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)

I wouldn't give a monkeys about which side of the fence was nicer (never heard that someone had to offer the nicer side, either) but a smaller garden, problems with improving it, and someone embedding posts into the walls of a house causing it to vibrate... if none of that was what I signed up for, and none of it reflected in the purchase price, then I'd pull out, yes. All of it would annoy me, all of it would devalue the house, and you have no chance whatsoever of sorting it without causing bad feeling with the neighbours - and that can render a house unsaleable.

Netguru when you buy a house with telegraph poles etc in the garden, that's reflected in the purchase price. None of the alterations to Persimmon's property were known to or agreed by the OP, and therefore they've unilaterally altered the terms under which a price was originally agreed. You'd have to be rather daft/meek to just swallow that, IMO. New builds tend to be overpriced anyway, and major chains sell the same design over and over.

OP, why can't you use right to buy on a second hand property now? I thought it had been extended to cover those? I really do think it's a bad idea to go into a house purchase resenting the neighbours, feeling vulnerable to house damage, and with less land than you paid for, and less ability to create a nice and useable garden. They all impact your resale price.

OP I think it is not a bad idea to go for two fences if you do get a reduction and go ahead with this house.

I have two fences, the solicitor could not tell me who had responsibility for the fence, and the previous owners had each side put a fence up.

Maybe do a trial run to see what it would be like to live in, say a few hours where your dh open and closes the gate a few times and kicks a ball into the fence. If it doesn't bother you then great. If it does, you can have a rethink.

What is most worrying about your situation is that you're buying a property with no independent legal advice!! You don't know what you're doing and telling the developers to "sort it out" means nothing because you don't actually know what you are entitled to.

If you intend to continue with the purchase PLEASE instruct your own solicitor who will look after your interests alone and advise you on the boundary issues before you buy. If you don't get it right now, you're leaving the door wide open for problems in the future.

I speak from experience as I am a paralegal specialising in property litigation.

Thanks everyone for all the advice - sorry for a delay in responding but work has been busy.

We have been back to the address, I must admit that the company seem really keen to sort this.

For clarification - the posts come onto 'our' land by 6" on one side, and then on the other side the posts are 6" into our land again, but then due to this fence being on top of our neighbours retaining wall these posts are in large cement foundations within our land, this takes a further 6" at least - technically.

It has been explained to us that if we were to put our own fence up - and we were good neighbours and obeyed the boundaries, then the neighbours fence's would not effect the placing of our fence - presuming we put the posts next to and in-line with our neighbours posts, so none of our fence would be over the boundary but the neighbours post would still be fully over but due to the nature of the placements it wouldn't effect what we lose -
So we would lose around 6" each side due to our/there fence placement, they of course would lose no land at all and still have fences.
So - with this explained to us and our now independent builder confirming that they are 'technically' correct we were sort of happy - it makes sense, or at least I think I think it would actually be a little petty to make them take there fences down for just this reason.

Hey-ho a new problem comes along - my partner notices that the ground running alongside the back wall of our house is really wet - about a foot width of the soil is drenched for the full width of the house and on inspection the bricks in the wall have already gone black/green - with a few damp mushrooms growing. When we checked it had not rained for a good week and we have had the hottest days ever!

Our builder comes back - of course the issue might be worse by poor drainage etc but the main problem is the really steep incline of the garden towards the house - so it needs flattening to start with (gardens our the purchasers problem / responsibility)

But, we can't flatten for a few reasons - the cement foundations for our neighbours fence that are in our land would be ' floating' in there air so to speak. and then, to flatten we would have to build retaining walls along the side and the back of the garden - NOW due to our neighbours fence posts being on our land we would lose out, if these posts were not there we could build upto the boundary line with the brick wall as we should be entitled to do, but with the posts being were they are we lose out ( so unlike just putting a fence up - putting this required brick wall up would mean we lose out as a result of our neighbours posts being in our land)

It would seem we are destine not to buy this house

It really shouldn't be this much like hard work, sorry! If it's this much hassle at this stage, it seems like it'll be a long term headache.

Good luck Op, but if I were you, I'd definitely be pulling out.

If you can see drainage issues in July, you essentially have no usable garden. It'll be a quagmire, and likely full of slugs. So no point in attaching a washing line to the fence, or erecting a rotary airer. Or planting anything except a rice terrace.

There are rules about whether you can drain ground rainwater into the plumbed drains, it's not a given. Otherwise you could look into having French drains dug.

I could ask if the slope downward is toward your house or away from it, and whether runoff from neighbours can enter your garden, or your runoff can go to common land etc, but really it all sounds like you're being warned that the builders have not built your dream house. They've built an imposter. You can guess how interested they'll be in sorting out any snagging issues you find.

There are lots of examples of new build developments where after a year or so the development becomes almost worthless, as news of the many issues and lack of response from the builders becomes known.

Proceed with caution. Better yet, run away.

