Way back in November 2006 my wife and I found the perfect house. It was only an artist’s impression at the time, backed up by a brick outline in the middle of a muddy and cow-less field. But after searching in vain for a ‘used’ house that we liked, it seemed like the perfect option. We paid our deposit and reserved a 4 bedroom, three storey end-terrace from Bloor Homes. Contracts were to be exchanged within a month, and completion was estimated to be in March/April 2007.

We exchanged contracts in late January 2007, with a slight delay due to the holiday period and some absent paperwork from the information pack sent to our solicitors. By the end of February we had sold our previous house and moved into a rented apartment, thinking that our stay would only be for a couple of months at the most. But we were soon informed that completion had slipped to May/June and so I settled in for another few months of “I hate this flat” comments from my good lady wife.

We visited the new house in April and all 4 walls were in place, together with 3 floors but no roof. Walking around the entirely empty ground floor everything seemed so small, but I knew that it would look much bigger once the partition walls were in place.

We saw the house again in late May (we live around 2 hours away so regular journeys are not that simple!) when the roof was on and all the internal partition walls were in place, together with an assortment of cables and pipes. We were then informed that completion would probably be at the end of June 2007, and so the end almost appeared to be in sight.

Our inspection was arranged shortly afterwards, with a tentative date of Thursday 21st June, whilst completion is scheduled for Friday 29th June.