if construction of new condo is poor how can it get back deposit

Read your contract. Call your lawyer. Good luck.

very good question. I am about to do my walkthrough and am worried about finding serious issues. Please keep us posted on your matter.

No worries. The walk through is there to eliminate issues. Make sure you tell the sales agent that you want the place finished and cleaned. That way you can better identify the issues. You can add all issues on a punch list that is signed off by you and indicates what work you require from the sponsor. In terms of actual construction of the building, check the plan details. It states all details on how and what was (or is supposed to be) built.
At time of closing you should only have to worry about what you can see in the rooms, not have to worry about what is behind the walls. If you do worry ask a lot of questions.

Walk Through:
Go through every room and look at every finish, appliance, installation. Also walk through every room again and check the flooring (cracks?broken tile?gloss?), and walk again to check the ceiling

Some things to check (this is just a ruff idea):
outlets
water - warm cold
heat/AC
flooring
windows - open close isolation
all appliances should work - request the instructions and warranties should be issued for date of closing (otherwise you end up with a 1 year warranty for an appliance that the sponsor bought 1 year ago)
walls should be painted - call out stains, scratches
surfaces should be buffed - call out stains, scratches
intercom - buzzer
door bell
make sure all appliances and installations detailed in the plan are in the apartment. Best to take plan and check that your appliances are similar to what is stated in the plan.

Also be sure to check common areas. The Sponsor has to finish the common areas otherwise you will end up paying for finishes once the sponsor left - roof,storage,garage,entrance,hallways,gym,childcare,pool, elevator and others

Hope this helps,
Good luck

and bring a camera.

i am scheduled to close in a month. In one of my earlier visits to my unit ( new development) i have found that the flooring is not perfectly levelled at places. - I see that at places the baseboard of the wall does not flish with the floor. Also the fridge is not standing parallel to the wall next to it!! Are these normal flooring issues? Or potentially very serious?

coverdrive...that would certainly piss me off. I look at it like this...if you bought a new car and the dealer drove it around the front for you to pick up...and it had 2 dents in it...would you take it? I'd want the dents taken out of course.
In my opinion...the apartment better be mint or there will be hell to pay.

which is also why I would hire professional inspector to do the walk through with you. Malreaux suggested Accurate Building Inspectors, who I plan on using.

But in a new development, don't some of these "common sense" rules not apply? In other words, if you're in contract with no mortgage contingency aren't your rights limited? I'm very curious to see comments specific to new developments.

I think the problem is going to be more pronounced. If people were having a difficult time getting the developers to deliver the units in pristine condition when they were making money hand over fist, just think about when they are losing money.

Worse yet, it might situations where the property was foreclosed so either the bank or a vulture fund might be delivering the units.

To the OP I doubt a long punch list is sufficient to get you out of your purchase agreement.

coverdrive... what ended up happening to you? did you get the floors leveled????

Call your lawyer ASAP and insist that everything be "fixed" when you do the walk thru. Unfortunately, a lot of new developments don't end up delivering on the finished product. I can't tell you how many ppl I know who either bought or rented in new developments and after a couple of months complain about the floors not being leveled or of the inferior quality of the finishes. This might be a little off point but I would think that your real issue would be that the market dropped since you signed the contract and that you might be paying more than what the apt is worth today? I went to a company training event given by a RE lawyer who handles a lot of our deals and basically the lawyer said his office is bombarded with calls everyday from buyers who are looking to get out of their contracts and want to get their deposits back. 99% of the time they're able to walk away from the deal or re-negotiate the price with the developer. The attorney general is on the side of the purchasers and not the developers.
sophia.anzaroot@elliman.com

thanks for the quick punchlist, Buyhouse! I'll be doing my walkthrough in about a month and that will really come in handy.

sue

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/8091-plaza-penthouse-buyer-gets-out-of-contract

Soph - any suggestions on how to get out a new development contract - did this lawyer have any good ideas?