How f-***ked are we?

[Frazzled252]

We bought a Barratts David Wilson (BDW) five bed home in Bedford this year. It has turned out to be the home from hell, with sewage smells, gurgling and no ceiling or floor plumb.
BDW have admitted that they need to take the house back to brick to sort the issues, and that we will need to move out. That’s not okay with us as we bought a newbuild for the convenience. BDW have offered three months mortgage payments, but we don’t have a mortgage so have no idea what this cash goodwill would look like.
BDW have also offered to provide a cash settlement in lieu of fixing the house but then we’d have to pay ourselves to fix the house and would likely lose money.
We are also keen to move from the dystopian and apocalyptic looking area (Wixams). The issue is that the house was relatively cheap because it is in such a horrific area.
what options do we have?
is there anywhere in the south east that we can get a decent house for 800-900k?
TIA for replies

Has your solicitor advised and why are they not leadimg the negotiations?

Did you ignore the advice of your chartered surveyor before committing to purchase?

I appreciate that.

However, @Frazzled252 needs to give more details.

1 Does she NEED a 5-bed house?
2 Do they need access to trains or A roads/ motorways for work?
3 Does she have children so schools are a factor?
4 Are they able to get a mortgage because paying £800 K CASH is a pretty good buy so can she add to that with a mortgage and get into the £1M range?

What sort of house do you want ?
Is it non-estate? Country cottage?
Are you happy with living in a village?

How far around Bedford do you want to go?

Just saying south east is no good- that covers everywhere from Bedford down to the south coast.

Bedfordshire
Herts
Essex
Sussex
Surrey

The 100 year old house will likely still be standing in 300 years, whereas the 20 year old house might be there in 80 - or it might not. Building standards 100 years ago using traditional materials are a lot longer-lasting than modern building materials and building standards have been parlous since Thatcher repealed the Parker-Morris regulations on newbuilds in the 80s. And if you buy even older e.g. 16th century, that will still be there long after the 20 year old house is entirely forgotten.
Which I guess was not your point. True a much older house will have issues about maintenance, but it will have settled in its place and will have features in it that no modern house has - cornices and roses if you are lucky, too. And the most efficient window ever made as far as air circulation is the sash-window (also easily removable to put in large items of furniture!).

@Frazzled252 You did post before about the downsides of the house such as no downstairs shower room for an elderly parent who may need to stay.
You've never been happy with the house and it seems like it was a bad buy on all accounts.

If a downstairs shower room is a priority that should be top of your list. It depends how often the parent stays and if they cannot get upstairs at all - in which case you need a wet room downstairs or a bungalow.

You've lots to think about and it sounds a little as if you rushed into buying this house and didn't really think it all through.

Take the money, rent, and look around and make a list of your absolute must-haves.

I would do the buy back and look somewhere else. New builds sound like my worst nightmare but then I am obsessed with new build snagging vids on Instagram, no idea why!

I’ve just moved to Leighton buzzard and love it, bought a 1930s here. I also grew up here and it’s good for kids. There are new builds in one part but for your budget you could also get a great large old build in town that’s walkable to most amenities.

I agree with others, let them buy the house back, take the money and run. If you stay in the house, and have to fix a lot of the issues yourself, it's going to cost money. Even if all these issues are fixed, would you have to declare that these issues previously existed to a potential buyer, if you sold?! No one is going to want a house that's had massive issues, even if they're supposedly fixed. There's always doubt in the back of the mind, that those issues may reappear! If you have to rent for a few months, then do that, but get yourself out of owning the property. It will be a money-pit that you could potentially find hard to sell in the future.

Built shoddily (current thread a perfect example), usually little garden or parking. An utter blight on the landscape. Cannot imagine why anyone would want to live in one.

This

Can’t believe you are dithering about this. It’s a no brainer, get out, take money, rent, buy new house.

Take the money
Find a place to rent short/mid term term
Put money in a high interest account or invest it
On 800K you will make between 20 - 40K a year doing this - which is much more that a house would make in that time.
Then you can find the perfect house in your own time.

You are not fucked! In fact, you are in a perfect position to make money and buy an amazing house!

Why did you spend so much money on an area you obviously hate in the first place? With 800k you could have got an amazing house in a lovely location

What is if you want op? There must be something in your head. They have offered everything to you basically, plus a good will payment, I’m really not sure what else they can offer really?

They buy the house back, you invest the proceeds and use the interest to rent until you found one to buy.

Agree with this - if they are prepared to give you three months to move out plus a goodwill payment that would help cover additional rent after you moved out, if needed - then a lot of your costs are covered and you also leave an area you don't want to be in any more.

Don't accept their first offer.

I'd want an awful lot more than that.

Is it something the financial ombudsman can adjudicate on? They might force them to up the offer

Take the money and run. Just rent while you buy something. If you don’t have kids at school you can be anywhere

This.
Start looking for a house NOW. You may get a bargain because of the stagnant housing market.
Use a removals with a packing service and try to get BDW to pay for this. Put your stuff in storage and go into a small air bnb or go on holiday while the sale goes through.
That’s what I would do. I certainly would let them ‘fix’ the house or move into another of their properties. Clearly they are building crap houses.

What do you consider to be unreasonable about the offer?

Posters suggesting things like 'pay removal costs' or 'seek a payment reflective of the stamp duty paid' have fair points, but just saying "I'd want an awful lot more" is not that helpful.

The Financial Ombudsman deals with financial products and services; OP does not have such a product.

A conveyancing solicitor would not be invoked in this unless you had re appointed them (and paid them) specifically to deal.

no idea why you think they ignored a chartered surveyor?

Who said anything about a conveyancimg solicitor?

If a full structural survey was commissioned the issues should have been noted. If not there is redress against the surveyor.

Moral of the story: do not buy new builds they are very poor build quality and you will end up in a battle with the developers to make good the basically worthless 10 year builders warranty they give you. Invest in better building stock, pay builders to get the finish you want, don’t give Barrett’s homes your money. They are tasteless thieves.

Why do you assume she has a solicitor then?

You have no idea if she ignored the surveyor. Does suing the surveyor really seem like a practical solution when the house builder os offering a refund?!

More to the point you’ll have to declare any disputes with the developer when you sell, so if you create a giant kerfuffle and involve solicitors - all of this would need to be declared to a future buyer. Likely rendering the property a highly unattractive purchase to any buyers. Why would they buy a version of a home that hasn’t been built correctly, if they could have 10 others off the peg - all with their own (worthless) 10 year builders warranty. Ugh.

Because in the circs she'd be a twit not to.

It's for the op to answer the surveying question. Again, if there was no structural survey, she was a twit. A survey woukd have identified the issues, if it didn't there's more than one path for recourse.

Are you always so rude?