Do not recommend
feel I need to share what happened with my experience with courtyard homes!
Our offer was accepted in March, and after five months of delays, poor communication and constant chasing, we made the difficult decision to withdraw.
We appreciate that the Land Registry issue and solicitors were outside the estate agent’s direct control. However, communication was within their control, and this is where we felt consistently let down. We were told in April that the property was awaiting Land Registry, but for months the main update was simply that we were still waiting. Despite specifically asking for regular, proactive updates as first-time buyers, these rarely happened, leaving us to continually chase for information ourselves.
During the process, we arranged another viewing and found the property in a shocking state. The garden was extremely overgrown and appeared not to have been maintained since the property was sold. We were told it would be cleared ready for our viewing, but it wasn’t. There was also so much post that we struggled to open the front door. As first-time buyers hoping to show our family our potential first home, we found this incredibly disappointing.
Later, after noticing the adjoining property had fallen through, we contacted the estate agent and were told this was due to missing certificates. We immediately raised our concerns with our solicitor and specifically asked whether the necessary certificates and warranties were in place for our purchase. We were reassured and provided with a Professional Consultant’s Certificate (PCC), which led us to believe everything was in order.
However, once enquiries were eventually answered, we were informed that the necessary completion certificates were not available, and there was also an issue involving an encroachment onto council land affecting the garden boundary.
After everything we had already experienced and five months of uncertainty, we ultimately no longer felt comfortable proceeding and withdrew. The estate agent wasn’t surprised when we called to do so.
Buying your first home should be exciting. Instead, this experience caused us months of unnecessary stress and anxiety. We genuinely loved the property, which made walking away even harder.
We understand some circumstances were outside the estate agent’s control, but in our experience, the communication, support and overall handling of the process fell well below what we expected.
Based on our experience, we unfortunately cannot recommend Courtyard.
