Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 05, 2009 8:32 pm When you purchased land, what conditions did you make the offer/contract subject to? We are considering purchasing a block of land, but not sure what we should specify in the contract.
A builder suggested that we make it subject to the soil test meeting our requirements (and not actually specifying what our requirements are). There are also covenants on the property that we haven't yet seen and would need to run past our builder and solicitor, so do we make the contract subject to those covenants meeting our requirements? Any suggestions on how this could be worded? I know that one of them is to do with the location of the driveway, and another is where the building envelope is on the land. From what I've been told about the covenants, neither should be a problem (but am waiting to see the actual plans in detail). We will definitely need to run the contract past our solicitor before purchasing, but any info and assistance in advance gratefully received! Thinking of building Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 2Jan 05, 2009 8:48 pm We made ours subject to finance obviously and the soil test as the builders had already quoted us on a H and we didn't want to pay any more than that. Luckily it came back an M. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 3Jan 05, 2009 8:59 pm Finance only for peace of mind I wish I had included subject to a soil test - but since the land has not even been titled I do not think it would have flown with the developer as blocks were going quickly. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 4Jan 05, 2009 9:01 pm It depends on how much you want the land and how much the buyer is willing to negotiate.
We made our offer $50K below the asking price for our block but we made it unconditional....no subject to's and any settlement the seller wanted. It was a calculated risk but it worked in our situation ... we got it $40K cheaper with a 14 day settlement. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 5Jan 05, 2009 9:19 pm You should be able to get a copy of the covenants BEFORE you even front up to sign a contract. I had the developer provide me with a copy and took it home to read through thoroughly overnight before returning the next day to sign on the dotted line.
Definitely subject to finance (and specify from which lender and for how much....), and the soil test is a good idea. We also specified that the developer must relocate the driveway crossover - we'd already checked the engineering drawings and found it was on the wrong side. Since the road hadn't been built yet, they were happy to accommodate at no cost. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 6Jan 05, 2009 11:54 pm Yes you can get the covenant before you buy, I made mine subject to finance too.
Do get a solicitor to look over the contract because they had a clause in there that overruled my subject to finance and have to accept their default finance at %5 greater than the commercial rates at the time. Damn scammers. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 7Jan 06, 2009 9:06 am I would definitely do a title search as well as just looking at the covenants.
You could word the offer "Subject to the satisfactory inspection by the purchaser of the certificate of title and any associated covenants on the property" if you want to make the offer before getting your solicitor to check. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 8Jan 06, 2009 3:57 pm Many of the estates that we have spoken with are funny about
subject to conditions such as "soil" as the blocks sell so fast they prefer not to offer this. We wanted to originally put in a "subject to sale of home" clause but the closest they would go to this was "subject to unconditional contract crashing on sale of home" Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 9Jan 06, 2009 6:17 pm You could ask for a "subject to independent valuation" and then pay for a valuation report (about $4-500). This will give you peace of mind that you are paying the correct price and will mean you should not have problems with finance when the bank does their valuation. Re: Buying land: what 'subject to conditions' for the Offer? 10Jan 07, 2009 8:43 pm Definately look at the covenents first!
With our block, our solicitor added a clause into the contract that read something like: "1)this contract is subject to buyer being satisfied as to all soil tests conducted, failing that which the buyer may terminate this contract 2)within 21 days of the seller providing notice that the site indentification pegs are installed 3)and the soil test report being no more than a H or H/E" We originally put in clause 1 and then the seller included 2 and 3, which we wernt completely happy about but they were reluctant to change the contract at all so we though best not to push our luck too far. Was the offer also on their website? If so, you could check the Wayback Machine. 1 715 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 6443 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 24865 |