HI I have put a deposit in for a house being purchased off the plan in victoria and was provided with what me and my solicitor consider a substandard contract prepared by the vendors convayencer. We have put in a couple of clauses of our own and am waiting a reply from the vendor. My deposit was put in september , I was after the plans and specifications for the house as well as schedule and finishes..was given the run around by the realestate agent for a while, my lawyer got involved and finally dealt with the sales manager off the agency who agreed that we should be provided with what we were looking for..I have given the vendors convayencer about 10 days now and will be contacting them tomorrow to see what progress we have made, in the mean time the average price of property has increased by about 75k to 100k. One of my fears is that if they refuse to present me with the plans and specifications i will be losing about 100K profit, at the same time dont want to be caught up with problems down the road with the building if the contract is not purchaser friendly.
Any advice ??If you haven't recieved full documentation as to the inclusions, how do you know what you are buying? Is there any way of incorporating the council approved house plans, spec & schedule of finishes as an attachment to the purchase contract? is there a copy of the builder's home warranty insurance attached as well?
A lack of these documents will lead to disagrements at settlement. It may be worth contacting VCat to find out what the obligations on the vendor/developer are?
Worst case, go to Council & view the planning permit file. Ask Council if they can provide you with a copy of the plan (some will for a nominal fee). If not, note the name of the architect on the plans & contact them direct to purchase a copy of the plan.
Yes normally most of the permits can be found through the counsil for a small fee but why would you bother.
Approx 2 years ago I purchased a house off the plans from a local real estate agent and had my solicitor read the vendors statement (S32). The building contract didn't exist. When we asked for it there were excuses. We walked away.
Today the house has been built and somebody lives there but I would never allow myself to be vulnerable to situations like that.I am now a real estate agent and your S32 – its contents are your protection . It allows you to sue for damages if needed. It may work out to be fine but are you willing to gamble with incomplete contracts? I'm not cause there are too many sharks out there.
Of course you should always seek legal advise.
Any luck yet?
I would definetly be checking with the council as they may be putting conditions into the convenent which may affect the house design and plans anyway. I would be seeking legal advice about it in relation to progressive payments and what happens if it falls over. You would want to retain the land and not to have paid out too much so you could afford to hire a builder to finish the house. Some of these off the plan arrangements have had troubles with construction timing so i would allow extra time on it.
I also have seen a few real estate agent developers use sub standard agreements to save money.We have just walked away from a site that the vendors solicitor was unwilling/unable to provide full documentation for – a few particularities with the site for which we were well aware eg major power easement.
I have to be sure that the exit strategy will hold up prior to tying up my capital – if it is made too difficult for me to buy, what chance have I got to unload it if push came to shove?
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