Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 28, 2008 2:27 pm Hello Everyone,
Some of you may know that we were having some troubles with W1nds0r Homes (see https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=3136) I was holding off on writing about the full story, but now it is all over so here it is: - Signed a contract to build with them in May last year - Paid $7550 deposit on the house, $3000 on the land - Were told verbally many times that the contract was subject to finance - Got pre-approval, but then was denied finance because the land was too close to powerlines - Got the $3000 from the land back - Signed up for new block of land - After lots of phone calls W1nds0r Homes told us we would get it back but they were just trying to work out their costs - The director of W1nds0r Homes called and told us should have built with them on the new land and refused to give us anything back - After talking to Conveyancing Excellence we were about to send a letter (basically begging), when all of a sudden we got a cheque in the mail from W1nds0r Homes - In that letter with that cheque they said we only paid $2000 deposit, so we only got about $750 (after they took out administrative costs) - We sent them a letter back (with copies of receipts) saying we paid $7550, so please give us the rest - About a week later we rang the contracts administrator and she said the cheque had been signed and they were just waiting on the director to sign it (they later denied this) - About a week after that we got a letter from them (with a signature but no name) saying they had changed their mind and we weren’t going to get anything - After talking to the contracts administrator again we found out that the director had cancelled the cheque and sent the letter without anyone else knowing about it – she seemed quite shocked actually (again, W1nds0r Homes later denied all of this) - Conveyancing Excellence advised us to talk to some contracts lawyers because it was out of his area of expertise - We took it to Kliger Partners (a big city contracts lawyer) who sent a letter of demand to W1nds0r Homes - W1nds0r Homes wrote back (again with no name just a signature) saying that the contract was NOT subject to finance and we deny all the above phone calls etc. etc., however as a gesture of goodwill and with no admission of liability we are offering $1500 as settlement of the above. So, end result is that we got $3,500 (less costs) from them where we actually paid a total of $7,500 - BUT friends and family chipped in and gave us $4,000 out of the blue so we aren't actually out of pocket (I am a God fearing christian so I believe this was a miracle!) While some of this is our fault (because of our naivete), I would not recommend W1nds0r Homes to anyone because in our opinion, they were not 100% truthful with us, or constantly changed their stories, and at times were very difficult to contact. MORAL OF THE STORY: Get a Conveyancor/Solicitor to look at EVERYTHING to do with your project - house, land, location, finance, everything. We didn't - as first home buyers we were naive enough to trust everyone and assume that it would all be ok - and without friends and family would have lost thousands of dollars, which for newly weds like us (well, anyone really) is an awful lot of money. After 2 false starts, a year living overseas, two more world trips and 3 years of uncertainty we are now starting the build process again - hopefully for real this time! Windsor 3Apr 28, 2008 8:46 pm Hi Muzzman
Your summary is wise advice. It is a relative small cost in the scheme of things to have contracts reviewed by lawyers before you sign. I hope from here out you are able to find a good builder and get your dream home. All the best. Re: I WOULD NOT Recommend... 4Apr 28, 2008 8:55 pm muzzman,
thanks for sharing your experience with us. a lot of people here would benefit from that. hope you find the right house and a good builder for your house. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! Re: I WOULD NOT Recommend... 6Jun 03, 2008 3:36 pm I had thought that contracts had to have that as a standard clause these days??
Something I have always added in anyway "Subject to finance satisfactory to the buyer" that way they can not sign you up to Joe Shark Loans and other ******* deals Inc and say "finance approved" Re: I WOULD NOT Recommend... 7Jun 03, 2008 4:08 pm Thanks for sharing your story. It is a good information for everyone especially for 1st home buyer. People can keep in mind that what they have to do before/ during / after signing the contract with builder.
This forum becomes one of my favourite websites. Re: I WOULD NOT Recommend... 8Jun 03, 2008 4:46 pm Thanks for sharing your story. I used to be PA to one of Australia's leading businessmen. His personal lawyer had previously been the property partner at a very very large law firm (think $1 million salary)... anyhow, she was brilliant at reading over all our contracts, documents etc. when we first built.
This time we're doing it by ourselves, but I'm missing having that expert advice on hand (and her ball busting legal-type letters of demand that got us what we wanted every single time). Re: I WOULD NOT Recommend... 9Jun 05, 2008 3:41 pm Hi,
Technically they should of paid you back the whole $7K or so b/c there is no contract. Even if you signed the contract its not a valid contract b/c if it was a HIA or MBV contract a requirement is for you to demonstrate that you had enough money to enter into the contract in the first place. I would of argued that the contract was void because the elements in a contract are: 1. Offer 2. Acceptance 3. Consideration 4. Legal 5. Capacity 6. Not under duress. and item 5 was not in place b/c one party did not have the finance thus the capacity to pay. Anyhow, i recommend that you organise finance first before you sign any contracts in future. Good luck smeagol Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 8728 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39277 |