thanks for your response,
Can I clarify what I think is happening here?
You've been unfortunate enough to have been caught in a nasty bankruptcy situation. The builder is gone and his bank are selling as owners of his business?
You have bought the site with a mortgage from, as it happens, the same bank. You have also drawn down the full mortgage although you have not paid over the full amount to the builder/bank ( as receiver)? ***100%correct***
You could have paid back a section of your mortgage to your bank so that the funds would not be sitting in your account costing you but you didn't. ***I'm sure you would advise your clients thus, my solicitor didn't advise me this was an option. Its clear to me now that this would have been a good move but I dont have the benefit of experience of conveying houses***
"Lets face it, this is the company who made the mistake of loaning money to a bad risk and now expect me to help compensate them."
I know this makes you cross but really legally there is no connection.***correct but the world isn't always run on strictly legal terms, if it was, I would have had my house by now given that the house was overdue three months before the builder went bankrupt. In the case of the bank, good customer service would often dictate that there isn't such a blatent shafting of a customer for what is small amount in terms of their overall loss but a large proportion of my net worth***
What your situation shows more than anything else is just how badly things can go wrong when they go wrong and how a consumer can end up in a horrible legally difficult situation. It is very unfortunate but had you ever sat down and thought " ok, imagine this all went pear -shaped - what could we do?" - this is pretty much the scenario you would have found yourself in. ***I dont think things have gone horribly wrong, I think I have been quite lucky in fact. I at least will still have a house, there are others who lost a lot more than me. However, I am making a case for how the so called ordinary joe will always come last while the housing market continues to be run the way it is. As for sitting down and foretelling this, I'm not sure I'm clear on what you mean***
You are entitled to some allowances for putting the house in a finished condition and I assume you have had an engineer look at the property and cost the works. It is not the banks fault that the builder went bankrupt and they have no obligation to you for any costs associated with the delays which are , unfortunately, the consequences of a commercial disaster. ***I think I have been quite clear that I am looking for no more from the bank than a house in the condition in which it should be handed over. Great institution that it is, they now no longer answer my calls or emails. Any allowances, as you put it, require me to take the bank to the circuit court requiring said fees as well as barrister fees and as you know, that will probably start in the region of 10k. 10k to spin the wheel***
Finally, I have great sympathy for my own clients in circumstances like this but as a long time practising solicitor, I have long since stopped accepting responsibility for these situations. Its unfortunate, you've been unfortunate but I'm not sure just what you think your solicitor should have /could have done for you? *** You have no idea what my solicitor did or didn't do for me, I don't think I have at any stage criticised my solicitor. However, your desire to blindly defend him/her is interesting***
My advice - take a deep breath, try and negotiate your way into your house at some discount - if you can- and then treat it as one of life's lessons. Some people sale through life - some get knock backs like this - all part of the rich tapestry..........Much of which ends up on my desk on a regular basis. ***Life isn't fair but as I said, I have a lot to be thankful for, however, it doesn't take away from the fact that it is outrageous that I would have to pay a small fortune to go to court becaues my own bank won't pay the utility bills or conect the utilites in the house they are selling me.***
Thanks again for your comments