Major Problems with buying a home

L

Lor

Registered User
Messages
24
Hi All,

Myself and my bf are in the process of buying a new house, we are first time buyers. Basically we are buying and end of terrace house. When buying the house the sales guy told us we had a side entrance and a wall going down the side of the house as a boundary. We loved the house and decided to go for it. Went in and signed out contracts and everything was going great. I should add that we are actually buying from an investor and not the developer. We had our snag done last week and were told that the inside of the house was ready but the back garden wasnt yet complete. So we went out on Saturday just gone and the path that was going along the side of the house was dug up and even the shore that was there is now gone. Seemly we were never getting a side entrance in the first place, the sales agent made a mistake. It gets worse worse. The side of my house is just across from the back of another house. We are now being told that the other house's back garden comes right onto my house, in other words, their back wall is the side of my house, so if they are in their back and are kicking a ball against their back wall, they are kickin it against my house, so my house is there back wall!!! Now as annoyed as I was to hear that we didnt have a side entrance when we were infact told that we do, I can live with out a side entrance but I am not being the boundary for someone's garden. My BF rang the sales guy and said remember u told us we had a side entrance, he said yes, my bf said well we dont, so the sales guy looked into it and said sorry my mistake. He is now tellin us we can buy the other end of terrace house at the end of our row of 5 houses, which was seemly sold but is now back on the market, or his other idea which made me laugh, we can buy nbr the house we are in the process of buying, then buy another house and just sell nbr our house, as easy as that eh... Sorry u can prob sense the anger in this post. Thing is we signed our contracts so it tough sh1t, we cant get out of it... I rang the solicitor and she said there is nothin really that can b done, we are buying off an investor and if we pull out she can su us. Its just a mess. But the sales guy is saying that it wont b a problem to pull out of the contract. I really dont no as my solicitor is not being much help, i fell that she is on their side more that ours. I am really acxious to get this sorted as I have a placed booked in a creche for my daughter and if I dont have her in soon I will loose the place. Does anyone no if it is possible for us to pull out of the contract.
Really appreciate any feedback anyone has.

Cheers,
Lor
 
1. Where are plans and specifications? If you did not check them and the draft plan, or if it was alwasy unclear, then you have no comeback against anyone.
2. Sales guy has no responsibility for anything. You should not rely on his advice.
3. I suspect that your solicitor is telling you the plain unvarnished truth. Which is not at all the same as being on the other side.

Ask your solicitor if the Vendor will allow you to withdraw from the sale. If yes, problem solved. If no, then it is a very bad case of Caveat Emptor.

mf
 
Well to be honest he obviously does have some responsibility considering I have been advised that I can su him. If it is a case that I decide to pull out of my contract and the investor su's me, what can they su me for. I live with my parents, I have no assets and neither does my partner. Would you no what they can get from me?
 
Lor said:
Well to be honest he obviously does have some responsibility considering I have been advised that I can su him. If it is a case that I decide to pull out of my contract and the investor su's me, what can they su me for. I live with my parents, I have no assets and neither does my partner. Would you no what they can get from me?
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No, he has no responsibility. You have been advised incorrectly.

If you decide to pull out, and investor does not agree, at best you lose your deposit. At worst, they get a judgment against you and pursue you for all their losses.

Did you ever check the plans, specifications and draft plan before signing contracts?

mf
 
Did you get a brochure from the sales agent listing the property's features, ie side entrance, big side/back garden etc. Now I know that isn't indicative of a contract but it might help as if the sales agent was sellign the house on behalf of an investor then he was surely told the features by someone. Also, can you check the land registry to see about boundary walls etc. on deeds. You have to have some recourse.

Hope you get sorted
DR
 
Well we didnt pay a deposit so we loose nothing there. When we were signing the contracts the soliciter shows us the plans and said is this ur house we said yes and that was it. This is our first time doin this and didnt check the properly..
 
are you sure it was the building contracts you signed and not the mortgage papers, it seems unusual not to have a deposit taken at signing contracts stage?
 
Well what happened was because we were getting 100% mortgage and didnt have much savings they said they would ignore a deposit. As for a brochure we just go a general one for the full estate. I can honestly get over the side entrance but its the fact that my house is someone's back wall... I have a window upstairs at the side of my house, so if i open that it is straigh over their garden.
 
I dont see what the problem is... plenty of houses like that all over the world. If a kid bounces his ball of it, so what, its not like they will be doing it at 3am. I think you are suffering from buyers remorse and nerves.

Take a deep breath and enjoy your new home purchasing experience.
 
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From a planning point of view, it seems unlikely that permission was granted for a new development where the side wall of a house acts as the rear boundary wall for another house. Especially if as you say you have a window that opens onto their garden?? This would create overlooking and lose of privacy issues. I would check out the planning application drawings and see what was actually approved. It may well be that the developer has done something that was not approved - perhaps the side entrance and boundary wall are supposed to be there and they decided to remove them. It then becomes a planning enforcement issue.

