I have an IP that I will subdivide early next year and put 2-3 townhouses on, the next door neighbour on the corner is owned by the Government and is falling down and needs repairs to shared fence etc.. Both my property and next doors are both titled dual occupancy (only ones in the street) which would be great to develop both at the same time.
My questions are has anyone on the forum approached a Gov agency to purchase the property that is not advertised for sale and do you need to guarantee that one of the units be kept to rent for low income earners? And what was your approach to the Gov agency when asking them to sell?
Cheers
Jenny1
Hi Jenny1,
I am just in the process of buying some land of the City Council, only thing is most Govt departments will not sell to just anyone, even if you are the neighbour. They will sell it by either tender or auction, in my case they could only sell it to me as it had no road frontage, no other neighbours and was no use to them. Still took 6 months to negotiate the sale. If you approach them and they are interested in selling, ask them to have it valued at your expense and let them know you will pay valuation price, I found it a strange experience as you are dealing with staff not your normal vendor, so they usually don’t play the negotiation game, just thats the valuation price, we don’t care if you won’t pay it.
Good luck
Dondjr
Thank you Don for your helpful reply, did it take you long to get through to the decision maker also did you put your offer in writting?
Thanks
Jenny
Jenny1
Hi Jenny,
Offer was in writting, was rejected first time as too low and after some hagling and new offer was accepted next time. Still has to go to next level as we are talking Govt here, nothing gets decided until the bloke in charge has the final say. I bought property in March and have been told its still going through and will have the final answer in Dec this year, something about a guy going on holidays for a month. Can’t rush these things as someone might get a sweat up in the office.Don
djr
Don,
Governments are renowned for their red tape and the fact that pieces of paper just sit in someones intray for months before it makes it’s way to the top of the pile[confused2].
What are you doing with the land?
Good luck
Jenny1
Hi Jenny,
I have 1000sqm with 2 bed house on it, Council have 470sqm and I will be reconfiguring the boundaries so I will end up with 1000sqm with no house and 470 sqm with house. The only thing I have to move is some small sheds and cloths line. I will sell the house first to release some cash and then build on the block of land before selling it, hoping to make 150k out of the whole project as its only 9klm from town.
Regards
Dondjr
Hi Jenny,
Most govt depts I have dealt with have a written policy and/or process for handling of land sales. Ask the dept you are dealing with for a copy of this. In my experience they are happy to oblige. There may also be governing legislation that you should familiarise yourself with.
First thing you need to establish is why they own the site, and whether the need for ownership still exists. If this is the case, write a letter stating that if the land becomes surplus, you would have an interest in purchasing it, so they can keep this on file if things change.
If the land is surplus, definitely make your request to purchase in writing. It’s likely that you’ll need to make a case as to why it should be offered to you and not as an open market sale. Make sure you tailor your letter to address their policy guidelines – this would make it easier for them to make a case on your behalf.
Based on your description of the site, it sounds to me like they’d get their best return at a public auction and would be inclined (if not required by policy/legislation) to do this.
However, it may be that your request gets them looking at disposing of a piece of land that was way down their agenda (i.e. sell sooner), and at least you’ll get an opportunity to purchase at auction/private sale that you wouldn’t have had for a long time if the property remained under their radar.
In defence of govt departments, the reason land sales often take time is because there are strict auditing requirements to ensure that land owned by public authorities isn’t sold “under the counter” at “mates rates”, thereby ripping off the ratepayers/taxpayers whose money purchased the land in the first place. Personally, I appreciate this protection.
Good luck and I hope your plan falls into place!
Leila
[smiling]
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