And the type of neighbour who allows their child to kick a ball against a shared wall- they don't sound like considerate people.

Also the fact that the builder's representatives don't treat you with basic redirect and instead claim black is white before you signed, while they should be wooing you- if you do go ahead, you must get everything they offer in writing, with specified timescales to complete.

(I've bought new builds and have never seen this nonsense.)

basic respect

The drainage thing would really concern me. And frankly I still disagree that it's acceptable to have encroached on your land on both sides of the garden to maximise the neighbours' gardens. If I were buying from you in the future this would be a concern.

Seeing damp problems like this when the weather is so hot and dry - particularly when the boundary problem prevents you from rectifying it effectively - is really not good. Please don't throw your money away on this house, I will be amazed if it holds its value.

Could you get them to put in a French drain to soak up water rather then levelling the garden?

God, it's so lucky you are spotting all this stuff now - this is why new build places like people to buy off plan!
These houses are built quickly to turn a profit and all sorts of corners get cut. Yes, you'll have a 10 year guarantee on the house, but if they can claim any issues caused by the garden are your problem, then who knows what they'll take responsibility for. You should not be having to fix things on a house that's just been built!
As others have said, Help To Buy is now available on second hand properties, so it is definitely time to move on and find your new dream home! Gutted for you that they've fucked you about

You would be fools to buy this house!

If you buy this house you will be stuck with it. It will be impossible to sell on as you will have a boundary dispute - you will end up
Insuring your future purchaser .
Please walk away now whilst you can
Seriously

Aside from the issues so far (which would have me running for the hills already), you haven't mentioned dc yet. Is this the house where you were going to start a family?
If you can't level out the garden (and aside from the inconvenience think £££) it won't be a child friendly garden at all.
You live and learn, let this one go, a new build should be move in, sit down - this sounds like move in, have years of negotiating with neighbours, spend £££ on the garden and live with builders in and out constantly.

The builder wants desperately to off load this house now as it's a duff one. Access issues, fences on wrong places and unusable garden and now damp ?!? The damp alone would have me pulling out now and demanding money back. The garden will end up a bog when it rains and damp walls mean you would never sell the house on easily .. Plus expense to fix

I agree with others, you would be absolutely mad to buy this house.

Honestly just walk away, tbh the boundary issues are nothing compared to the damp issue. We have had such a dry summer. If its all damp and wet near the house- imagine what it will be like in the middle if a winter!

You mentioned about the Help To Buy Scheme- surely you can still have help with another house?

You could have found another house by now :)

Take loads of photos/ video to prove all the issues- fences in your land, bolts on your wall, damp, growing mushrooms etc.

Then pull out and ask politely for all your costs back, show them photos etc and mention in passing that if you don't get your costs back you are willing to take this further.

At the end of the day they are asking you to sign for a house that isn't as described.

So they are misleading you.

And tbh I'd be very grateful for the boundary issues, if they weren't there you would have bought this house, you would then have been landed with a horrible damp house which would have cost a fortune to put right.

That damp issue is a massive NO . Don't buy this house.

I would personally never buy a new house because houses shift with age. More and more houses are being built on flood plains due to lack of building land. I'd rather buy a house that's at least ten years old so you can see how it's shifted with time. I've known of two new builds that have had to be underpinned because of movement in clay subsoil due to crappy building land.

"It has been explained to us..."

I still can't get my head around the fact you're taking legal advice from people who aren't acting solely for you!

I think you'd be nuts to buy this property but you seem determined to find a way forward despite what everybody on here is telling you. FGS go and see a solicitor before you go any further!

Clear evidence of build quality problems at this stage & problems with the boundaries should have you running for the hills.
What other problems will the house have once you've lived in it for a while if they haven't managed to do the basics such as not draining the land towards your foundations!
Pull out and demand your deposit back, if they make a fuss about returning it I'd be telling them I'd be taking them to small claims court to get it back.
This is clearly not what you put a deposit down on, this is not your problem it's theirs. The longer the process gets dragged out the longer it is until you can move on and find somewhere else.

The damp on the back wall in the middle of summer is a major, major issue. Yes it's rained quite a lot in the last 10 days but generally it's been a warm, dry summer. If it's that wet now imagine what it will be like in February if the winter is very wet like this year. Your garden will be unusable for a lot of the year even with a retaining wall - unless you spend a lot of money on drains it's going to be a quagmire.

I would def be pulling out, trying to get my costs back and then finding something else. Far too many red flags!

I agree with the others, time to walk away. There is always compromise to be made buyng a house but boundary issues and drainage issue evident during a spell of dry weather are things not to be touched with a barge pole .

We pulled out of the first house we were buying as our circumstances unexpectedly changed. I felt bad about it and lost money but it absolutely was the right thing. Even if you don't get your money back, looked at in overall a life time of house ownership it becomes pretty negotiable .

The damp issue is a massive deal breaker.

Walk away NOW.