ComplaintsforK. Hovnanian® Homes

• Initial Complaint

  10/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My husband and I were wanting to buy a house for my mother so she can be closer to us. We went into a K. Hovnanian Homes community in April and found one my mother really liked. We signed the contract the same day and provided the deposit of $26,850. The main reason we decided to buy the home was the closing date in February ****. Anything sooner would not have been ideal. We told this to the sales agent. After a long process and going back and forth with their preferred lender and them not readily being available, we were denied a loan. Once **** received this denial letter they immediately threatened to cancel the contract and retain our deposit. We told them we had our own lender weve worked with in the past and that we can count on them to get us approved. We started the process with our lender but in the middle of it, we were sent a notice of cancellation for us to sign. We were dumb founded. We did not even get a chance to get approved with our lender (which Im confident we would have, given the chance). Its absurd **** did this and in all my years Ive never seen anything like this. We wrote to them and asked them when can we expect our refund (since they canceled the contract). We were told the refund will be retained. This is absurd. They move the closing timeframe ahead by 3 entire months, then they cancel the contract while were trying to get approved and they tell us our deposit is going to be kept. How is that fair. We did all we had to do. We were in the process of getting approved with our lender. They moved up the closing date. The contract clearly states January 31, ****. But they told us because we didnt meet a contingency date, that our deposit will be kept. We will fight this even if it has to go to litigation. This seems to be their business practice. How do they just cancel a contract when were still in the process of getting approved? We simply want our deposit of $26,850 returned to us for cancelling the contract prematurely.

  Business response

  10/18/2023

  On 4/23/2023 buyers entered into a contract to purchase and build a new home. They provided a loan approval from their chosen lender **************************. At time of contract the estimated completion date was 1/31/2024. From April 2023 through Sept 2023 buyers participated in a pre-construction meeting as well as a pre-drywall orientation and visited the home many times on the weekends. They were well aware that the completion date had been moved up to October 2023. Section 7A on page 6 of our contract addresses completion dates. Page 3 of the purchase agreement establishes a mortgage contingency deadline of 5/28/23, and their lender provided the loan approval within the appropriate time frame. Section G on page 4 of the contract addresses "Purchaser's Default Regarding the Mortgage Contingency". After three months their chosen lender was no longer communicative and buyers chose to apply with K Hovnanian American Mortgage. It was upon this application that it was discovered that the buyers had chosen to purchase another home as an investment property while under contract for their primary home with K Hovnanian Homes. This resulted in them not being able to qualify for their home under construction, thus putting them in default (section 11 page 6) because they failed to perform as outlined in their contract (section L page 5). They were sent an email on 9/11/2023 requesting that they provide a loan approval within 7 days and they never responded to the email or request. K Hovnanian prioritizes our customer relationships, but expects everyone to perform their contractual obligations, which this customer did not do.

  Customer response

  10/19/2023

   
  Complaint: 20732620
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  What the business has stated in their response is false. If they take a look at the my (*******'s and mother's) credit report it will show that the applicant did not buy a home  during that time. As stated to the sales agent, my husband was never going to be on the loan application. So what they said as far as us buying a home in the process is completely false. Furthermore, the builder did not allow us to obtain a loan with our private lender. The loan would have been approved if they gave us the time to do so. They merely decided to cancel the loan without giving us that chance. The cancel document was sent to us almost immediately after receiving a denial letter from the builder's lender. Going to a pre-drywall meeting does not constitute acceptance of a change of closing. The fact that the closing date was moved up was brought to the sales person's attention. The builder's grounds for keeping the ******* money deposit is not fair because of the fact that they decided to cancel the contract before we were able to obtain an approval letter from our private lender. How can we give you something that is not yet complete? I've been doing this for sometime now and I've had people obtain a loan within a week of closing. Today is October 19th. Closing was supposedly set for October 24th. That date has not come yet. So why did they cancel the contract. Even if we had to pay a fee to extend the closing we would have done so because we were sure we were going to get approved. This is absurd and unacceptable. This is not good business practice and we will take this to litigation if need be and will ask for more than our $26,850 if it goes to that.  This is completely absurd that a contract will just get canceled because of one denial letter from the builder's lender. There have been plenty of buyers who have been denied a loan but was able to obtain it from a different lender. This is my issue and the reason why we will not stop disputing this until we have received our deposit back.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  10/23/2023

