Advice on Contract

Hi All

I need all your wisdom in this will try and keep it brief and to the point
I bought a new build Contracts Signed and deposit handed over. Solicitor put in a 9 month building Clause plus a clause Subject to loan offer being renewed as offer ran out in April and house would not finish till june. The builders Solicitors would not agree and My Solicitor was not agreed to remove it as i was getting suspicious of him at this time and said it to her and she said that she would not agree to delete the Special Condition The Builder went in to liquidation and my Solicitor Asked for my deposit back as we would not be buying the house. She received a letter from then confirming that they had the money in Trust but no sign of them handing them back. The Liquidator wanted me to continue with the build but i said no as i do not know when it would be finished and my bank said they would not give the loan for it . Now according to my Solicitor she is adamant that no Contracts were exchanged as it was still subject to Condition but the Liquidator says he has to wait until the bank that has the charge on the property gives him the ok to ask the builders Solicitor to release it. Does anyone know how long this will take and if the Contract was not binding why should he have a hold on my money. Any Advice on what to do would be welcome . The Liquidator say sit should be fine but he has to cover his back with the bank , i am waiting a week to hear back from him, there was a few more dodgy things going on with the builder that i won;t get into unless i have to

God i am getting worried now, anyone with any input out there . All replies gratefully received . Thanks

if the money is in trust and no contracts were signed I don't see the problem. In legal land a week is nothing. Everything is done by letter. If no response is received after a few weeks a follow up letter is sent. It's pretty tedious.

Thanks tenchi-fan for the reply but contacts were signed but they were still subject to loan offer and a 9 month completion date . The builders Solicitor would not agree to it but my Solicitor was not agreed to it being removed.

update on advice on contract

Hi all just an update on my previous thread . After hounding the liquidator he finally said that there were no binding contracts and is instructing the builders solicitor to release my deposit only problem is that the building agreement was with the builders company in liquidation and the contract is in a different company which is solvent so he has only authority to release half of the money , but he says that if he can't see a binding contract he can't see how the bank (who have the authority to instruct the builders solicitor to release it) can see a binding contract. My solicitor is hopping mad as she says that if should never have been brought to the attention of the liquidator in the first place as contacts were not exchanged all the letters up and after the date we pulled out were subject to contract/contract denied and the paragraph that accompanies it. She says that if the builders solicitors do not return our full deposit by Wednesday next she is instructing a barrister to begin legal proceedings against them with full costs to them . I don't know whether to go in to the said bank myself tomorrow and plead with them to instruct the builders solicitors to release my money or leave my solicitor sue them . They have treated her abysmally not returning her calls and treating her like an office junior , they are a huge firm and she works for herself but is very good. As i am buying a different house i don't want it to drag out will i approach the bank or let my solicitor sue them any advice appreciated

Hi all well i got all my money back they had a deadline of Wednesday to return the money or we were bringing legal proceedings against them and lo and behold the money came back wednesday. They should have never brought it to the attention of the Liquidator in the first place as the Contracts were not exchanged . I am now buying another house that is fully built just needs the inside fitted out, would never advise anyone to buy a House off plans and if you do make sure you make your Contract subject to Mortgage approval or Subject to anything . Protect yourself as much as you can because they are all out to rip you off By the way my Solicitor was brilliant would highly recommend her she saved my bacon

glad you got things sorted!

when things started going pear shaped the contracts started getting tighter and more in favour of developers. God help anyone legally obliged to buy an overpriced, poorly built house. Your solicitor earned her fee! I cannot understand how a solicitor would let someone sign a contract without that get out clause.

Almost as bad... how did so many unmarried couples buy houses with no form of pre-nup style agreement in place! Did the solicitor not realise that all parties should get independent advice?

I advised any of my friends who bought with a partner to sign (or at least outline) a co-ownership agreement. Reactions ranged from humour to great offence. None of them ever seriously considered it. I was not dealing professionally with any house sales (that's not my area) but I know that many solicitors did (and do) advise a co-ownership agreement but were/are blithely ignored. You even see threads on here giving out to people who *do* want to do a co-ownership agreement, saying that it's "unromantic" and the like. Madness.

There's only so much anyone can do to advise people who persist in ignoring such advice, do whatever they want to do regardless, and then seek to blame someone else when things go wrong. Solicitors (or anyone else) cannot stop people from doing things they are hell bent on doing.

This is not in any way related to OP (I'm v glad it worked out for you OP), but just a general comment on the fact that people really should listen to expert advice when they get it and, if they don't take it, take responsibility for the consequences.

yep, people are never as unromantic as when they're 100k in negative equity, lose their jobs and discover they're too young to be in such a situation!