Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 30, 2013 1:31 pm There is a vacant old house with 10 acres next door to me and i'm thinking of buying it to just hold on to. The main benefit being i wont ever have a neighbour (the other side is a road) but I could also renovate the place and get a rental income perhaps. My thoughts are that if I can pick it up for a bargain that one day i'll obviously sell it, and I dont want to find that i'm stuck with it for the these potential issues: 1. I believe there is a water way/drainage that passes through the land that might prevent someone or me knocking down the little house and putting something new/bigger there in the future. 2. The land needs clearing and there are vegetation/tree orders in our area that might make this difficult. Obviously i'm trying to avoid landing a turkey that i can never sell. What/who/where should be my first port of call for trying to establish my risk levels? Not sure what to do as the first step? Re: Buying the land next door - first steps? 2Jul 30, 2013 3:42 pm Its not clear from your post whether this place is on the market or not but if so, the contract would have part of the answer to your first question. If its not on the market - the contract (sewer diagram) from when you bought your place should at least tell you where your sewer etc is running and this might include your neighbours plot as well. Mine shows the whole block of around 25 houses around me. For the second point, you might need to check with council for what they would normally allow in terms of tree removal and get some rough quotes from an arborist. If you dont have a contract - your best starting point would be council and checking your local development control plans and maybe purchasing a copy of the 149 certificate relevant to the property- again if you have one for own block (from your contract) that is not too old it should be fairly similar. Best of luck, I hope it works out for you. http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Buying the land next door - first steps? 4Jul 31, 2013 1:22 pm Hi Benflux, Always hard to know what the issues & overlays of a block might be. One of the best starting points (In Victoria) is a great website http://www.land.vic.gov.au/. In other states there should be something similar. Basically this site will allow you to do a property search & discover what overlays may be affecting the particular block. It’s great that you’re aware of the problems with easements (water way), and you should look at other issues that may be present on the title for the block. Things like covenants & Sec 173 agreements. These will be clearly listed in the vendor’s statement. Robbie is right – council is another great place to start. Another great resource for finding out about services is Dial Before You Dig - http://www.1100.com.au/ Happy researching & hope this helps Patrick Boucher Edited by Forum Support i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16010 Following these simple steps will help you mitigate unwanted costs, have your expectations met and give… 0 4538 Yeah I don't know why I came to a forum. Place is full of wierdos/pedos thought internet may help but I suppose I'll try my luck with someone in person. Cheers. I tried… 0 6444 |