Read the link I put up. And this.
No borrower should ever not have a loan clause to drawdown. But there was a period of madness on this and purchasers signed all sorts. The Law Society should always have protected the purchaser, particularly against big developers.
- Has your mortgage interest rate changed?
- Has the value of the property changed? I'd be amazed it hasn't given the interest rate rises.
Yes, the interest rate has gone up three times since original LOI issued. Can't say re the property because we can't do final valuation.
When I signed six months ago, the house itself was ready to go (still is) with kitchen in and only flooring to go down. According to the agent completion date would be imminent, though the development contract had a (supposedly standard) 36 month timeframe for them to leave the site ( another phase planned so fair enough).
So I sold my PPR, confident I'd be good to go with all funds in place once the completion notice came in. But 'imminent' has turned into six months and now another six on the way, still with no explanation of cause of delay.
The condition of the site itself is still broadly the same as when we first viewed, except now pretty much abandoned with just a few lads wandering around scratching their arses, but worse, no one else has moved in to any of the other fully-built houses in the development either.
So basically red flags all around.
I personally suspect the developer is in trouble, maybe funding has dried up, build costs have risen out of control or somesuch, can only guess really since the agent just fobs me off with standard nonsense about waiting on utility connections etc. But utilities are not responsible for finishing out groundworks or half-built boundary walls.
So yes, the landscape has changed considerably since I signed for this new-build, and if I can find an out via that loan clause, you can bet I'd jump on it.
But my solicitor is straight as a die - pretty certain he won't let us invoke it because of that 36 month completion timeframe. Which has us rightly stuck if (when) developer goes bust.