Paid for ‘additions ‘ for a new build but no longer want the house

[Whowherewhywhat]

We reserved a new build earlier in the week and paid £4000 for some extras. We have now found a better property, but the form we signed says monies not refundable. If the extras haven’t been ordered or delivered yet ( think wardrobe doors, some extra tiling etc), are the company legally obliged to refund , does anyone know the legal position?

Sticky. I would think it depends on what the build stage is and if you're buying the other property from the builder or going elsewhere. Always worth asking, but I can't believe there is no way to get out of it.

Thanks Mybaby, the internals are only at first fix stage, I guess the question is whether they have ordered them or not.....we would be going elsewhere, we’d alao have to lose £1000 deposit.....

You've got a contract with the builders. Uni sucks spect you may lose your money. Is the other house really worth losing 5 grand?

I have no idea how that corrected to uni sucks. It should read I suspect!

Is there no cooling off period when you put a deposit on a house?

On a new build that is

Didn’t you have to put any sort of deposit down to reserve it?
Seems very odd to spend 4 grand on extras for a house you haven’t actually bought yet

This happened to a house near us.. they couldn't get a mortgage or something but had had to pay for the extras.. which meant the person who then bought it didn't!
It's worth asking but I would imagine they are quite tough.
@iamagreyhoundhearmeroar nope you pay a reservation fee and then have to pay for extras by a certain point in the build. Before exchange often

Yes as ellesbelles says, we have paid a £1000 dep and £4000 extras.
I guess I was wondering if there’s any legal way out of it but suspect if we do change we’ll hsve to take the hit

You may be better off pleading to cancel the extras by saying you’ve worked out you can’t afford it now and would have to delay exchange and completion. Then wait to see if you get your money back before cancelling the whole contract. Bit dodgy but four grand is a lot of money.

Yes, that was the approach I was thinking of, try and cancel extras first, then cancel a week later, don’t like to be underhanded but there were things about the house that were different when we went see it at the build stage it was at hence why we’ve changed our minds

When we purchased our new build, we only had to pay £600 deposit for the extras and then the final £5000 balance was sorted at the end by our solicitor, perhaps it depends on the builder but it seems odd they have taken all that money up front, especially as if you lose the house, we noticed our builder just charged slightly extra for the plot emphasising extras had been put in?! Hopefully you will get some money back, is the other house with the same builder? I know when we lost ours as we couldn't exchange within the ridiculous timeframe we spoke with them and they reluctantly agreed to transfer our £1000 deposit...

Maybe try reposting in legal matters. I think that legally they can only keep any money to cover their losses (incl admin fees).