  The original purchase agreement completed on 4/23/23 at 8:29 pm has one buyer on the contract ***********************, (attached for reference). How is the spouse of the only buyer on the original contract now saying that her husband was never supposed to be on the loan? The contract is not assignable or transferrable, so he would be required to be on the loan as the only original buyer. At time of contract a loan approval was provided by buyers chosen outside lender ************************** (attached). If buyers were approved for the loan on 4/23/23, why are they unable to provide a loan approval from said lender as requested on 9/11/2023? They were given one week to provide something that was provided 4.5 months prior. The buyer and spouse did in fact purchase an investment property on 6/27/2023 (attached) which then resulted in them being unable to secure financing for the home they contracted with K Hovnanian for on 4/23/23. Builder stands by all terms of the contract and respectfully expects that our customers do the same.

  Customer response

  10/24/2023

   
  Complaint: 20732620
  
  

  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  The builder continues to play games and tries to make statements that are not factual. Please find attached the addendum where I was added to the contract as a buyer. Also, please provide proof that I (Cortina) purchased a home that would keep me from being approved for a loan. I did not in fact purchase a home that would keep me from being approved for the loan. Your preferred lender can attest to that by providing you my credit report they pulled. Again, my husband was never going to be on the loan. The house was supposed to be for my mother. You provided the pre-approval that was given to you at the sales office but what you failed to do was write the contract with that lender. The builder insisted that the contract be written with their preferred lender. And if it wasn't for the builder changing the closing date, we wouldn't be at this crossroad. The fact still remains the contract was canceled prematurely way before we could finish the process with my outside lender. We are ready to take this to an attorney if that's what it takes and we will be requesting more than our $26,850 in return. We will ask for attorney fees as well as other compensation. This is ridiculous and seems to be the practice for this builder.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  07/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  House was purchase in October 2014 with a 10 year foundation warranty. There was a leak one year after and they fixed it and now it is leaking again. ***** from **** is stating that it is not their job to fix it, it his their subs. They came and just put some stop leak which didn't work. Really frusted with ****** customer service.

  Business response

  07/14/2023

  Good afternoon,

  Please see attached for our response.

  Thank you,

  Evy

  Customer response

  07/18/2023

   
  Complaint: 20275217
  
  I am rejecting this response because: DELTA MS is saying that they are not going to do anything and to deal with ****. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********

  Business response

  07/20/2023

  Good afternoon,

  Please see attached document for our response.

  
  Thank you,

  Evy

• Initial Complaint

  01/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We did a walk through June 22, 2022 and noticed multiple areas that needed to be fixed. Every baseboard was sliced from the carpet instal, the bathroom sink was too short for the wall and just filled with caulk (attempted to fix but just added more caulk and now its sinking into the 1 inch hole), multiple scratches and chips in my flooring that they refuse to replace, large seams in all the carpeted areas, chips, scratches, and dings to every baseboard and trim. We contacted management numerous times and they have sent people to attempt to fix these issues but made the issue worse as the keep slopping on pain layers instead of fixing the issues. We have been fighting to have these repairs done for about 7 months and still the team Is unable to complete a simple task. I am beyond disappointed in this company and the management.

  Business response

  02/02/2023

  Good afternoon,

  Please see attached for our response.

   

   

  Thank you,

  Evy

  Customer response

  02/21/2023

   
  Reject response. Work that was completed is worse than the original. I ended up with different color carpet, carpet on my stairs that you can see every staple and its too short for the stair, dings in my walls and baseboards from the carpet company. Cracked caulking and painting. The sloppiest caulk work i have ever seen. Paint slapped on baseboards as a fix instead of a repair, areas that clearly were not painted and left cracks in the mounding after a ledge was replaced. 

  Business response

  03/01/2023

  Please see attached response.

