We are at our wits end with Avant & we haven’t even moved in yet.

[Cls04]

We signed up to buy a house from them May 2018 and paid the deposit 2 June 2018.
We were told as the weather was so good, everything was well on track and we could expect to move in late Oct or early Nov. Ok.
Then 'sometime' in December. Then January 2019.

We were not told until January but it was now February. Only because we requested our January completion date.
Our house is now ready.
Today we have been told that it will be "hopefully" March now when we can move in, but no guarantees!!!

Because they are incompetent and NEVER have enough builders, because the property near our boundary is incomplete, we cannot move in until THAT one is built too.
But they are "hoping" we can move in March.

HOPING. So that’s good eh.
Appalling.  They really do not care about customers once you have signed those forms to buy & you're completely at their mercy then.
You have to constantly chase them for ANY information.  We have had new furniture made which from November onwards, we have had to pay storage for as we can't accommodate it in our current home.
They don't care.

A member of the Sales team emailed Sales directors I believe asking that we be given a letter of commitment (or something),  which basically confirms in writing, that they will start to employ more builders to complete the other property. 
 
Over 1 week on from the the Sales team email, we have emailed them and the MD of the company twice, - still they fail to reply to us, no acknowledgment at all.
We are at risk of losing the school places for our children, that we were offered last September.

Also, we part exchanged our house to buy this, and they immediately sold ours on - they are also not even bothering to tell our buyers, as it is not our responsibility but theirs as they bought our house from us. We have to keep calling the poor souls as nobody else updates them.
We don’t know what else to do.

[New Home Expert]

Avant oh dear!
Considering the time they have taken to built your new home it should be 100% perfect.
I doubt this will be the case so PLEAE get it professionally snagged and inspected BEFORE you legally complete especially as you have the time!

The Consumer Code for Homebuilders requirements on build completion dates is quite clear:

Requirement 3.2 states:
"Before completing the foundations and ground floor – give the calendar quarter when the Home is likely to be ready.
• When the roof is completed and the building weatherproof – give the month when the Home is likely to be ready.
 • When the Home is decorated and main services are connected – say what week the Home is likely to be ready."

The CCHB Adjudication usually finds cases "succeed in part" enabling an award well below the amount claimed. In addition, the onus is on the homebuyer to prove their claim and this will mean written evidence.
In July 2016 the APPG EBE Inquiry report found the CCHB to be "Limited in its scope" so it sint really much help.

It is quiet common for completion dates to be missed, with housebuilders having the perfect explanation, blaming the weather or delays in connection of utilities. But the fact is, all housebuilders over promise and under deliver. It is possible to anticipate bad weather (especially in winter) and build in contingencies for other potential historic delays to any predicted completion date given. The trouble arises, especially at housebuilders financial year end, when they try to get as many completions as possible regardless of the practicalities and build stage. In 2016, Bovis homes "bribed"  buyers   to legally complete on their unfinished houses, some were not even able to move in!

My advice to anyone buying a new home is:
1) Do your research
2) Do not believe everything the site sales tell you
3) Never use the housebuilder’s suggested or recommended solicitors – keep control
4) Get everything in writing
5) Get your home professionally snagged and inspected before legally completing.