Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 08, 2010 11:39 am Hi guys just a quick question, basically we're waiting a building licence from the local council (demolished and building in an established suburb in WA) and the builder rang this morning saying that they didn't take into account a covenant on our block which states that the road may be widened in the future, and if so, the council may take ~ 2.5 m off our verge for that purpose. (When we bought our house we were clearly told that by the agent, it was written into the sale contract and we accepted that possibility) Now the builder has asked us to pay another $700 for more paving to the front because they did not take this into account. My question is, is it not their responsibility to find out the covenants on the block? Wouldn't all the preliminary checks (title search, block survey diagram etc) have shown this up? So should we cough up the $700, or try and get them to wear it? Bearing in mind that there's been a few 'blow outs' already along the way (eg: unforseen retaining costs of about $10k) Thanks for reading and hopefully someone has some advice ! ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 2Jul 08, 2010 11:45 am hmmm, I don't know about the builder's responsibilty of finding out covenants on the block... if it's an already established suburb a lot of covenants would have run out by the time a house is old enough to be demolished etc... but I really don't know what the "rule" is here. Hopefully someone else does but if you knew about this covenant, shouldn't you have told your builder? I made sure our builder knew about any easements and all that by telling him myself. I know that doesn't help you now though... If you have already had some unforeseen costs that could have been foreseen by the builder, that you have taken on extra financial responsibilty for, you might have some leverage for negotiation with them here? "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 3Jul 08, 2010 12:17 pm the architect is the person responsible here. They should have been picked up when drawing the house.
This is why they would ask you to provide them with S32 before starting work on the plans. Did the builder quote you off a set of plans?? Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 4Jul 08, 2010 12:39 pm donuts :th: but if you knew about this covenant, shouldn't you have told your builder? I made sure our builder knew about any easements and all that by telling him myself. I know that doesn't help you now though... We have covenants on our place to and mentioned this to our builder when we were extending as a just in case precaution... Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 6Jul 11, 2010 5:44 pm Hi thanks for your responses. I spoke with the shire and its not really a covenant, its called reserved land in case Main Roads decides to widen the road -hope they don't while we're living there! Anyway I talked to our builder and they are going to get back to me about discounting the cost of the paving. I won't count on it but I felt I should let them know I wasn't happy. Its not like we can even juggle the lay out of the house at this late stage its just chopped off the backyard which was small to start with Thanks for your opinions ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 7Jul 11, 2010 6:16 pm Was it on your title though? It should have been a covenant lodged on the title by Main Roads and/or the council. I've read somewhere, possibly in our building contract, that it is up to clients to disclose any covenants/easements/etc to the builder. Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 8Jul 12, 2010 11:50 am Oceanus2 Was it on your title though? It should have been a covenant lodged on the title by Main Roads and/or the council. I've read somewhere, possibly in our building contract, that it is up to clients to disclose any covenants/easements/etc to the builder. This might sound really daft but I haven't read our title, it's an old established suburb and the bank has always held the title, ever since we boughtthe house, and when we refinanced they just transferred it to our new bank! I guess I should've made doubly sure they had checked out the setback, but the contract includes the builder doing all liaison with council and drawing up plans according to local bylaws (eg: zer lot wall guidleines etc) More fool me I suppose ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 9Jul 12, 2010 1:23 pm Yeh, the bank will always hold the original title if there is a mortgage (the banks put a caveat on it for the mortgage), but your settlement agent should have given you a copy of it. You can buy a copy of the title that will show any covenants, easements, caveats, etc from Landgate. Hopefully it will be all sorted out soon and you can move ahead Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: question about builder error re: setback of house 10Jul 13, 2010 4:23 pm Thanks I hope so too ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 5854 This was on google. Development controls 2.3.1 Front setback D1 New buildings within residential areas shall adhere to a front building line, which is 5.5-6m to the… 1 2718 |