Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 03, 2013 4:52 pm Hi All, I am building with HBC in Vic, in the Livingston estate in Cranbourne East. We put a deposit down on a lot in February. I just received a call from the land office that titles will be completed at the end of September and settlement will happen 2 weeks after that. Originally titles were due in October and our pre-construction consultant advised once this happens, they will do the soil tests, permits etc and construction should be ready to begin late December. So my questions are: What does "land settlement" involve exactly? and what are the "etc" items...soil tests and what else? We have formal approval already on a house/land packaged loan so my understanding is we are paying interest only until construction when the progress payments will begin. Does the interest only commence from "settlement?" I guess I am looking for a bit of a timeline of events up until construction because I am not sure what takes so long between titles and construction. Thanks in advance! Re: What does land settlement involve? 2Sep 03, 2013 7:05 pm Basically at settlement, the Certificate of Title for the land is handed over to your settlement agent/solicitor in exchange for the cost of the land and any other fees associated with the purchase. Typically this is paid for by your bank issuing a cheque to the other party. Your banks settlement office will contact you prior to all this to sign documents such as the mortgage, and other documents giving them permission to act on your behalf. There are fees for doing this as well as fees for bank cheques, preparation of mortgage documents, transfer of title, registration of title, registration of mortgage, stamp duty, etc... These are paid for at settlement as well and come out the loan or your savings. Settlement is a physical exchange of documents (Title, cheques, receipts, etc). Because your bank has given you a loan to purchase the land, they then take the certificate of title and register their name as an interested party on the title (ie the Mortgagee) so even though your name is registered on the title as owner, because the bank is registered as the mortgagee, they hold the title as security over the loan. You won't see the Certificate of Title until you repay the loan, and the bank de-registers the mortgage. The process of registering your name as title holder on the Certificate of Title and the bank as mortgagee is done at the Land Titles office by your banks' settlements office shortly after settlement. When settlement occurs, your bank has drawn down part of your loan (Assuming a house and land loan) and it is form this date interested will start to be calculated on the outstanding loan amount. You should also note, that banks will only allow you to draw down the loan after you have contributed to your agreed share of the total land/house package. So for example, if the combined land/house package is $500,000, and you are contributing $50,000 of your own savings; therefore borrowing $450,000. At settlement, the land will cost $200,000, the bank will only draw down $150,000 of the loan, so you need to make sure your $50,000 is available. Interest will be calculated on $150,000. Your builder cannot legally commence any works until you become the registered owner of the land described on the Certificate of Title. Soil tests are done by the builder to determine the conditions of your block for the purpose of determining any special footings/slab design required. Permits are required by local councils and other authorities which give permission to you, via the builder, to build your house. All plans are submitted by the builder to the local council and must be approved before the building permit is issued. Water authorities are also contacted by the builder to arrange connected the water tap and meter. It takes time for permits to be organised, mainly due to councils checking plans before issuing permits, the builder needs to finalise plans, order materials and organise trades, etc It sounds like a lot, and it is, but your bank will arrange everything to do with the loan and settlement, and your builder will do the footwork regarding soil tests, building permits, etc.. Re: What does land settlement involve? 3Sep 03, 2013 8:10 pm Thank you so much for that detailed explanation. I understand the process much better now! Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: What does land settlement involve? 5Sep 27, 2013 9:55 am Thank you for this we will be going through settlement soonish (we hope) and that was a geat way of putting some very confusing info! My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70636&p=1161767#p1161767 Re: What does land settlement involve? 6Sep 27, 2013 5:17 pm i bought a land that is already registered. shall i start shopping for a builder or do i need to wait until the contract is settled after 42 days? As per OurLindrum52's detailed explanation, it seems like it will take a while for council to approve the plans from the builder. I've just built 3 stairs off a landing out the back and been told by the private certifier I need hand rails sorry tried to attach a pic but couldn't mine don't have sides… 5 5704 i had the my concreters concrete right up to the fence. I have pits all along my path, so the water tends to drain away from the house and into the pits. There's only one… 7 12711 Depends how much direct sun it gets. Is there any shading (eaves or trees)? If the sun hits a window directly it doesn't matter too much if it's double or single… 1 12645 |