Builders sue buyers to complete contracts

Bronte said:
Just a thought, and it's a long shot, would you have any grounds against the solicitor that didn't point out the risks of what you were getting into. But then again it's buyer beware and personal responsibility to check what you are buying and how would you prove it in any case.
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I seriously doubt it , considering the things that people in power get away with in this country. AT the min I just want the apt saga sorted then I will worry about the solicitor element of it after.
 
I'm astonished at the naievity of so many people in this country. IMHO this was borne out of a greed to make easy money. Property was the easiest game in town and we were all so damn smart! This led to home owners being forced to compete with the amateur investor and while I have a small degree of sympathy what in gods name was wrong with renting? This post will be deleted if not edited immediately, 3 years ago it was blindingly obvious the end was near yet still people piled into property with both feet..... to this day I am astonished.
 
Does anyone know if any of the cases have actually been ruled on yet. I am in the same predicament where contract expires very shortly and have not received any completion notice yet. Also I imagine the valuation will be significantly lower than the original contract price I signed and therefore my mortgage will not be sufficient.
In addition, this apartment was sold to me as part of a complex with restaurant, shops and pub but given the market out there currently, I find it hard to believe that anyone will take up these leases and therefore there will be limited facilities in the area. Is it possible to pull out on this basis?
My solicitor did not mention any issues when I was signing the contract. I know of someone else who signed up to the same contract suing him for lack of duty of care but I think that one would be very difficult to prove.
 
I don't know of any cases that have been heard in open court yet. All the info is purely anecdotal.

You are in an unfortunate position. This is the kind of unforeseen set of circumstances that happens to people when bubbles burst.

You agreed to buy a house/apartment - to be a part of a complex. Most of the issues you mention are simply magnified by the recession - they are not in themselves a justifiable reason for not completing but then I assume you know that.

I am a practising solicitor - I say that as I am about to ask you why you you are hinting at the idea that perhaps you can apportion blame on your solicitor. If they should have anticipated these cataclysmic times do you think that perhaps you also might have done so?

Its not what you want to hear but better to say it now than for someone else to perhaps allow you to consider the option of suing a solicitor as the potion for your ills. Perhaps they are entirely to blame.


mf
 
Dublingirlie said:
In addition, this apartment was sold to me as part of a complex with restaurant, shops and pub but given the market out there currently, I find it hard to believe that anyone will take up these leases and therefore there will be limited facilities in the area. Is it possible to pull out on this basis?
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I don't know the answer to this but let's say you had purchased and all those facilities were in place it is entirely possible that they would currently be closing down due to lack of business.
 
The fact of the matter is that being strung along for three years meant you could not get money to buy. If the timeframe was two years, there would have been a far better chance to get a loan and purchase. Laragan are being virulent in chasing people through the courts. And the costs for the 'buyer' are huge. This is a disaster for many people.
 
I am being sued by Laragan even though Carrickmines took three years to complete and they know I can't get a penny. I see one or two apts there being offered - new - for around 300k. They were 440k when I bought. The absolutely frightening thing is that court action will cost me - and any of you in the same boat - 50 to 80k. Why can't people band together, use the one solicitor, barrister and stand up to this? Or does anyone have any idea of what is best to do? Is three years excessive? The excuses, by the way, were bad weather and too much rock.
 
carrickingup said:
I am being sued by Laragan even though Carrickmines took three years to complete and they know I can't get a penny. I see one or two apts there being offered - new - for around 300k. They were 440k when I bought. The absolutely frightening thing is that court action will cost me - and any of you in the same boat - 50 to 80k. Why can't people band together, use the one solicitor, barrister and stand up to this? Or does anyone have any idea of what is best to do? Is three years excessive? The excuses, by the way, were bad weather and too much rock.
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Can you clarify your post. Are you being sued to complete? Why can't you complete?
 
I dont see how a solicitor can be to blame ? People knew most of the risks and if they're saying otherwise then I find that hard to believe. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones ... our solicitor told us about the less obvious risks and we still wanted to go ahead with a purchase. Even at that point she managed to get some sort of protection built into the contract.