   

  Thank you,

  Customer response

  03/02/2023

   
  Complaint: 18934885
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  The work that was done from the issues on our initial walkthrough is unacceptable. I have provided pictures in my initial response. This work was supposed to be completed by a professional and I am appalled by the results we received. Everything that they have touched is so much worse. I can't imagine you would accept these results in your home.  We have not asked for ANYTHING additional as we understand that there is a 1-year warranty.  These issues are still the issues from out June 22, 2022 evaluation. like I have said multiple times, we just want these issues fixed. We have responded to the company regarding the carpet color on 2/22/23 and have an email to confirm they have received our response. 
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  03/15/2023

  Good morning,

   

  Please see attached document for our response.

   

  Thank you,

  ***************************

  Customer response

  03/17/2023

   
  Complaint: 18934885
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I do not think that any homeowner should have to wait one year to have to have issues completed that were a direct result of the builder. Issues that were "addressed" previously are completely unsatisfactory and I cannot believe that the builder would stand behind this work.  These are the same issues that I have asked to be addressed prior to move in date and were not. I would like a qualified person to come fix these issues and then we will gladly be finished with this complaint. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  03/29/2023

  Please see attached for our response.

   

  Thank you,

  ***************************

  Customer response

  03/31/2023

   
  Complaint: 18934885
  
  I am rejecting this response because: unacceptable to make a homeowner wait a year to fix this sloppy work your company has allowed. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  09/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My name is ******************************* and I live at lot 77 in the *********** Community in ************ ** built by K Hovnanian Homes I placed WO# ********* for a leaking shower on 1/26. *********************** (warranty manager) arrived 2/9 and said he would arrange for my shower to be fixed. I have yet to have any work completed and every time I shower, I have to constantly stop and wipe water up off the floor outside the shower to prevent it from going under the trim and into the wall. After our appointment on 2/9 ***** cancelled the ticket for some reason.This has been an issue for more than 10 months. ************ have either not shown after confirming an appt or brought the wrong tile 4 times now. I have had my shower unusable, completely disassembled and sitting in my hallway for over a week now for the 2nd time. *****' manager claims he doesnt have a manager to escalate to and I have reached out to higher *** at K Hovnanian with no resolution still. They refuse to complete the work and/or provide any information regarding the status. Attached is the email chains I've had going for a long time. My shower is completely unusable at this time with no date set for completion.

  Business response

  09/27/2022

  This complaint is filed in the wrong state. It should be filed in ********.

  Customer response

  09/28/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I have filed a complaint in ******** against K. Hovnanian ********************** LLC.
  Sincerely,
  
  ******

• Initial Complaint

  05/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We bought a house in July of 2020 and have had CONSTANT problems with the workmanship of our home. The ** unit used is too small for the size home, the HV** ducts don't circulate air so the bedrooms are HOT in the summer and ICE COLD in the winter, and we have little kids who sleep in these rooms. It's a major safety issue. Plus the ability to get repair work completed is absent. Responses are sparse and the contractors rarely show up and when they do their repairs work is garbage. This builder should NOT be allowed to build any more homes for families of any kind. For the amount spent to build our home, the quality should be better. And this is a consistent complaint throughout the ENTIRE neighborhood with hundreds of homes.

  Business response

  05/24/2022

  Good Afternoon,

   

  Please see attached in response to complaint # ********.

   

  Thank you,

  ***************************

  Customer response

  05/26/2022

   
  Complaint: 17200663
  
  I am rejecting this response because I have reached out to our contact - *** - and have tried to bring this to his attention and nothing has been done. The last request I made through the warranty was not resolved, and never signed off on. Additionally, I had to install space heaters in my childrens rooms in order to keep them warm this winter because nothing has been resolved. I would love for the company to come on our again, but like last time he said theres nothing to do except adjust the dampers which did not work. Unfortunately, its because the furnace and ac are the wrong size for the size home. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Madison *********

  Business response

  06/10/2022

  Good afternoon,

   

  Please see attached in response to this complaint. ID # ********.

   

  Thank you,

  ***************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