Advice on Buying house in Riverwood Square Carpenterstown Castleknock D15

juniper87

Panda488 wrote: »

Hi future neighbours

Myself and my partner have also bought in Riverwood Square. I have been on to the estate agent quite regularly to get some sort of estimate date and timeline if there are any delays. Last Thursday I received the response:
"Yesterday Castlethorn confirmed that they will be able to confirm expected completion dates and snagging dates in the coming days. We will update you as soon as we receive them."

They told us November for our home, with some moving in October and the last in December. They mentioned they don't seem to have any delays on their end, I guess until we know when the first few scheduled for this month will give the rest of us an idea of when we are due in. So far they just say "no major delays", Castlethorn also need to hit their target by the end of the year so it is in their best interest to have this all closed off by December! They mentioned they give approximately 1 months notice for when they expect to close.

If I do hear of anything else I will be sure to share and if anybody else can do the same it owuld be very much appreciative!

That's good to hear. They did tell us when we put down our initial deposit that it would be November for completion, but felt we had to take it with a grain of salt.

ohallod

Panda488 wrote: »

Hi future neighbours

Myself and my partner have also bought in Riverwood Square. I have been on to the estate agent quite regularly to get some sort of estimate date and timeline if there are any delays. Last Thursday I received the response:
"Yesterday Castlethorn confirmed that they will be able to confirm expected completion dates and snagging dates in the coming days. We will update you as soon as we receive them."

They told us November for our home, with some moving in October and the last in December. They mentioned they don't seem to have any delays on their end, I guess until we know when the first few scheduled for this month will give the rest of us an idea of when we are due in. So far they just say "no major delays", Castlethorn also need to hit their target by the end of the year so it is in their best interest to have this all closed off by December! They mentioned they give approximately 1 months notice for when they expect to close.

If I do hear of anything else I will be sure to share and if anybody else can do the same it owuld be very much appreciative!

Hi Panda488,

Thanks for sharing the update.
We were told when we paid our holding deposit on the launch day in May that our house would be ready to move into in October. It looks like they might have revised those plans. Was it someone in Leahy’s who was able to let you know about the month your specific property would be ready?
I seem to get more information about the estate through boards.ie than the estate agents and developers 🥺!!

Panda488

ohallod wrote: »

Hi Panda488,

Thanks for sharing the update.
We were told when we paid our holding deposit on the launch day in May that our house would be ready to move into in October. It looks like they might have revised those plans. Was it someone in Leahy’s who was able to let you know about the month your specific property would be ready?
I seem to get more information about the estate through boards.ie than the estate agents and developers ��!!

Hi ohallod,

Yes it was from Leahy Residential. I know before that the hold up was getting services to the homes and that perhaps caused the delay. I have been badgering them as I am under time pressure and my solicitor is also trying to get a date from Byrne Wallace too. Other than that it is near impossible to get any detail from Leahy! We also put a deposit down on the launch weekend and was told November. Afterwards I was continually told some time in November and no changes.

If I don't hear anything by tomorrow I will drop another line and see. Hopefully you will hear something by Friday and share the good news!

Mooneyg3

Hi Folks,

We received an email from them on Friday. We were originally told October. For anyone that might have missed it:

I am writing to you today to advise a further update in relation to the Completion date of your New Home. At the time of our launch, we advised our Sales Agents, Leahy Residential, of approximate completion dates of October – December 2019 (Depending on the location on site). This date was given in good faith and subject to the timely connection of third party utilities.



Presently, despite our ongoing endeavours, we are still waiting on the connection of third party services to Riverwood Square. We are in constant contact with the various Utility Companies and we do feel that progress will be made very shortly. In the interim, internal and external works are progressing very well on site and we will be in a position to further update you at the start of November.



Please note also that once the above referenced services are connected our architect will be required to submit the BCAR for your new home to the Local Authority, Fingal County Council who in turn will have 21 days to validate from the date of submission. While the BCAR is being reviewed and validated by Fingal County Council we will invite you to inspect your home and submit a snag list, which we will complete for you.

juniper87

FYI future Riverwood Square Residents, a Facebook group for residents here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/754875951621105

Panda488

Mooneyg3 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

We received an email from them on Friday. We were originally told October. For anyone that might have missed it:

I am writing to you today to advise a further update in relation to the Completion date of your New Home. At the time of our launch, we advised our Sales Agents, Leahy Residential, of approximate completion dates of October – December 2019 (Depending on the location on site). This date was given in good faith and subject to the timely connection of third party utilities.



