Hi everyone,
Does anyone know anything or have experience with obtaining a licence to occupy? I need to access a property during the settlement period (30 days) to do some renovations and tidy up. I read a renovating book that said this can be negotiated in the contract so you don’t have to wait until settlement to start work on the house…
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Lena
Hi Lena.
With our latest purchase we asked our solicitor to seek a letter from the vendor’s solicitor to allow us in to begin renovating in the month leading up to settlement. We were flying to the US the day after settlement for two weeks and wanted to make a start so most of the work was done and we didn’t have it all ahead of us straight after a big holiday.
Our solicitor suggested we approach the vendor privately as she said in her experience, once she asks the vendor’s solicitor formally, nine times out of ten they say no.
We asked the real estate agent to approach the vendor who was more than willing to sign a letter allowing us entry and keys and visited us a couple of times during the renovation and at the end.
Of course, once we had started ripping out walls and pulling out bathrooms, and spending our own money on the house, I got a little nervous in case there was a hitch in the settlement, but all was good.
So my suggestion is to get a letter direct from the vendors or via the real estate agent rather than try to get two solicitors to agree.
Good luck, Wylie.
Hi Wylie,
Thanks for your advice, that’s great. We are nervous about this so in order to keep our sanity, we will do the minor things first and begin getting quotes for renos during the settlement period. I’m not in the position where I can fully renovate a house that I don’t techincally own, even though the risk is small, it’s still there! But I don’t think removing wallpaper, painting and polishing floorboards will be that costly so we can start there. Thanks again!
Lena [builder]
In most cases, it’s a standard contract you can get from your solicitor or conveyancor [biggrin]
Investment Property Management
http://www.adprop.com.au
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