By Editor,Sally Hamilton

Copyright dailymail

My mother suffered a stroke and I wanted to move nearby to help.

We both reserved new-build properties in Edinburgh on a development by Ambassador Homes in July 2023 and April 2024, respectively.

But despite promises of them being completed, there is no sign of this happening.

Ambassador says the flats will be finished in November, but I’m not convinced when visiting the site.

We need to move now and I’ve seen nice flats elsewhere. I signed my contract so long ago that I can get out of it with no penalty – but my mum is stuck in hers until November. The company won’t budge. Please help.

J.A., Edinburgh.

Sally Hamilton replies: In the summer of 2023, you paid Ambassador Homes a £1,000 retention fee and £2,590 deposit for a £260,000 two-bedroom flat.

You were told it would be completed around March 2024 and, even though it wasn’t, you put your trust in promises that it would be completed soon.

You put your mum’s name down for a £315,000 flat in the same development in April 2024. She paid a retention fee of £1,000 and a deposit of £3,140.

She sold her house to a buyer who wanted to move in during January 2025, which you thought acceptable timing. But by that date, neither of your flats had been completed.

And so, the delays continued. By July this year there was still no confirmed completion date, but you and your mum moved out of her house into a rental so her buyers could move in.

Ambassador then said it was likely to be an ‘autumn completion’. But you had lost faith in either flat being finished by that time – and as your mum’s health was declining, you decided it was better to change tack and search for properties that were already finished and close to each other.

Unfortunately, there were clauses in your contracts, something all would-be buyers of new-builds should be wary of. Each contract included a long-stop date, common in such situations.

A buyer is tied in until a set date – after which the contract can be ended, with the deposit usually returned.

Your key date was in July 2025, two years after you signed up, so you could extricate yourself – but your mum’s escape date was not until November.

Despite this hurdle, your frustration over the unfinished homes meant you began an active property search.

You soon found ideal, completed flats in a development on the other side of Edinburgh, which you feared you’d lose out on if you didn’t make prompt offers.

You ended your own contract and retrieved your £1,000 retention fee and £2,590 deposit as well as the cost of kitchen worktops you had paid for.

But your lawyer warned your mother that making an offer on another home was highly risky, as the contract meant she could remain on the hook for the Ambassador Homes property.

You pressed the company to let your mum off the deal around late July, but it only agreed to look at the arrangements in September.

This was too vague for you. Not knowing what to do next, you came to me. I thought you had been patient enough with the developer for your homes to become a reality.

In early August, I asked if it would free your mum of the arrangement as a goodwill gesture, considering the circumstances.

I didn’t receive a direct response, but soon afterwards the developer agreed to release your mother from the contract, reimbursing her deposit of £3,140.

It kept about £3,000 – the sum of the retention fee and her chosen kitchen worktops. Your mother was prepared to accept this loss to escape the deal and get on with her life.

A spokesperson for Ambassador said: ‘Please be assured that we remain fully committed to acting with fairness and transparency in all cases, in line with our contractual obligations and the circumstances of each individual situation.’

You and your mum have both had offers accepted on the alternative flats you found, and hope to move in soon.

Left stranded in Turkey after cancelled flight

We went on a package holiday to Turkey with LoveHolidays in June. Arriving at Antalya airport on the way home, our flight with Corendon Airlines wasn’t on the departures board.

The support desk at the airport told us there wasn’t such a flight.

LoveHolidays’ emergency line was not helpful, so we had to arrange a last-minute flight with another airline.

With a few other expenses, this cost £1,571. Our original flights were £560. When we got home, LoveHolidays refused to help.

C.G., London.

Sally Hamilton replies: When LoveHolidays told you it did not know about the cancelled flight, you checked the facts with Corendon.

The airline told you the flight had been cancelled several months before and LoveHolidays had been told on February 6.

The company rejected your complaint but, after much toing and froing with customer services, agreed to reimburse the cost of the original flights as a ‘goodwill gesture’. It suggested you claim on your insurance for the rest. Instead, you came to me.

I felt you had been treated unfairly. Surely, if LoveHolidays was prepared to refund you the cost of the flight that never was, it must have known something was amiss?

I asked LoveHolidays to investigate and I’m pleased to say it agreed to reimburse your £1,571 extra costs, in addition to what you had already received.

A spokesperson said: ‘We’re very sorry about C.G.’s experience. Due to a system error, she was regrettably not notified in advance of the cancellation.

‘We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and have refunded her for the original flight home, the alternative flight purchased at the airport and any additional out-of-pocket expenses she incurred.’

You were over the moon but disappointed it took my input to get a positive response.

Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.