Length of Reservation Period

JoS · 16th January 2009, 13:20

Hi,

I hope you can help. I'm having a problem buying a new house as the developer (antler) has a 28 day reservation period which they won't be flexible about.

I want a FirstDirect mortgage which has a lead time of up to 14 weeks (it's incredibly good value, so I'm prepared to wait the time it takes), so Antler won't let me reserve a house as the mortgage will take much longer than the 28 days they expect to exchange in.

This means they can't tell me how much they want for the house - so I can't start my mortgage application - vicious circle!

I'm a serious buyer getting very frustrated at their lack of flexibility in the current market!

Does anyone know of a developer that is more flexible than Antler in terms of the reservation to exchange period?
Thanks

Jo

Tony · 20th January 2009, 00:47

This is crazy Jo, have you tried escalating this to the Sales Director - the 28 day thing is just a rule made up by the developers. You or I could do the same when we sell out house.

Tony

JoS · 22nd January 2009, 13:59

Hi tony,

Thanks for that. Well they did eventually agree to the longer reservation period, but now it's gone from bad to worse!

We reserved the house on Sunday, & advised we would need to give notice to our estate agent before Antler started marketing our current house (which we're part exing). We also (naively) expected Antler would try to coordinate selling our old house with completion on the new house, so we didn't end up homeless during the transaction.

How wrong we were, Antler have already instructed 2 estate agents, one of whom is trying to arrange a viewing for this weekend.

If Antler sell our house quickly we could end up homeless for up to 2 months waiting for our mortgage to come through, not to mention having to pay our old estate agent who we are under contract to (I have written to them but there is a 28 day termination period).

We are at the stage of walking away from the deal & losing our reservation fee (which is still much less than estate agents fees, 2 months storage, cattery & temporary accommodation costs), is this our best option?

I have left 2 messages for Antler asking them to call me to discuss, but it seems now they've got our money they aren't interested.
Cheers

Jo

cunningelphinstone · 17th March 2009, 14:03

think twice before doing this - get clauses in your missives if you can

remember those developers will be desperate for your cash....