BUILDING
AGREEMENT
Builders and
lawyers have drawn up a new contract to speed up, de mystify
and simplify the house building process.
We
hear only too often when building contracts go wrong, when the
work isn’t finished in time, or it’s not up to standard
and from people who’ve been caught out by cowboy builders.
Many of these problems could have been avoided if it had all been put down
clearly, on paper, at the outset. Although there’s been a standard
form of Building Agreement in use for a number of years, it’s now been
revised and updated, and both the builders and the lawyers are keen to see
it being used more widely.
STANDARD FORM OF BUILDING CONTRACT FOR HOUSES ON NEW ESTATE DEVELOPMENTS
The
Trade Association for the building industry, The
Construction Employers’ Federation, and
the governing body of solicitors, The Law Society of
Northern Ireland, have agreed to jointly promote to
their members a standard form of Building Agreement, for use
in new private house building developments. The Agreement sets
out the terms and conditions upon which the building developer
constructs a new house for a purchaser.
The Government
and the General Consumer Council are anxious to ensure that wherever
possible, the building process is speeded up, de mystified and
simplified.
In the past these important documents, which stipulate
the respective rights of the Purchaser and the Builder at all
stages of construction of a new house, from arriving at an agreement
to purchase, to the handing over of possession, have tended to
come in a variety of formats, and it has been necessary, in each
case, for contracts to be studied carefully and, in many cases,
amended after negotiation.
By using a standard form, much time
and effort will be saved, in that the terms and conditions stipulated
in the agreement will be well known and acceptable. The agreement
in its standard form strikes a fair balance between the respective
rights of the purchaser and the builder.
The
schedule of the agreement will set out a clear description
of the house,
the date when the property is expected to be ready for handing
over, the Contract price, provision for payment of a deposit,
and provision will be made for PC sums, for example in respect
of kitchen and bathroom fittings and fireplaces.
There is also
a section which deals with the important matter of loan finance.
The Agreement makes it clear than the finished product will
be made available with all mains services included in the price.
Other clauses deal with important
matters such as delay, which might be due to bad weather or
other causes beyond the Builder’s
control, or failure on the part of a purchaser to come up
with the purchase money when called upon to do so at completion.
Buying a property
at any time can be frustrating, and this is all the more so in
the case of a new build. Wider adoption
of the Standard form of Building
Agreement will go some way towards speeding up the process and making
it as smooth and stress free as possible.
If you’re
about to build a house, ask your solicitor about the new Building
Agreement. Or if things have already gone wrong,
email us and
tell us your story.
You can purchase a copy of
the agreement from:
The
Joint Contracts Tribunal Limited
9 Cavendish Place
London
W1M 0NR
Tel: 020-7637 8650
Or from the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors or RICS:
RICS
Contact Centre
Surveyor Court
Westwood Way
Coventry
CV4 8JE
United Kingdom
Tel: 0870 333 1600
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