to your solicitor to see if there is any way of getting out of it.

CeilingFly

Tails142 wrote: »

If the bank get wind of flood risk you may be unable to get the mortgage/insure the property.

Also your own solicitor has a duty to the bank to prove good title etc, if you make him aware of the flood risk issue he may be unwilling to sign off on the title, tread carefully.

Is this in midleton by chance?

Banks don't go by local gossip.

And updated planning regs would mean highly unlikely for such scenario.

Even this thread shows the scaremongering bs that some purport to br "fact" with zero information.

For the op, go to council website, click planning and find the file. All engineer reports and tons of other info will be at your fingertips

Tails142

Just also worth noting that groundwater flooding in karst areas can be erratic and is difficult to model so insurance companies are sometimes not be wise to the issue though will generally always err on the side of caution. The route of groundwater flooding can also change over time as limestone caves collapse, new routes erode etc. and the flooding can occur kilometers from any river, look up polders for example.

Also, councils have zero clue on flooding and will swallow the report of any fly by night engineer that the developer can find, trust me on that. So don't assume that the council wouldn't have given planning permission for houses in a flood risk area.

lidijaw

sorry for asking on your thread. but i have similar question.
we paid deposit, but are thinking to cancel the sale. didn't sign contract yet so i know we will get deposit back.
but what is with solicitor? we didn't pay anything to him yet, but got his quote. will solicitor ask for some money for his job? ok if it is 100-200 euro, but i am worried it could be much more. anybody knows?
thank you!

CeilingFly

If a solicitor has done some work, then of course they have to be paid.

Same with anything.

It certainly won't be €100/€200 - most of the legal work is done before you sign.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

lidijaw wrote: »

sorry for asking on your thread. but i have similar question.
we paid deposit, but are thinking to cancel the sale. didn't sign contract yet so i know we will get deposit back.
but what is with solicitor? we didn't pay anything to him yet, but got his quote. will solicitor ask for some money for his job? ok if it is 100-200 euro, but i am worried it could be much more. anybody knows?
thank you!

We pulled out of a new build sale after our solicitor had processed the contracts. We hadn't signed them. She only charged us 100 but I definitely get the feeling she was being charitable to us.

mloc123

Most solicitors now will include a clause in the contracts along the lines of "subject to bank issuing funds" or similar... this will be your best option.

Bananaleaf

Tails142 wrote: »

If the bank get wind of flood risk you may be unable to get the mortgage/insure the property.

Also your own solicitor has a duty to the bank to prove good title etc, if you make him aware of the flood risk issue he may be unwilling to sign off on the title, tread carefully.

Is this in midleton by chance?

mloc123 wrote: »

Most solicitors now will include a clause in the contracts along the lines of "subject to bank issuing funds" or similar... this will be your best option.

Yep, this is what our solicitor added to our contract.

This basically means that once you've signed the contracts you can't get your 10% deposit back. UNLESS, the bank don't agree to issue the funds. The bank won't release funds if they think there is going to be a problem with the house, so as mloc123 says, this could be your avenue.

Find out the facts of the situation - someone with more knowlegde on the subject might know if it would be worth your while re-engaging with your structural surveyor or valuer.

Be honest with the bank about the situation if you find out there is a problem - they will refuse to pay out, but this is what you want. This way you will get your deposit back.

Best of luck

lordgoat

mloc123 wrote: »

Most solicitors now will include a clause in the contracts along the lines of "subject to bank issuing funds" or similar... this will be your best option.

Insisting on this quote was a life saver for us. If you have this OP you might be ok...

One option may be to let your approval lapse (> 6 months) and then tell the bank you are changing jobs / being made redundant when re applying for approval.

Best of luck.

CeilingFly

If people go about their lives believing every bit of local gossip / social media bull then they will live a life of utter misery.

The scaremongering on this thread alone is crazy.

No-one even knows the county or town of the house let alone the specific address, yet many seem to believe a "rumour"

To the op, check the planning files, check the history of the site but don't believe rumours based on nothing.

As above, you'll find that there were objections to the development and I'd place a bet that the rumours emanate from the objectors like they normally do.

the_pen_turner

lordgoat wrote: »

Insisting on this quote was a life saver for us. If you have this OP you might be ok...

One option may be to let your approval lapse (> 6 months) and then tell the bank you are changing jobs / being made redundant when re applying for approval.

Best of luck.

that would be fraud. and the builder would be entitled to sue for the value of the contract

GingerLily

lordgoat wrote: »

Insisting on this quote was a life saver for us. If you have this OP you might be ok...

Our builders refused to allow it, which almost made us change our mind, definitely a gamble.

We hope to drawdown this month.

Innervision

GingerLily wrote: »

Our builders refused to allow it, which almost made us change our mind, definitely a gamble.

We hope to drawdown this month.

Same for us. Luckily all went off without a hitch but it was definitely risky! Our solicitor said more and more builders are refusing to allow this clause.

conf101

GingerLily wrote: »

Our builders refused to allow it, which almost made us change our mind, definitely a gamble.

We hope to drawdown this month.

Was about to add this. Not all builders will allow this. Ours wouldn't.

It's definitely worth getting it put in if possible, but don't bank on it