Hello. We live in Edmonton Alberta Canada. We wish to get…

Question

Hello. We live in Edmonton Alberta Canada.
We wish to get out of our House Purchase Agreement with Homes By Avi for the
following reasons, and wish to know if we should seek Legal advise.
1. The verbally advised us that it would take 10 months to complete our house
from 6th Dec 2009. MEANWHILE we are still waiting and have been advised that we
will not be moving in until "after christmas". This poses many issues as we
advised them we would not build with them IF it was going to take MORE than the
stated 10 months AS we were going to be away for a month at christmas time and
wished to be in and settled well prior to.
2. Due to the extreme winter we experience here in Edmonton we NEEDED to be in
the house by October at the latest so as to get the fence up, sod down at a
minimum as we have a LARGE dog and cannot do 6 months without a
fence......hmmmmmm WHAT NOW given the proposed move in date will fall in the
THICK of winter and we will be away
3. The Vinyl siding on the exterior of the house is NOT what we chose. We had
SIGNED off on the contract for a 2 tone siding, WHICH we are informed 2 weeks
ago, when we questioned the colour and fact that the entire house looks like a
brown BLOB, that "oh my I don't know what happened, you were NEVER supposed to
have a 2 tone house as the Architect had a vision for the cul-de-sac and all
homes were to be ONE colour only with White trim ONLY". However upon further
investigation by both the "new" Manager for the South East Edmonton Homes By Avi
Branch (the old one just disappeared overnight......??????) we were present when
She discovered that our original choices for the siding had been knocked back at
the architectural planning phase, we had NOT been informed, and so the then
manager just whited out with liquid paper the declined and changed the colours
himself, without EVER informing us - so as a result the entire house is NOT what
we wanted NOR chose.
4. Communication has been POOR the entire time, we are constantly being told
varying information regarding the same thing...
5. The upgrades for the house were a total shambles, expired / deleted tiles etc
etc etc
Homes By Avi offered us the option of taking our deposit back (which is all we
want) however NOW they are saying that for the costs already incurred by them,
this will need to be deducted from our deposit, a total of $12,000 will
therefore come off our deposit...
Do you think we should challenge the $12,000 they are stating "per the contract"
they can keep for costs incurred by them to date????
HELP

Debra · Accepted Answer

Chat Conversation Started
Debra Thal (username) :

They think they can call the shots here but if they are not giving you what they
said they will give you in the contract then they've breached the contract
themselves and would not be entitled to costs they've incurred.

Had you asked to just walk away they would be correct.

I would suggest that you tell them that you are considered the contract to be at
an end due to their breach of the contract, in particular due to their failure
to delive the house on time amongst other things and you will sue them in Small
Claims Court for the return of the deposit.

If you rather, and frankly it's what I would do, you can have a lawyer write
them a letter. I suspect a letter from a lawyer will nip this in the bud.

Do you need suggestions on finding a lawyer?

JACUSTOMER-5s8mgj4b- :

Thank You Debra

JACUSTOMER-5s8mgj4b- :

Sorry didn't mean to forward just yet. I definately would like the name of a
lawer we can contact ASAP to get this rolling, we continue to pay $3000 a month
in rent and NEED to find another property to purchase and be settled in before
christmas time. We really cant afford for this to be a long drawn out process.

Debra Thal (username) :

What you can do to find a lawyer is one of the following things.

You can contact the Law Society and use their Lawyer Referral Service. You will
be given the name of a lawyer and can consult with the lawyer and the first half
hour will be free.

The number is:

1-800-661-1095

Or you can check on a site called lexpert. This is a legal directory of leading
lawyers and law firms throughout Canada and is well-respected by the legal
community.

Here's the link to their website:

http://www.lexpert.ca/Directory/DirectoryContent/FindLawyersOrFirm.aspx
[http://www.lexpert.ca/Directory/DirectoryContent/FindLawyersOrFirm.aspx]

I hope that helps as a starting point.

Please click accept so that I can receive credit for providing you with this
information.

JACUSTOMER-5s8mgj4b- :

Thank You and warm regards

Hello. We live in Edmonton Alberta Canada. We wish to get…

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