All that said, even with that protection its still been a nightmare trying to get a deposit back through the court system here. Some solicitors just delay and frustrat when they know they dont have a leg to stand on.

Someone mentioned earlier about getting money back from develepors and mentioned getting blood from a stone ...... surely deposits get paid into the vendors solicitors client account and should stay with them until a sale is completed ??
 
Not always - In my contract a condition states that the deposit is to be handed over to the Contractor (Builder) and is not to be kept by the Solictor. I think some of the threads here in this discussion are all related to the same Builder - so I expect this is the case for everyone who is bought off this builder - who has now gone into examinership this week -
So as an unsecured creditor - the deposit may be gone.

dtwhaler said:
Someone mentioned earlier about getting money back from develepors and mentioned getting blood from a stone ...... surely deposits get paid into the vendors solicitors client account and should stay with them until a sale is completed ??
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carrickingup said:
I am being sued by Laragan even though Carrickmines took three years to complete and they know I can't get a penny. I see one or two apts there being offered - new - for around 300k. They were 440k when I bought. The absolutely frightening thing is that court action will cost me - and any of you in the same boat - 50 to 80k. Why can't people band together, use the one solicitor, barrister and stand up to this? Or does anyone have any idea of what is best to do? Is three years excessive? The excuses, by the way, were bad weather and too much rock.
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I would definietlely think 3 years is excessive especially being in the same boat , different development and still not completed. These exact excuses were also used for milners square, so iwould say that is all they are.
 
dtwhaler said:
I dont see how a solicitor can be to blame ? People knew most of the risks and if they're saying otherwise then I find that hard to believe.

I would disagree on this as I thought I was just buying an apartment not buying into an absolute nightmare and was not told of any risks or such by solicitor.
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If these defendants have no monies available to complete and cannot obtain a mortgage etc, what are the builders hoping to gain by taking them to the High Court?

Blood and stones comes to mind.

Perhaps a solicitor would care to explain the rationale here?
 
I'm not a solicitor but it strikes me if a liquidator was called into a developer - it would be incumbent on them to bring in as much as they could and they couldn't be seen to have one rule for some and another rule for others.

Also, how does the Developer know for sure that the person cannot afford it ? Take them at their word ? Have them show the Developer a mortgage-refusal letter - the Developer wouldn't know what was sought etc etc.
 
If its not in the contract. How long can a developer take to complete something. 5 yrs, 10, 20?
 
Foxy, i have spoken to you about this previously in another thread & to be honest i feel you have agreat case at the moment!! Im not a solicitor but if i was to buy a pair of jeans/ furniture/ food i would expect it to be delivered in a timely fashion & this should be the case with buying a home. After all you could feasibly in your second home at this stage if laragans built your apartment on time!!

Developers are being generalised against beacause they are all the same, granted there are some exceptions but most of them have made there millions & are now screwing people for more money!

As foxy knows, i bought an apartment in carrickmines off the plans 3 years ago, when built they had overlooked putting a window in the bathroom which was on the plans. I refused to snag until this was complete. They told me that this was a mistake & there was not supposed to be on the building even though it was on both the brochure & my contract. Initially i was happy to move in if they had put the window in or offered a discount but they basically ignored all correspondants so once the 18 month contract was up I opted to pull out. This was again ignored. It has gotten to the stage where i have had a district court date scheduled a couple of weeks ago, we cancelled this on the notice that the developer was preparing an offer, this offer has not yet been recieved so we are now persuing a date in the circuit court!

The developer will now have to pay solicitor fees, barristor fees, interest & goodwill payments if i am successful in court when they could have still made the sale albeit for a 5,000 euro discount! All this due to their utter greed!
 
in that case the property is bonded, however this will drag on even longer!
The developer is one of the largest in the company & i would be delighted to see them have to close up after the trouble they have caused me over the last few years, i would not want anyone to experience what i have had to!!!
 
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