Can builders get away with this?

[albert]

Hello all,
Builder/Realtor (they are husband and wife) seemed very disorganized and were reluctant to fix mistakes made during the finish of home, repeatedly making references to how they were not making any money on the sale of our house, as well as the other 5 houses on our street. Almost immediately after we made an offer on the house and they accepted, they raised the prices of the other 5 houses on the street. They gave a Superintendent "power of attorney" and he was left to finish the house while they were on vacation. They said the house would be done before they left, but it was far from finished when we were called to do the walk-through - so we had two walk-through and closed 8 days later than scheduled. It was such a scramble at the last minute to get the house done, that they were grating the front yard as we were "closing," and left a drainage ditch across our front yard instead of down the side - they responded to a letter of ours, that it was to address drainage, disregarding the fact that our problem was with it being dug diagonal across our yard.

They also had not completed the 3rd side of our fence. They said they would be completing fencing for all 6 houses at once, after the back patios were all poured. The Power of Attorney confirmed this during the first walk-through, and he was given the only copy of the punch list, which included the fence. Plus, the builder told us this when we first met that the fences would be completed.

A few weeks after we moved in, the fencing materials were removed from the back yards, leaving only the postholes. When questioned, the Builder denies ever saying we were getting a fence. He said that it wasn't his problem that their Power of Attorney told us we would be getting one. Two of our neighbors were told by Builder that they were going to complete the fence, but it was costing too much money so they decided not to.

Our realtor failed to do an Addendum to the contract and add the fence. We can get affidavits from our realtor and her boss that the builder said they were completing the fence. We could also get affidavits from neighbors. We were quoted $2,500 to do our third side.

Additionally, our Certificate of Occupancy is dated way before the house was near completion (maybe even before the foundation was layed). Is this legal?

Also, our Builder offices with his Realtor (his wife) which is not universally disclosed, which we were told could be a problem with TREC. They built the office building, and the Title company is right next door in that same building. I thought the Title company was supposed to be a neutral party - should this be addressed? They also made references to our age more than once (we may look young, but my husband and I are over 30); they even referred to us in a written response as being young and immature.

Ultimately, are there any exceptions to having legal recourse without a written agreement? Once again, the only thing in writing that indicates a fence is on the punch-list which was provided to the Power of Attorney. Thank you so much!

[trent]

Hey Albert,
Do a news search for this agency and you'll find plenty in the news since its creation to indicate it's ineffective and just a layer of bureaucracy. For those who have the time and money to fight it they may win in the end, but your builder sounds like the small time crook that will fold the company to get out of paying. Beware of liens. This is also the type of builder IMO that usually doesn't pay for materials or labor and then the homeowner has to pay for it again. IMO: builder/realtor married: very bad combination
Warm Regards