Does More New Homes Mean More Problems?

Can new rights prevent house buying headache?

BUYING a house is the biggest investment you'll ever make but people have more rights when they purchase a DVD player

ROBERT BROWN , MSP AND SOLICITOR: Today you would have to say it's a case of 'Buyer Beware'

SCOTLAND is building more new homes than ever before. But purchases are far from without their problems and can leave families stressed and heartbroken.

Here, Chief Reporter DAVID LEASK looks at new measures to protect buyers.

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YOU'LL never buy anything bigger. A new home will probably cost so much you'll take a quarter of a century to pay for it.

Just finalising the purchase will take weeks and your lawyers' fees will run into the hundreds.

But you still have more rights when you buy a supermarket DVD player than when you invest in your dream home.

And housebuilding is at a record high.

There are so many new houses on the market, older properties are being referred to as “second-hand”.

Firms are currently building nearly 25,000 new homes a year in Scotland, almost 20,000 of them for private sale.

Most are sold without a hitch to happy customers.

But when purchases go wrong, they go horribly wrong.

And buyers are only protected by the building missives.

Now lawyers are looking at new standard missives that would guarantee completion dates and force builders to pay for “snags” after buyers move in.

Last month, the Evening Times featured a family who were stopped from moving into their £250,000 home because their builders had failed to meet planning rules.

Kevin and Anne Ferrie and their daughter Annabel, 7, reckon they are as much as £10,000 out of pocket after having to fork out for a deposit, rent, legal fees and furniture storage.

The Ferries, in an unusual case, were supposed to have moved into their new house, near Kilmarnock, in December.

A planning wrangle between East Ayrshire Council and their housebuilder prompted them to bail out of their deal.

And another couple, Richard and Kirsten McCue, have also just given up on their new home, a four-bedroom villa in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire.

The McCues were initially told they would get their keys by Christmas - Christmas 2003.

They even sold their own Paisley house.

They waited 15 months before today giving up on their house.

Mr McCue, 31, said: "As well as the delay we had heard so many horror stories from people who have already moved into the estate and have problems.

“We got our deposit back and thought about pursuing legal action, but I think we'll just leave it and try to put it behind us.”

Even people who do get their new-build homes are sometimes left unhappy.

Stories are told of new houses with kitchens and bathrooms far short of promised spec.

Some residents have even found ceilings to be a foot lower than they anticipated.

Robert Brown, a Glasgow MSP and solicitor, said: "It's clear an increasing number of people are having problems with this.

“I think there should be a substantial investigation to look at ways of improving protection for consumers.”

Mr Brown, a Liberal Democrat, stressed consumers buying cars had more rights than those buying homes.

He said: “There has to be a balance between the rights of the buyer and the seller. ”But today you would have to say: 'Buyer Beware'".

Mr Brown said he also had concerns about the quality of some new-build homes. He said: “Some of the houses built just five years ago are already looking a bit shabby.”

Julia Clarke of the Consumer Association agrees consumers should beware.

She said: “A house is the biggest thing you buy in your life and you have got to have proper consumer protection.”

Ms Clarke urged buyers to read their missives carefully.

Right now the only recourse is the courts.

Lawyers often spend months squabbling over completion dates or snagging, the little unfinished jobs that infuriate buyers of new homes.

And the rights of buyers depend on the missive.

But Scots lawyers think they have the answer.

The Law Society of Scotland has come up with a standard building missive, a template that all housebuilders could use when selling their houses.

A spokeswoman said: "The proposed missive is for use by builders to simplify procedures and standardise the terms.

“One of the main proposals is the new missives will include completion dates.”

The Law Society's standard missive also includes a three-month period where builders will have to deal with snagging problems at their own cost.

The new missives are currently being examined by Homes for Scotland, the housebuilders' lobby group.

A spokeswoman for the group today referred complaints about delayed completions and snagging to individual companies.