John Wastle
1/5
I've previously written a review of Sundial Properties here, that I ended up deleting.
Now that Sundial are marketing properties again, it's probably worthwhile reposting our experiences with the company.
At the risk of understatement, our experience with Sundial was not a positive one. We ended up withdrawing from a property purchase and lost a significant reservation fee.
Back in February 2019, we signed a reservation form for a Sundial property.
We booked flights and hotels in Edinburgh with the intention of picking up keys on the agreed Date of Entry, Friday 29 March.
Earlier that week, our solicitors had advised that there was a problem with the factoring arrangements. The Title Deeds, provided by Sundial, were not explicit regarding the share of communal liabilities at the property. Also, Sundial had failed to put block insurance in place for the common areas.
The advice we had from the solicitors was unequivocal, which was to conclude missives only when these problems had been addressed.
Sundial took a different view, which was to insist that missives had to be concluded by Friday 29 March and that the block insurance would be sorted out at a later date.
We were put under great pressure to conclude by Friday 29 March. We spoke to Catriona Aitchison at Sundial who complained that our solicitors were being obstructive and that they would re-market the property, if we did not conclude missives. Andrew Gray Muir, Sundial's solicitor, repeated that "My clients are quite clear that missives must be concluded tomorrow [Friday 29 March]"
We were unhappy at Sundial's behaviour and decided to withdraw from the purchase the following week. We took the view that if this was how Sundial behaved prior to concluding missives, we might encounter difficulties during the snagging period.
If you want further insight into Sundial's approach to relationship management, it's worthwhile mentioning our conservations with Sundial Properties' Managing Director, William Gray Muir.
In an email on 29 March 2019, he apologised for our wasted trip and told us "[Sundial] have always accepted the cogency of the point [regarding block insurance], but need help in working through what is the best answer."
On 4 April 2019, after we had withdrawn, he said "I quite understood the issue over the insurance and we’d tried to move as quickly as we could to solve it."
Things began to get weird in February 2020, when we were accused of wasting their time and money: "your unexpected withdrawal... had simply been a waste of my time and [Sundial’s] money."
Not content with trousering our £10,000 reservation fee, William also complained that our decision might have adversely affected them financially: "the flat resold almost immediately, the time we took it off the market whilst seeking to conclude missives with you could have been very expensive."
Some final advice: Catriona is very personable and is a skilled property marketer. Don't let that blind you to the problems with their reservation contract.
Good luck.
*** Addendum in response to William’s reply from November 2023:
A bit more context: we were the first to attempt to buy one of three properties that were built above a communal underground car park, where we also reserved a space.
Our solicitor thought it sensible to insist that, as a minimum, insurance was put in place for these communal areas. The assumption was that these insurance costs would then be apportioned within the factoring charge.
The idea that our solicitor was being unreasonable and our requirements were “unique” is a bit fanciful.
Ultimately, we withdrew because of Sundial’s behaviour in the days before the agreed completion date, not because of any disagreement about insurance.
All companies can make mistakes, but I’d suggest the best way to judge the merits of an organisation is to observe their response when things go wrong.
*** Addendum in response to William’s reply from May 2024:
Companies that take their "responsibilities to customers very seriously" do not behave in the way I've described.
