Hi Parsons3369, where to start! Not sure if I'm the best one to talk to however I may be able to put your mind at ease somewhat! i haven't written on this forum in a long time but I check it every now and again to see if there are any movements. We put our booking deposit down this weekend last year. (I cant believe it that long now!) For a couple of months we were fobbed off with reasons about why our signed contracts were not returned. Eventually - in August it transpired that the building company had gone into liquidation. Quickly there was a receiver appointed ever since then hes been sorting things out. There were all sorts of problems and it seemed to be one obstacle after another. Including contracts having to be reissued and resigned. That took us up until that fateful day in November - (it was the day before the Henry incident!!) when we found out that the original Homebond guarantee was not covering the house since the receiver had been appointed. (massive money making racket on Homebonds part) The receiver had been aware of the situation for a couple of weeks but had been trying to resolve it in the background.This was going to be a huge problem for anyone getting a mortgage as it was part of our mortgage agreement. Homebond insisted on all sorts of engineering tests to be done on the foundations etc of a selection of houses and once the results were back (which would take 2 months) they would decide whether or not they would cover the houses. There was a mention of a pyrite test being done and once this got out word spread in a similar fashion to a game of chinese whispers and by the time we heard about it we were convinced that pyrite had been found! Once we got initial confirmation that the houses were clean we were offered, by the architects a certificate of indemnity and this would normally suffice for the banks if we were able to get our loan offers amended. We were lucky enough to be able to do this, as were two others and we moved in to our house on 22nd of December and had a really lovely first Christmas in our fabulous new home! Despite the naysayers thoughts the house is completely still standing and the area is fantastic. Since then we got a new guarantee on the house by an alternative company to Homebond - I cant think of the name of this and our home is covered until 2020.
As far as I know there is only one house left for sale and most of the others - I know of two anyway who are just waiting on loan offers, solicitor requests etc to be sorted before they get their keys.
Hopefully this helps you. Id love if you pm'd me and told me which house you're hoping for. Just wondering as well, are there more recent problems? As I said, once I moved in in December we aren't in the loop at all as to whats going on with the other purchasers so I'd love to know whats going on.