Some doubts after landscaping appointment

Today I went to builder's landscaping appointment but got some doubts after it.

1. Builder's landscaping consultant tole me I cannot get the occupancy certificate until getting the landscaping all done. I feel quite strange.
Firstly because of financial issue, I plan to do the landscaping gradually after the completion of the house with a view to relieve the stress on finance.
As he said, I cannot get the occupancy certificate (cannot live in) until getting the landscaping all done? Is that reasonable? I saw many nearby houses being occupied with ongoing landscaping.
So I wonder is it a common rule?

2. The consultant told me developer requires a tree being supplied in the front yard for each house. It sounds a little 'funny'
Is it common?


Thank you.

1. That's stretching the truth. You need your storm water and possibly ag drainage set up as per the site/construction plans, but aside from that there shouldn't be any other local council/developer requirements to formally complete your landscaping before you move in (most covenants do specify a time period within which you must complete your front landscaping to contribute to the "amenity" of the street though).

If you are on a "showcase" street then that time period within which you can do your landscaping might be a bit tighter than normal, but I haven't ever heard a covenant that requires full landscaping to be completed before the certificate of occupancy is handed over.

It sound to me like the builder's "landscape consultant" might be trying to force you into using their services, which is poor form imo. The only time I could see this as being a reasonable course of action is if the developer is also the builder and you're buying a house in a boutique development where everything is done by the developer.

2. This is actually a fairly common thing nowadays, but the definition of a "tree" is quite a wide ranging one - indeed they probably don't want you to put what will eventually be a whopping 30 metre tall eucalypt in your front yard if it's the standard 5-6 metre setback arrangement, as it will push up driveways/footpaths and get under your slab and into drains and sewer pipes...

Check you estate covenants. Quite often there is a requirement to have the front yard landscaped before you can move in. We had this in our estate but everyone simply ignored it and both the developer and the council didn't try and enforce it. If othere in the area have already moved in without landscaping you may be able to claim that a precedent has been set.

Every covenant is different for sure. My neighbour is building and they have to have a tree out the front, and they have to lay turf. No grass seed allowed..

We had to leave a fairly substantial deposit when we settled on our land. Thats held by the developer to ensure that we finalise our front yard within 3 months of moving in. It works well i think as the whole estate looks established a lot faster. There is only 1 or 2 residents that i can see so far that have not cared about their cash

As for needing a garden before they issue an occupancy certificate..... it sounds a bit far fetched but it is something that your conveyancer should have made you aware of when purchasing the land. It may be part of the estates requirements and something you should look into. It would be as simple as calling the sales office if its still around. A sales person would be able to tell you straight away if it is or not

Trees, we need to plant 5 decent sized trees on our block. They want natives that have the pottential to grow to over 6 metres. I dont really want large trees on my block so i plan to keep them small Just because they have the pottential doesnt mean i have to let them

Thanks all. The build is different from the developer for my land. I just checked with the developer.

He told me, tree supply, yes. In terms of occupancy certificate, the developer doesn't know. He suggested me to ask council or builder.

It sounds very suspicious to me. Occupancy certificates are usually issued before landscaping is complete, but with the condition that landscaping be completed within some period of time. No-one really enforces the time period though.

So I'm inclined to agree with cmhamilton - the builder may have a hidden agenda, such as wanting you to do landscaping through them.

probably too late to comment here, however I have a similar issue. My planning permit says that "before the dwelling can be occupied, all works, including lanscaping must be completed". I am with Monash council in Victoria. No mention about the fact that we have 3 months to complete the landscaping after moving in.

I've recently built in Sydney in a fairly new estate and was required to complete our landscaping before our OC was issued.

I'm sure there are estates that are more lenient, it just depends on how you choose to abide by it... In my case, we can't request rubbish bins from council until our OC is issued (so as you can see, it's all connected somehow... very inconvenient. We also planned to do it after moving in and at our own pace).

Additionally the developer LendLease/Delfin is holding a bond, which we get back on approval by the Design co-ordinator once we get our OC and the council is holding another bond - but only after 12 months is it returned, granted our landscaping remains intact per the requirements.