Homebuyer heartache

Lesley Gordon has been waiting for more than two years to lay her hands on the keys to her home in a gated St Catherine development.

The journey has been filled with missed deadlines and unresponsiveness to queries as her family grows weary of their current living arrangements.

The Orchards was first announced in 2016 by developers Rivi Gardner & Associates and sits on 136 acres of decommissioned sugar lands.

Construction began in 2017 with a plan to provide 780 two-bedroom bungalows over three phases.

To date, the kitchen fixtures in her unit have not been installed, electrical work is incomplete, along with other minor fixes such as the replacement of a dented door.

The Orchards has drawn scrutiny from the Real Estate Board (REB), whose chairman, Andrew James, confirmed to The Gleaner that the development has been flagged for investigation.

“The REB has received a few complaints from purchasers of the Orchards development. These complaints relate to the delay in completion, defects in their particular units, and refunds they are claiming as a result of cancelation,” James said.

Gordon learnt about the development in a newspaper advertisement and expressed an interest in purchasing a Mango Unit with two bedrooms and a bathroom in the same year construction commenced.

In January 2018, she made a deposit of just over $1 million for the home, which is priced at $10.75 million, and was told that it would be ready in a year.

“They weren’t answering my calls or emails, and I was getting frustrated,” she recalled of the first few weeks after the first deadline was missed.

Gordon visited the property time and time again, enquiring about the completion date, and even sent others to make checks on her behalf.

She once contemplated requesting a refund of her deposit but was discouraged by her lawyers.

CRAMPED QUARTERS

The home buyer has been living in a rented house in an inner-city community with her four children, the youngest of whom is six years old.

“We are in a very cramped space. We just want to be comfortable, and that is why we did this. We sacrificed a lot ... I feel very defeated,” said Gordon of the sense of deflation she felt after each empty promise.

“I feel as though I am a failure to the kids because every time they give me a date, I really took their word for it and said, ‘We’re moving in next month’ or ‘We’re moving in by December.’”

Hugh Scott, whose company, Asco Project Consultants, manages the development, told The Gleaner that he would have his team inspect the housing unit.

Scott declined to say if all the other outstanding units have been handed over.

In December 2019 when he was interviewed by The Gleaner, Scott said that his company “made a mistake” when it hired three contractors.

“The simple fact is there were some contractors hired on the project that should not be anywhere near building houses. Where they were given seven months to complete the work, after 16 months, they were not even 20 per cent completed,” Scott disclosed.

But that’s cold comfort for Gordon, who revealed on Thursday that she has been given another handover pledge for the end of June.

The mother had hopes that her family would have had their first Christmas dinner in their own home last December, but that did not materialise.

Among the sacrifices she made for the down payment was the foregoing of a vehicle purchase as well as slashing transportation costs by taking the bus instead of taxis. She also reined in her food bill.

“When I first made the down payment, we had nothing. If one of us should have gotten sick, we wouldn’t have anything to back us up,” Gordon said.

The purchaser, who wants possession of her home, believes that she deserves compensation for the delays dogging the project.

“I would really be satisfied with a three-bedroom after waiting so long or some form of reduction in the price,” she said.

Gordon appealed to developers to be more transparent with prospective owners as the Government seeks to make home ownership more available and affordable.

Wayne Marsh, director of WAMH Development Limited, explained that all developments must be registered with the Real Estate Board.

Additionally, for developments to be erected, approval must be granted by the municipal council and the National Environment and Planning Agency.

“If developers breach the sales agreement, then the recourse is via the Real Estate Board, and then they will act on behalf of the purchaser to help to resolve whatever issues there are,” Marsh said.

Marsh is advising purchasers to do their due diligence when engaging in agreements and to tap the REB’s website for information on developers and projects.

editorial@gleanerjm.com