Contracts signed - how do I get out of house purchase without losing deposit?

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Ali2019

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Is it anyway possible or could anyone give me guidance on how I can pull out of a sale of a new build in a new estate (which hasn't commenced yet) without losing my deposit? long story short deposit paid 18 months ago contracts signed 12 months ago and builder still hasn't started to build. we were told it would be 9-12 months from contracts being signed. There is always an excuse, none of them valid, is now blaming council for delays however Council have confirmed there is no issue at their end. Rumour has it he has no funding to build the estate. Contractually the whole Estate is meant to be fully completed by this November, which is impossible at this point. He has 10% deposit for past 12 months from us and we can only assume all the other purchasers and we are starting to grow concerned. We have missed out on several other suitable homes while waiting for this house to be built, we sold our own house and are renting and completely fed up at this point. I know legally we cannot get out unless the builder agrees - does anyone have any advice on how you would go about doing this? I have spoken to Solicitor and he is concerned we may lose deposit & says we cant do anything until builder surpasses the agreed completion date. Has anyone been in this situation?
 
Your solicitor is best positioned to advise based on knowledge of the contracts signed. There may be options around non-performance on the developer's part if it's very likely they will miss the deadline. Perhaps a threat to seek further costs should they miss might encourage them to let you walk away.

What deadline or schedule is stated in the contract?
 
Are you in touch with the other buyers? Might be no harm in making contact with them.

It's possible that the builder might agree to return the deposits. There is no harm in asking. (But he has probably raised finance on the basis of having pre-sold the properties.)

But there probably isn't a lot you can do until November if that is the completion date in the contract.

Brendan
 
Are their any penalties around late completion? That said most builds are never on time. It would be rare to see it.

I know a couple of people who were in similar situations but around the time of the last crash.
One managed to get most of the deposit back but it dragged on for ages.
The other was happy to let the deposit go and not be dragged into having to complete when the builder was in trouble.

But back then deposits were a lot less.
 
Start by asking them. If that doesn’t work ask your solicitor. Some builders would be happy to let you go if they can get a higher price today than they did originally.
 
Leo said:
Your solicitor is best positioned to advise based on knowledge of the contracts signed. There may be options around non-performance on the developer's part if it's very likely they will miss the deadline. Perhaps a threat to seek further costs should they miss might encourage them to let you walk away.

What deadline or schedule is stated in the contract?
Click to expand...
The deadline is this November looking online it seems it’s unenforceable and would take a lengthy and expensive trip to the courts one which I wouldn’t want to take anyway
 
Given the way the market has moved, they might be only too happy to return your deposit and sell it to someone else for an extra 10%.
 
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