Presently, despite our ongoing endeavours, we are still waiting on the connection of third party services to Riverwood Square. We are in constant contact with the various Utility Companies and we do feel that progress will be made very shortly. In the interim, internal and external works are progressing very well on site and we will be in a position to further update you at the start of November.



Please note also that once the above referenced services are connected our architect will be required to submit the BCAR for your new home to the Local Authority, Fingal County Council who in turn will have 21 days to validate from the date of submission. While the BCAR is being reviewed and validated by Fingal County Council we will invite you to inspect your home and submit a snag list, which we will complete for you.

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing this and yes received on Friday also. It sounds like its Irish Water that hold it up, most people I have spoken to who have bought a new home in the last year and waiting on services, it is generally Irish Water holding it up. Not to panic anybody, I know some people who were delayed up to 6 months because of services. This is of course not ideal and hopefully it is an honest reply that they feel the services will be soon and not just trying to appease everyone for now.

Any other update anybody hears of please do let me any the rest of us know.

Thank you!

Mooneyg3

Our solicitor mentioned Irish water as well, which I took with a pinch of salt. If true he said it's just a case of getting them out to test the water, not even connect it. But as you mentioned, they're impossible to get hold of.

Panda488

Hi all,

I have spoken to an estate agent friend about services delaying a home and she mentioned unfortunately this happens quite regularly. It is in the agents best interest to have it completed as they do not receive their commission until the sale closes and they do everything they can on their end to get it over the line.

Apparently it is both ESB & Irish Water who are the worst. They set a date to come out and then don't show up and you could be waiting a few more extra weeks for them to set another date.

It's been escalated to county councils and all but no changes have been made so we are all in the same boat, it's just unfortunate timing.

The only hopeful thing I can think of is it is close to year end so it's in their best interest to close this all off by December.

ohallod

Thanks everyone for these updates. It’s really useful to be privy to all of this information. Thanks also to the people/person who set up the Facebook page for residents. Great idea!

daymobrew

Panda488 wrote: »

Apparently it is both ESB & Irish Water who are the worst. They set a date to come out and then don't show up and you could be waiting a few more extra weeks for them to set another date.

It's been escalated to county councils and all but no changes have been made so we are all in the same boat, it's just unfortunate timing.

This is unacceptable behaviour from public utility organisations.

It might be worth talking to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. It covers water and electricity. It might be worth asking them for help or contacts.

It covers making sure that "Irish Water provides water services economically and efficiently"

There is developer info at: https://www.cru.ie/professional/water-2/connections/ and https://www.water.ie/connections/developer-services/ but I didn't see info about timelines but maybe someone will read it better than I did.

Mooneyg3

I've done a bit of digging on boards and contacted two people that had similar issues.

touch.boards.ie/thread/2057999284/1/#post110970360 - said it took 12-13 weeks for theirs to be resolved

touch.boards.ie/thread/2057993323/1/#post110593062 - said the latest they have heard is Nov 15th for completion - 5/6 months

Obviously every development is different, so hopefully the above are just the exception's to the rule.

beauf

I used to work in building and waiting an ages for services to be connected was normal. I remember on one job it took 4 visits by the gas People to get connected. Weeks between each visit. I doubt it has improved.

ohallod

I phoned Irish Water about 2 weeks ago to ask about the delay with connections. I was told that as I hadn’t made the connection application, I could not be updated. I explained that I am now the owner of a property affected by this delay, to no avail! She did tell me that it can take up to 16 weeks from when an application is lodged to connections being made!

Panda488

I have been in touch with Leahy and unfortunately they have not heard from Castlethorn yet, hopefully by next week some time they have some good news to send to everyone. I'm afraid to hope however given how poor everyone speaks about the services!

The show homes are now closed in case anyone is looking to do a drive by this weekend.

ohallod

Hi all,

I’ve just received an e-mail from Leahy Residential advising that there should be an update in the next two days. Hopefully there will be some progress at last!

- ohallod

Panda488

That's great!

The last I heard on Thursday was the only service left is Irish Water and it is currently being worked on. So yes fingers crossed from the email response you received this is true!

Do keep everyone posted

cilim75

Does anyone have any info on the apartments blocks that are almost completed ? Couldn't find anything ?

daymobrew

cilim75 wrote: »

Does anyone have any info on the apartments blocks that are almost completed ? Couldn't find anything ?

Did you call the estate agents, Leahy Residential?

Former Former

cilim75 wrote: »

Does anyone have any info on the apartments blocks that are almost completed ? Couldn't find anything ?

I think they're duplexes? I don't think the apartments have started yet