New detached house not so detached

[Gemmawashere]

Hello - I have been reading many a useful topic on here for ages and am now hoping somebody can help with my issue regarding boundaries etc.

We are about to sign for a new house - a persimmon detached house that was already built with wall and roof and is just having the insides finished.

The neighbours to each side have already moved in - perhaps 1 month ago max.

This is our first house so not very experienced with how it all goes - anyway, the first thing was - which we stupidly didnt realise, the house is detached but we don't have access to one of side of our house - I thought it was a bit strange that, whats the point in having a detached? anyway, it appears this is quite normal so no real issues. The wall that we can't have access to forms the boundary, and on further inspection our neighbour has bolted his gate to this wall, he has also bolted his back garden fence to this wall and also there is a plank of wood bolted to my house rear wall! (does that make sense) which helps support his fence, and then to make matters worse the 5 wall posts are completely into our garden and over the boundary so that his fence is nice and flush with our wall! and then the cheeky guy has put flags down which go under his fence and a couple of inches past the edge of our house and into our garden!

So then to the other side - the other neighbour, they have built a supporting wall around there garden so that they can have it flattened (the gardens have an incline) which is a good idea, she has built this wall on the boundary line so I suppose half of it is into our garden - not the end of the world and I dont think this is a relationship breaker, but then the fence built on top of the wall has its 4 or 5 posts into our garden and they are secured into concrete!

I wanted to get the garden flattened - got a friend round, he said it couldn't really be done as next doors fence posts would end up not in the ground - would have to build another supporting wall way into our garden (am aware we need to build a supporting wall anyway) when really I should be able to build right up to the boundary line (which technically I can't build right up to the line as her wall is half over anyway - and thats if we got the posts removed!)

Sounds straight forward - so I spoke to the rude sales office, they inform me that they gave permission to the neighbours for all this to be done whilst they were still the 'owners' of the house! and we can't do anything about it - other than not sign for the house (next week), but it really is our dream home :(

Has anybody any ideas?

Thanks
Gemma
(sorry its so long)

Gemma, you are going to lose a hell of a lot more money if you pursue this house , and gain a heap of aggro into the bargain.

It might seem like your dream house, but a) a land dispute will rapidly take the shine off, and b) as it's on a development it's unlikely to be unique. If it were an 19th century marble castle with a folly made of emeralds then you'd have to put up with the boundary quirks because you would never find another property like it. There will be other 3 bedroom houses, I promise.

I think you'd be making a huge mistake to buy this house now, tbh. Persimmon newbuilds aren't exactly innovative and unique, are they?

I rang the solicitor again - she said that she can't do anything at the minute because persimmon still own the land - so she can't act on my behalf as I haven't signed for it - SO, I said fine I will sign for it and then you can do something - SHE SAID - no, then you will have bought it as seen.... WTF?

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood: the solicitor you are paying to represent your interests is refusing to negotiate with Persimmon over the sudden encroachments on the land she is assisting you to purchase, on the grounds you've not yet purchased it? Why would you need a solicitor, if not to ensure you buy what you think you are buying, unencumbered? You're paying her, but she can't represent your interests in the negotiations over the purchase because you've not yet purchased? Huh?

OP, the line about attaching things to your detached house on behalf of the neighbours being common practice is a load of bollocks, ask them to provide photographic evidence of all these properties up and down the country, they've messed up and they know it.

Refuse to sign until it is corrected to your satisfaction, they want to sell the house to you. Other prospective buyers may well raise the same issues as you, particularly if they use independent solicitors. It will also be a hassle for Persimmon to re market the house.

Good luck with the solicitor tomorrow.

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I like this *

I like that one too Thatwas but I don't think it will solve Gemma's fence issue...

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Lol, I always worry about posting on a wrong thread. On the plus side it could have been a lot worse.

I would seriously be considering pulling out op.

What a fiasco and a complete nightmare. I am no expert but my opinion is that you are flogging a dead horse here.

You may resolve the problem with upset to your neighbours, expensive land dispute etc but it will take time and money and may well end up being a very hollow victory. Any removal or change to your neighbours new fences/boundaries will only cause some level of bad feeling for the future and even if you get a price drop and smaller land - you will always know you were diddled.

I would cut and run. It will hurt you now to do this. I have been there - having to use my head to turn down a much wanted and loved house but honestly - 2,5,10 years from now - you will be so glad you walked away.

