Parsons Court, Newcastle, Co Dub: No sign of the builder returning signed contracts!

Hi - Have a deposit down on a house in Parsons - could anyone update me on how things have gone over the past few months, see some comments that really worry me!!!!! PLEASE

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.

Hi Parsons3369, We had put our deposit down in November/December for Parsons and only signed contracts yesterday!!! We had the exact problems as Dub25, our solictor was very nervous about us not having the homebond and insisted we waited for it to come through. After that had falling through they eventually got the ok from some nothern irish crowd which made our solictor even more nervous, He said he had never heard of them and was really cautious about the whole thing!! We had surveys and all sorts of test carried out on the house ourself which cost a few quid but finally after 6months we and our solictor were happy to sign our contracts. we fell in love with these homes and the estate, and searching through this thread we became to relise our soon to be neighbours felt the same and put as much energy in their houses as we have ours. I like you found this thread and it terrified me, but we still could not agree to anything else that we liked and we always kept going back to Parsons.you will probably be left waiting for a few months and probably only have a few hairs left on your head and with every bit of good news they have for you they will prob follow with some bad news but if you thing it's worth it go for it.

Hi Babycake1987,

I signed my contract last week ,handing over the full 10 % of the purchase price.Only today the receiver communicated through their own solictor that the house was to be signed for as is and no snags were to be carried out other than major defects.What that means I don't know.If they do not fix up the house to my satisfaction I told them I would walk.Then I spoke to another guy who's friend pulled out of the deal as the final cheque was being passed.When the cheque is drawn down the title arrived with a report stating the foundations contained 1 % pyrite in the infill aggregate .His structural engineer informed him that 1.1 % was enough to have the house falling down around him.This report was only suppled with the title deeds and not with the contracts.The bond company from Northern Ireland said latent structural defects due to this 1% pyrite concentration would under no circumstances be covered.Repair bills could be very big if you were to wait for small cracks to settle and and hopefully be normal settlement cracks and the problem to go away.By that time they could be major structural defects costing €1000's of Euro.He was offered another house that had a slightly less concentration of the mineral but said no and his solicitor sent back the title and cheque to the bank.He signed his initial contract over 14 months ago!!!!.This guy made every excuse for these houses as they are beautiful & appear well finished on the surface .What will happen with this house for example.Will the receiver fix it at considerable cost or hope it doesn't get that bad and wait .In the mean while sell it on and wash their hands and some unsuspecting poor couple be potentially lumbered with hugh repair bills in the future .If this is the case with my house I will have wasted allot of time hoping these too good to be true houses were simpley in fact not true.In fact even after all this I'm hoping my house report shows an acceptable level of pyrite so I can move in to this fantastic big house but it looks like the game is up unless I want potential hugh repair bills and to be never able to sell it.The Parsons Court drug effect and cycle must be broken.Sad though.

Hi Newsasbound,
We signed contracts two weeks ago, pretty worried that our deeds will arrive with similiar report and wondering what to do if this does happen!! Anyone got any advice?

Hi All,
I also have a deposit down and I am quite concerned about all I am reading relating to the Pyrite Issue. I have read that due to the geology in this country, pyrite takes effect between 18 months and 5 years after foundations are laid. I had a wander around the development the other day and I don't know how significant it is but, there seems to be a crack going through the centre of the sitting room floor in no. 46. I wonder can somebody tell me why there are only 6 houses occupied out of 16 even though they are built over 3 years? If anyone knows of anything can you please PM me or if you are meeting up at any point, please let me know. I have not got to contract stage yet but I am making sure we do everything we can before signing.

Hi folks,
I spoke with my solicitor today & BakerTilly. On the block of houses i'm buying in, there is 'little to no risk' of damage due to pyrite, Baker Tilly sent me on the report that was carried out on the estate in Dec regarding the pyrite issue.
We are due to close this or next week and we still intend to unless our solicitor receives something contradictory to the above. Feel free to PM me.

hi,
just a really quick post - Hurley Ive a feeling your buying in our block - Im one of the two that moved in before Christmas, we had the name of the quarry used and it is not the quarry in North Dublin / Meath that was used for the estate with the current problems. the content of pyrite in the materials actually effecting properties is extremely rare! |The biggest instance in this is the situation in North Dublin. Think of all the thousands of houses that have been built over the last few years and there is one area that has been effected? We had engineers reports to satisfy the bank based on the certificates from the architect from the quarries used and they all came back with minimal risk. This situation has been blown out of all proportion by people with ulterior motives. I also want to make the point that at no point was there ever suspected pyrite here. - This was a speculation after structral tests had to be carried out to satisfy homebond. The word pyrite has been thrown about way too much and the following hysteria has ensued.
Any crack in our house was just a plaster crack and since painting nothings reappeared.
There are lots of reasons why there are only 6 houses lived in at the moment and I suppose the intial one is they were overpriced - Rumour has it someone paid over 600K? Dont know how true this is though. Then when the prices started to fall say late 2008 and early 2009 - someone did actually move in, it wasnt until they really started to comedown in Spring / Summer 2009 that the interest came, along with the problems. The owners of the site were in no way going to recoup their costs or realise the projected profits. They were unwilling to sell at the price recommended by the estate agents and everyone was in stalemate. This is why anyone who had signed contracts was not having them returned as the owners would not sign them off. For us this process wasted 4 months. When the bank heard of this and saw that ther was no way they were getting their money back - they appointed the receiver. Then more problems and again no one could move in until anyone who recieved their loan offer from EBS had the opportunity to buy without the initial cover of homebond and in lieu of that the architects indemnity was used. This allowed 2 of us to move in as we were with the ebs. Anyone not with them would have to have their loan offer renewed to have the conditions restated and this was a bit too much hassle for most people. Since then and since the issue of the insurance apparently people are resorting their loans and signing contracts and sorting snags, a couple more have moved in and apparently its only a matter of time before the place really starts filling up.

Well said Dub25. I'm on your block too And you're right - it has been a long road for anyone not borrowing their mortgage from EBS. We've really had the runaround especially with snags and now additional engineers reports to satisfy ourselves and our solicitor/bank (which is only right, considering how technical that report was, and how late it arrived). Nearly there though, with any luck. I'm satisfied with the structural integrity and snag completion now... all is in order. If we can just get signed up before my solicitor goes on annual leave we'll be laughing! One more document... just one more document to deliver before it's in the hands of the bank's risk assessors again and then...fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe you guys are in over 6 months and I'm still faffing around with paperwork!!! Delighted for you though... hope your house is now a home and you're all settled in!

Thanks Dub25, yep we're on your block. Hope to finally close this week..

Discussion of individual developments is not generally encouraged an AAM for a variety of reasons.

Not least in the case where there is an ongoing dispute posters are "showing their hand" to the other parties by posting in a public forum like this.

Please find another forum in which to continue your discussions.

aj
moderator

Dub25 said:

Hi Parsons3369, Dense poorly punctuated text is impossible to read.

Click to expand...

BABYCAKE1987 said:

Hi Parsons3369, Dense poorly punctuated text is impossible to read.

Click to expand...

Newcasbound said:

Hi Babycake1987, Dense poorly punctuated text is impossible to read.

Click to expand...

Hi AJ

Agreed. I am surprised this thread lasted so long.

Folks - please continue the conversation on

which is perfect for your needs.

Brendan