Getting keys before house is finished?

trotter_inc

Hey there...

Coming towards the end of buying a new house atm, we have our mortgage, life assurance and all the other legal and financial side of things sorted. The only thing left to do is sign the contracts with the solicitor, which she is ready to do.

As far as the house goes, the snag has been done and all problems that were on it have been fixed, the only thing left to do is fit the fireplace, the builder has a contractor hired to do supply and fit these but he's on holidays for the next 2 weeks, so he wont be able to do it for another 2.5 - 3 weeks.

Question I have is... is it possible to get the keys for the house before the fireplace is fitted? We would like to get in and start tiling and doing the rest of the other work asap....

Thanks

giveth

Hey,

Well you won't get the keys until you pay fully for the house obviously. So if you pay everything, then the builder wont have much of an incentive to do the fireplace.

I guess it depends on how much you trust your builder. I had a similar problem and went ahead even though there were a few small things to do to the house.

If it were me, I'd go for it.

trotter_inc

giveth wrote:

Hey,

Well you won't get the keys until you pay fully for the house obviously. So if you pay everything, then the builder wont have much of an incentive to do the fireplace.

I guess it depends on how much you trust your builder. I had a similar problem and went ahead even though there were a few small things to do to the house.

If it were me, I'd go for it.

Hey, thanks for the quick reply, sounds good so. The foreman is sound, plus my girlfriend went to college with the daughter of the building company owner, I'm not worried about them not fitting the fireplace at all, was just wondering if there was any legal obstructions to us getting the keys and having access to it...we've had so many legal complications so far I just want an end to it all

Victor

You could consider asking the builder to allow your tradesmen in on a day-to-day basis.

antoinolachtnai

Keys aren't just a practical thing. They are of symbolic significance. I would not take the keys off the builder until I was happy with nearly everything or had a specific reassurance that small items were going to be done. They aren't just about ownership either - ownership can be sorted out later. The important thing is stewardship. Who is responsible for the house, who is the boss? Once you have the keys you are the boss and you start to be responsible. Be careful what you wish for.