I still sometimes think - oh what would it be like now if we had gone through and bought that house (I still have a soft sport for it) but I know it would have brought us nothing but hassle and stress and am glad we made other choices.

A few hundred pounds is all you stand to lose now. I totally get that is still hard earnt/saved money when buying a house but honestly - do you want to be sat in that house in 5 years time glad you saved a few hundred quid but permanently pissed off with boundary/neighbour issues/fall out???

Red flags all over this for me - I wouldnt be gutsy enough to persue and hope it turned out all ok.

I also think you should walk away OP, for all the reasons already given.

You will not regret walking away, you will regret living with those neighbours and all the money and stress it will cause you when you try to sell this link detached house with boundary disputes.

You must walk away - even if you 'win' your neighbours will hate you. And you don't want this.

Only benefit in talking to a solicitor would be to to get them to ensure Persimmon pay all your out of pocket expenses incurred so far as a result of them misrepresenting the sale of the plot. But even that's going to cost you money in fees. Best outcome would be for you to take some photos, pull out, tell them you want all the fees paid for, and that if they don't you'll be speaking to your local paper who have indicated they are interested in running a local interest piece.

The building manager - or whatever he's called - is either a liar or an idiot, or both.

Detached is detached.

If he's not heard of adverse possession that he's not someone to bother talking to. The issues here are legal. They are not what lazy, half-witted sub-contractors bodge.

Who is this solicitor actually working for? Are you sure you've instructed her and not Persimmon?

As someone who will never be able to afford to buy my own house so I know nothing about the process, I would be running away from this one as fast as my little legs could carry me.

Could you replicate this fence on the other side/rear, using the builder to erect it in same way (maybe even negotiate it as free given the angst) would you not gain whatever you have "lost" by having the posts and bolted to your wall or is it too late if adjacent plots are occupied. fwiw we own narrow strip land either side of ours and our fences/gate attach to neighbours' walls.

Cant understand why you just dint walk away from this property.
There are hundreds of new build shite to buy. I am. Not being snobby btw we have had a new build shite house in the past too.

My god i wouldn't be buying this house if i were you.

Common practice?

Common practice on the Planet Zog!

At this point, I think I'd just have laughed in his face and said "Your dodgy practice, but MY money" and walked away.

As so many others have said, I would walk away. Even if the fencing issues are rectified it will cause bad feeling as the neighbours will see it as being your fault.

The builders are taking the piss and hope you are naive enough to fall for their lies. There will be other houses!

Oooft some shocking behaviour going on! I do know that new build sales agents get very ansty about losing Sales, stick to your guns

I'd do the souk bargaining trick of walking away but threatening to sue for expenses due to their poor practice and I'd also be putting in a complaint about their solicitor. See if you get any action from Persimmon then!
When we bought our new build the developers put up just a wire boundary fence and we had to replace it if we wanted a better fence but at least we knew where our boundaries were.

How long have you been looking? It might be another house will come along that you like better. Have a quick look on rightmove and just see what's new on the market although if you are like me I was still doing that months after we bought our house! If you've been looking for years and this is the only one for you then I think you just have to buy it as it is.

Might always be worth talking to the neighbour, with the gate, about putting in a post. They might not mind and if you both get on P. case might get results.

As they are saying you are buying as seen and when you offered it was different, it might be worth trying to negotiate some sort of discount; if you do still want it. You are paying a new build premium so as soon as you buy this house it will go down in value (just like a new car) so it's worth trying to knock them down a bit.

You need to decide if these things are deal breakers and if they are tell P. this in a definite way. "If you do not so this, this and this we will not buy this house" type thing but you have to mean it.

Might be worth finding out where you stand for getting your deposit returned in full or partially as I get the impression it's loosing this money that is making you think you still need to buy this house. You could ask your current solicitor this as even though you are buying it as seen you are not going to be able to buy it is as YOU saw it when you made your deposit. Pin her down about this as this sort of question will make it look like your serious about these things being a problem and might to get P. to realise just how big a problem these things are to you.

This brings back memories! (Different problems but the same WTF moment). Hope you get it sorted

Run! Run like the wind! There are loads of new builds and loads of not so new builds without the stress and future problems of this one. I would never buy a house with next doors gate and fence nailed onto it! How will you ever sell it? RUN AWAY! Don't throw more money at it start saving up to try again :)