Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 08, 2009 11:56 am Hi Everyone, I'm not sure if this topic has been covered before. I'm chasing the FHOG before the due date (praying that it gets extended by the govt). What checks do I need to do before I purchase a Land? I dont want to make any fatal mistakes which will cost me $$ eg like zoning, building restrictions, flood affected etc. As an example, say I find land (norwest / blacktown area in sydney) and I'm happy with the size and location before I start negotiating with the realestate agent/developer (or giving a holding deposit) what kind of checks do I need to do on the land? Do I do this my self or do I hire someone? Thanks. Paul Building at Kellyville Ridge - First Home buyer 11/5/10 - Port-a-loo delivered hahahaha 14/5/10 - Land was scraped (NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THIS UNWANTED DIRT) 20/5/10 - Concrete Piers all 45 of them. 21/5/10 - Plumbing 27/5/10 - concrete slab completed Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 2Apr 08, 2009 12:06 pm Easements - real estate agent can tell you these, if any. Soil tests - fairly common here for land sales to be conditional pending results of soil tests, which you would have to pay someone to do. I am presuming you have an aproximate or exact house which you are planning to build - obviously check that the house will fit on the land, allowing for council regulations like distance from boundary.As well as any specific council/estate regulations - many development estates have quite specific and pedantic regulations. Re zoning - if you are planning to build a house on it, you would need the land to be zoned residential - not industrial or commercial - however this is usually obvious by the location - ie a vacant block in a residential area would hardly be zoned industrial. Again real estate agent can tell you this though. Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 3Apr 08, 2009 12:18 pm Obtain a copy of the Contract and examine the Section 149 certificate in it which is issued by council. This will show the zoning of the block and the permitted use, as well as flood/bushfire prone areas. It may also be wise to contact council and ask about recent DA's approved in the area surrounding the block - last thing you want is for there to be an all-night truck depot at the end of your street. Also check the contract for any easements/covenants/caveats. If you don't understand these, take it to a solicitor or conveyancer for advice before signing. Beware of real estate agents with imaginary law degrees . Contrary to popular belief, licensed conveyancers are qualified to give legal advice on property. If all of your initial enquiries, including soil tests, etc, come back satisfactory, then upon exchange of contracts (signing and paying deposit) your solicitor/conveyancer will then make enquiries to relevant government authorities to ensure that there is no proposed road widening, or any plan for compulsory aquisition of your land, etc. If any of these come back with negative results, you have the right to pull out of the contract prior to settlement and at most you will forfeit your deposit paid - which is far better than paying $300K for a block which is just going to be aquired to build an airport on. Oh and btw, "Mabo and the vibe of the thing" will not stand up as a legal argument IRL Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 4Apr 10, 2009 2:17 am Thanks Helyn and Principessa for that info. This gives me a pretty good idea now on what to do when I start looking for land. Shissh I had no Idea it was going to be this much effort in building a new home. But I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. Do you reckon I need to be as cautious even if i'm purchasing land directly from the developer (L@ndCom), I've inquired with the people at "The Ponds" which is the booming development here in my area and they said my initial holding deposit holds the land for 21 days. In this 3 weeks will it be sufficient time for me to do all these checks and for all people to get back to me with the results? Building at Kellyville Ridge - First Home buyer 11/5/10 - Port-a-loo delivered hahahaha 14/5/10 - Land was scraped (NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THIS UNWANTED DIRT) 20/5/10 - Concrete Piers all 45 of them. 21/5/10 - Plumbing 27/5/10 - concrete slab completed Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 5Apr 10, 2009 10:37 am I'm not sure how long soil reports take - we didn't do this as we bought a house/land package with fixed footing costs. Sometimes when you are buying from a developer they have already had soil reports done which they make available to you before purchase. If these are done by an independent company, I would be happy to accept them without getting them done myself. Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 6Apr 10, 2009 2:09 pm We also bought in The Ponds. The Landcom contract was relatively straight forward. I did my own conveyance and while I managed to negotiate minor things on a few of the special conditions, Landcom pretty much won't budge on anything. We put down our holding deposit and were given 21 days to exchange from the date the contract was received. This will usually be sent straight to your solicitor/conveyancer who will get you to come in and go through the entire contract with you (special conditions, zoning, permitted use, easements, etc. The Ponds contracts also include the Design Guidelines). If for any reason you no longer wish to go ahead, at worst you've lost $300 or whatever it is these days. But yeah, we found the 21 days plenty of time to get our finance in order and do what we needed to do. We didn't bother getting soil tests prior to purchasing our block. Our builder did this for us during the tender stage. Almost every block in The Ponds has come back as "H" class which does incur additional site costs. Bear in mind that the price increase for H class soil ranges from $3,000 to $10,000+ depending on what builder you choose. It pays to do your homework! Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 7Apr 14, 2009 12:38 am Thanks again Helyn and Principessa I went out today and got some price list at The Ponds and Kellyville Ridge Estate. Wish me luck and hopefully I can snap up a decent priced parcel of land. Good luck with the Build Principessa hope all goes well and delivered in time. Building at Kellyville Ridge - First Home buyer 11/5/10 - Port-a-loo delivered hahahaha 14/5/10 - Land was scraped (NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THIS UNWANTED DIRT) 20/5/10 - Concrete Piers all 45 of them. 21/5/10 - Plumbing 27/5/10 - concrete slab completed Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 8Apr 14, 2009 9:46 am Good luck! Let us know how you go Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: Buying Land - What checks do I need to do? 9Jan 15, 2012 7:21 pm Check my answer in this thread http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=53515&p=819787#p819787 13-08 Moved in 13-05 Build restart 13-04 VMIA compensation 12-08 Builder liquidation 12-03 Fixing 11-12 Lockup 11-11 Frame 11-09 Slab 11-09 Start 11-07 Contract 10-11 2K deposit 10-06 Titled land 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 6435 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 24845 13 6631 |