When looking at the UK off-plan property, working with a trusted partner who has done their due diligence is critical for making sure your property is delivered on time.
But if you want to do some of your own due diligence what should you look for?
The key points you should look at is:
Only working on developments that have bank funding in place – not funded by you the investor.
Effectively there are two types of off-plan property. One is where the investors fund the property, this means that not only has the developer not been able to get bank finance but they can only do each stage of the build when they sell properties. This is where you can see fairly large delays.
The developers we want to work with are the ones who have funding from the banks. This means the only way the developer can lose money is with delays (as they are paying interest).
Even better, the bank will have had to do their due diligence on the developer and development before lending, and they will only release each part of the fund when the previous part of the build is completed keeping the pressure on the developer to be on time.
Have a look at what they have built before, get an old brochure from the internet and look at the projected completion v’s what time the property actually completed.
This is especially if you have just started in UK property. Even if the property is completed you want to know that it was built by a respectable developer and is well built. If the property is off-plan you want to be with experience as the reason some developers have been going 50 years plus is because they have been doing the right things consistently.