I am just guessing at this here. It may of course be none of the above. But it is worth checking out the planning drawings at the local authority to see. I have experience of developers trying to force me to follow through with the sale of an apartment when what they were providing was significantly different to the plans -both the plans they issued us with and the compliance drawings kept by the planning authority.
 
slinky said:
I dont see what the problem is... plenty of houses like that all over the world. If a kid bounces his ball of it, so what, its not like they will be doing it at 3am. I think you are suffering from buyers remorse and nerves.

Take a deep breath and enjoy your new home purchasing experience.
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I doubt many people would like to have their side wall as someone else's backwall to be honest, I know I wouldnt! Especially if I was taking out a large mortgage for it.
What would havppen if your 100% mortgage fell thru? On purpose kinda thing.. All ofcourse if the seller doesnt agree to let you opt out.
Lor have you checked what documents you signed when you agreed to buy?
Also I was under the impression that a verbal agreement was binding i.e. the sales guy said a side entrance would be included etc, does the OP have grounds to opt out as what she was told is not what she is getting?
Also have you checked what the planning regulations are regarding your side wall being used as a backwall for someone elses house? Has the seller stuck to the letter of the law? This could also be an "out"
 
"Also I was under the impression that a verbal agreement was binding i.e. the sales guy said a side entrance would be included etc, does the OP have grounds to opt out as what she was told is not what she is getting?"

A verbal agreement relating to property is not worth the paper that it is not written on.

But is it not kind of clear that the OP did not do any kind of mapping/planning checks at all - so, if that is the case and the OP wants out because of their own negligence.......

mf
 
OP, when you viewed the house originally before agreeing to buy, what was there?
 
BountyHunter said:
Also I was under the impression that a verbal agreement was binding i.e. the sales guy said a side entrance would be included etc, does the OP have grounds to opt out as what she was told is not what she is getting?
"
Click to expand...

When i signed contracts recently there was a clause stating something like that any statements made by agents which weren't included in the contract were treated as withdrawn. Pretty sure the solicitor said this was a normal clause within contracts

When given any contract its best to take time to read it very carefully before signing anything especially when it relates to a house purchase contract. When you go to your solicitor to sign you then get them to explain in plain English anything which isn't clear or don't understand, after all that is what you are paying them to do. Get your contract out again and read it clearly and then go to your solicitors with your questions/problems.
 
Lor - Is the Solicitor your Solicitor as they are meant to go through all the matters before you sign. If they won't go though the matters what is the point in paying them. I agree with the other suggestions that you will have to go and inspect the drawings to see if what is built is allowed. The times we are in at the moment I am unable to see how the Investor that is selling you the House will allow you walk away easily. What part of the country is the property anyway ?
 
Hi All,

Thanks a mill for all of the replies. Just to ans some of the questions. When we first agreed to purchase this house, Yes there was a walkway down the side of the house, the purpose of this was for a side entrance. We got our snag done, this walkway was still there, we got a call to say the snag was nearly complete, we went out to the house and the walkway was gone. Everything that was down the side of the house was gone, IE, vents, shores etc... The fact that this was all in place originally only makes me think that at some stage there was a side entrace. I called the architect regarding the plans and he said there never was a side entrance or a side walkway and that yes, not only one but 2 back gardens will b ajoinnig onto my house... I no some of you think this is not a big deal but there could be a possibility of them putting the likes of rubbish at the side of my house. Basically my side wall is my property but it is in their back garden so if they want to put bins up against this there is nothin to stop them. A ball is just an eg. This is our first time doing all of this and yes we were stupid not to study the plans but we went on what we were told, I didnt realise we had to study it with a fine tooth comb.
We were out with the sales guy last nite looking at a different house as he seems to think he can get us out of this contract, I dont no his situation with this Investor, maybe there is some sort of deal going down, I dont no...
Unfortunatly she is not my solicitor, well it is my first time using her. She deals with alot of the sales for this estate so this is why I went with her, but in the long run this seems to b a big mistake. Seemly the investor hasnt even been out to the estate never mind the house, the sales guy said she just looked at the plans of the estate and basically picked a house, that she doesnt even no that wat she is selling to us is an end of terrace, she just no's its a 3 bed house.
Its balbriggan we are buying in. Another thing I am wondering is, if I was to change solicitor, would I have to pay her the full fee or just a percentage of it???

Thanks again for all of you advise!
Lor
 
Lor from another prespective the fact that you didn't pay a deposit may work in your favour. I would not like to be the seller of a property and have to sue a purchaser having no deposit to pay for going to court and the purchaser with no assets. But nobody can tell for sure if they will pursue you, you have a job and income so they may still go after you.
 
Plus the thing about that is and the sales guy said it himself. If she goes after us, I will go after him... Therefore that can only say that he will put major pressure of her to release us from the contract.
 
Buyer and Solicitor are at fault. Plans were not viewed before signing.
 
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