FAQs

You are welcome to visit our Show Homes or Sales & Marketing Suites at any time during our opening hours, which are displayed on each development page, and you do not need to make a prior appointment.

If you would like a private meeting with a Sales Executive to discuss a property or your buying position in more detail, it is advisable to make an appointment in advance to ensure we can give you our undivided attention.

The exclusivity of our homes means they are often in high demand. Our Sales Executives usually hold a list of clients who are interested in each development or particular plots so that all parties can be informed when they are released for sale.

You can register your interest on the relevant development page to be included in any updates via email or text message, or you can contact the Sales Advisor directly who will be happy to keep you informed using your preferred contact method.

Please read our privacy policy for details on how Duchy Homes uses, stores and protects your personal information.

The Sales Executive will go through the Plot Information Form with you prior to completing a Reservation Form. This is used to ensure you are fully aware of all the details relating to the home you are purchasing.

Once this is complete and you are happy to proceed, the Sales Executive will complete the Reservation Form with you and take a reservation fee from you to confirm your intent to purchase. The reservation fee is deducted from the balance of your new home upon legal completion.

You will need to bring two different forms of ID with you to confirm your identity, such as your passport and driving licence, in order to reserve a new home with us.

You must be in a position to proceed with the purchase before you can reserve a Duchy home. If you have a property to sell, we can introduce you to part-exchange specialists or support you with our Move Assist service to get you moving sooner, if you wish.

Once you have reserved a new home with us, the property will normally be reserved until the date stated on your Reservation Form, as this is when the contract exchange is expected to take place.

Duchy Homes is fully compliant with the guidelines set out under the Consumer Code, which was developed to make the home buying process fair and transparent for purchasers.

In line with these guidelines, Duchy Homes will reimburse £500 of your reservation fee should you not proceed to exchange of contracts. The remaining reservation fee is retained by us to cover our administration costs. If you purchase your new home using part-exchange or our Move Assist service, your reservation fee is non-refundable.

We will provide you with a copy of the Consumer Code at the point of reservation, or at any time upon request.

If you are reliant on the sale of your existing home to finance your new Duchy home, you must have sold your property before you can reserve a new home with us.

If you have a property to sell, we can introduce you to part-exchange specialists or support you with our Move Assist service to get you moving sooner, if you wish.

Our Sales Executives can arrange a telephone call or appointment with one of our nominated Mortgage Brokers, who have access to a wide range of mortgages and specialise in new build purchases.  Please contact the Sales Executive at the relevant development for more information.

We’re not just building a Duchy home, we’re building your home - and depending on the build stage we give you the opportunity to personalise it to your own taste before you move in.

We offer a wide range of kitchen styles and tile colours, as well as optional upgrades such as luxury deep-pile carpets and quartz worktops, so we can create a home that is personal to you, and ready to enjoy as soon as you move in.

Your Sales Executive will advise which options are available and will then arrange a convenient time for you to visit and make your selections.

We understand that buying your new home is an exciting time and so you will be invited at key stages of your purchase to visit us on-site to keep in touch with the magic of your growing new home.

Your new home is insured by Duchy Homes until legal completion, at which point you become responsible for insuring both the building and its contents. If you are taking out a mortgage to purchase your new home, your mortgage lender will insist that you have adequate buildings insurance in place from the date of legal completion.

To make sure your move is going as smoothly as possible, the Sales Executive or Site Manager will make a courtesy visit 24-hours after the handover, in case there is anything we can do to help you settle in. The Site Manager will then arrange two further visits (one at 7-days and one at 28-days), giving you the opportunity to report anything that may need rectifying, or to ask any questions once you’ve had chance to try out your new home.

You will also be provided with the contact details for our Customer Care team, who will look after any further enquiries for the first two years.

We want you to feel reassured that should any issues arise, we will be on-hand to attend to them quickly and professionally.

At Duchy Homes we place the highest priority on service and satisfaction, so you’ll enjoy our two-year Customer Care warranty with a dedicated in-house customer service team on-hand to deal with enquiries quickly and efficiently.

For extra peace of mind, our new-build homes come with a ten-year Buildmark warranty from the NHBC, the UK’s leading new-home insurance provider, which covers any structural defects that may appear within the first ten years.

Up until the end of March 2021 there will be no stamp duty tax on properties purchased for less than £500,000 (if it is your main home of residence). You’ll find a wide choice of beautiful homes on our website that are now stamp duty exempt, and you could also benefit from additional incentives and special offers we may be promoting – it’s the perfect time to make a move!

For homes purchased for more than £500,000, you will be required to pay stamp duty on the value above the exemption threshold at a rate that ranges from 5% to 12%. You can see the different rates in the table below, or you can use the stamp duty calculator.

If you’re buying a home that will not be your main residence, such as a second home or buy-to-let property, you’ll still be required to pay stamp duty and there will be an extra 3% added to the rate.