Builder says she'll force closure

N

noobie99

Registered User
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Folks,

Can someone help me out here with shared experience.

A little history:

New house purchase in an estate, builder says get engineer in as house is ready for snag. Engineer arrives but theres no cold water storage tank, however he does snaglist and says more may be added when checked after water is connected.

I checked the house out a few days later, still no cold water storage and some paid for extras not installed. Snag list grew and builder whinged.

Engineer called back for 'final' snag. About half items were completed. Another visit was scheduled (at my further expense) for Yesterday (thursday) but my engineer had to cry off and will revisit on wednesday next.

Builder says this is unacceptable and that she will be instructing their solicitor to force the closure.

Outstanding items are mostly not serious but there are ~80 of them.

Is the builder able to force closure? I'm waiting on my solictor to respond but would like to know if it's sabre rattling or what.

Many thanks,

N.
 
Hello,


most times, your solicitor would advise that closure does not happen until you are happy with the house, the builder does not have the power to push the sale through, assuming that the contracts have been signed, you are well within your rights to make sure that the house is in good state of repair, dont forget that you are paying a lot of money for this house, and now is the time to make sure that the house is right.

I has a simular situation when we went through the process a few years ago, and the solicitor would not let us close until we were happy with it.

Keep up the fight, and dont let them bully you.
 
Hi Cathy - Doesn't the standard Law Society contract for purchase give all the power to the solicitor who can indeed insist on closure within a 28 day period and start charging interest subsequently?
 
Thanks for the replys folks.

My solicitor says the builder can force closure if I take forever to close. He didn't elaborate on what forever meant though.

BTW Rainyday, the 28 days you mention is from when? And is it 28 working days?

Dates:
First Snag: 6th March - No cold water storage so snag not exhaustive. Informed my solicitor afterwards
'Final' Snag: 21st March - still ~80 items outstanding though a lot had been done.
Proposed new Final Snag: 30th March but engineer couldn't make it
Updated new final snag: 5th April but builder wants to close beforehand.

Cheers,

N.
 
noobie99 said:
BTW Rainyday, the 28 days you mention is from when? And is it 28 working days?
Click to expand...
Sorry - dunno the exact details - talk to your solicitor
 
Can you withold a couple of thousand € until all the snagging is done? Or as I did, close the sale, asked the builder to finish off the snags, when he didn't in two years (He was still on site) I issued legal proceedings against him. Keep detailed records/comments/dates etc just in case.
Have you spoken to other purchasers, what is their experience? Form pressure group.....
 
The usual clause in a building agreement is that you must give notice of the snags within 7 days of being asked to close. If the snags are minor and the builder undertakes to deal with them after closing, you cannot delay closing for that reason. IF they are major, the builder must rectify them, and then give you another closing date, at which point you have another 7 days to snag. If there is a dispute as to what is minor and what is major, you have a right to arbitratration. However that is only the standard building agreement- the Law Society and CFI approved version- it is possible YOUR building agreement deviates from this, so you will have to take your solicitors advice.
 
What issues are left on the snag list- generally? If they are minor maybe its costing you more not closing than it would to finish yourself. Photo and document everything the day you move in if you need to in the future maybe you can go down the legal root. Deduct the cost of extras not completed. Good luck!
 
Thanks for all the replys folks.

I've not heard from the builder since last Friday and the last comms I had was me sending an exmail telling her that the snagger would be out on Wednesday.

With regard to outstanding items there are a lot to do with chipped wooden window frames - more like gouges that are just been varnished over rather than fileed, sanded and varnished. The major items are that there was no extractor in undersatirs toliet and that the toilet bowl is actually 6 or 7 inches too near the wall to qualify as a wheelchair accessible toilet. (TBH I think this will be too much effort to solve as the sewage pipe is obviously in the wrong place.) Overall finish in the house is good but the builders representative is a B. and everything is someone elses fault.

I'll keep ye posted,

N.
 
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