A Paisley mum has lambasted a developer after it withdrew from the sale of a home – but held on to her deposit and cash paid for fixtures and fittings.
Julie Nicol paid Kingston Residential (KR) £2,000 in July 2021 to secure a three-bed home due to be constructed on Broadlie Road, Neilston, by December of that year.
She later handed over an additional £7,000 for the kitchen in the property, as well as flooring and extra fittings.
However, Julie was left devastated when, after several delays, KR notified her through her lawyer that it was withdrawing from the sale and, as a result of a clause in the contract, was holding on to her £2,000 deposit.
Directors then informed Julie and the other four buyers of properties on site that they could re-buy the homes for an additional £40,000.
Julie refused and in the intervening five months has been unable to get the £7,000 returned to her.
On Friday, Kingston Residential Investments said it was “not in a good financial position right now” but would pay everyone back.
But Julie told the Express: “They have effectively stolen my money.
“We are just normal working people.
“It is not right what they have done to me and the four other families who are involved in this.
“They told us in a meeting that instead of the £225,000 I had agreed to pay for the house, that they wanted to resell them for £265,000.
“I obviously said no and ‘what about my money I paid for the flooring etc’.
“They said, ‘we can’t pay you back until we resell them and if we don’t sell them at the higher price then we will go into liquidation’.”
In an added blow to Julie and her children, the new home was to be a fresh start for them following Julie’s separation from their father.
It was her own widowed dad who stepped in and paid the deposit and additional cash while her divorce was being finalised.
The money, which Julie had intended and still intends to repay, came from his life savings.
She said: “This has been an absolute nightmare, I have just had enough.
“It has been so awful, not just for me but four other families as well.
“It makes me so angry. I just wanted to move on with my life and put my trust in these builders.
“I doubt we will see our money again.
“How these people sleep at night I have no idea.”
Julie has been in touch with the police, but was notified the issue was a civil matter and has contacted a lawyer who explained the legal fees to recoup the money could also be substantial.
Now she has decided to share her story as a warning to others who may be considering buying a property from the company.
“The best thing I can do now is to spread the word about how awful they are,” she said.
“I want to get the message out there to other people – do not go anywhere near them.
“I would hate for another family to go through what we have been through these past few months.”
A spokesman for Kingston Residential Investments – which was building the Broadlie development through a sister company KR Construction – said it was working to “get everyone paid back as soon as possible”.
He added: “We are not in a good financial position right now and not in a position to pay all monies back to the client.
“We have agreed with the lawyers that all monies are to be repaid in full on completion of the project from each house sale. This will come direct from the lawyer to the client.”
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