Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 16, 2012 5:51 pm Our new house currently under construction was vandalised last weekend. Two days later the builder issued a certificate of occupancy. We have not been given a hand over date. We have been advised that because the certificate of occupancy has been issued we are now liable for any further damage that could occur from theft or vandalism. The bank has told us we now have to insure the property. We cannot get insurance as the building is unoccupied and unsecured due to the vandalism. We have no idea how long repairs will take. We can't protect or secure the building as we do not have possesion of the building. Has anyone got any advice as to what we need to do? Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 2Jun 16, 2012 6:10 pm Oh dear, that is not good. I would not have thought the certificate would be issued without both yourself and the builder completing a walkthrough beforehand. You can't protect nor insure the property if you have not had handover and don't have keys or access. Sounds a bit suspicious to me. Contact the department of fair trading if in NSW or equilivant if in another state. Get legal advice if they can't help. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 3Jun 16, 2012 6:22 pm Thanks for your reply Onewheel. We are in Victoria and have contacted the building dept of Consumer Affairs Victoria who are sending out paperwork for us to fill in. In the meantime we are stressing about having such a expensive asset uninsured. Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 5Jun 16, 2012 11:08 pm Hi Jodge, No we have not had handover or even given a date for handover. We thought the same as you, that we would not be liable till handover. Both our bank and Consumer Affairs have said we are liable on issue of the certificate of occupancy. The problem is that the certificate of occupancy has been issued now and not in the usual timeframe of a few days before handover. Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 6Jun 16, 2012 11:13 pm Then maybe you can contest the certificate of occupancy? As it's obvious that the house isn't ready for you to occupy as the builder hasn't finished? Just out of curiosity. . . how far are you from finishing? Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 7Jun 16, 2012 11:24 pm I'm sorry , I must be missing something here ? Certificat means finished and KEYS Is the house lockable. Is there hot running water? Cos no judge in court in OZ will ever grant a house live able without this especially if you have children. One cannot move in until after handover or take any possession until final payment , builders set this kind of shiitte up to protect themselves, so use it against them. Again , sorry but this don't make any sense. More info required ? Stage ? Timeline Aug 08-Land Mar 09-Demo/Titles Sept 10-Handover No1 Sept 11-Handover No2 April 12-Sold No2 Aug 14-Land/Demo Jan 15-Slabs viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25736 Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 8Jun 17, 2012 7:05 am Your council issues the occupancy certificate to builder. I would suggest you discuss the situation with them and enquire why they have issued it when the house is unfinished and has not been handed over yet. Put everything in writing to your builder with dates and details of discussions you have had with relevant authorities and see if you rattle their cage. Something very fishy going on there.... Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 9Jun 17, 2012 8:41 am Hi in-dire straits You worry too much because you have been misled by the builder. Builder is responsible for your house until the day of handover. If the house has been vandalised it's his problem. Anything that happens to the home before handover will be covered by builder's construction insurance. You have to have your own insurance kicking in on the day of handover, and that's when you should be moving in The fact that builder has misled you is wrong, inexcusable and totally unprofessional. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 10Jun 17, 2012 9:12 am Basically Occupancy Certificate is only confirming certain items have been completed - not the whole building contract. I recently posted a fair bit of information about the difference between Occupancy Certificate and Completion on my blog here: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=1926 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 11Jun 17, 2012 5:11 pm Thank you everyone for your replies. Jodge - in reply to your question- how far are we from finishing - prior to the vandalism we had our walk through with the site supervisor pointing out the items that needed to be fixed. The quality I must say has been very good, and up until now we have been very happy with our builder. The main issue we had on our walk through was that the wrong sized tile was used in one of the showers and behind the basins. We were waiting on a reply from the builder about this issue when the vandalism occured. Now we don't know how long it will take the builder to fix the damaged caused by the vandalism. Building expert - it is the bank that told us we need to insure the house now because the cert of occupancy was issued and this was confirmed by my conversation with someone at Consumer Affairs. We are waiting on the builder to return the call we made to him the other day. Hope to speak to him this week and also find out why the broken window has not been repaired making the house unsecure. Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 12Jun 17, 2012 5:22 pm How far is your house in being finished? Building with Jandson Homes - Eclipse 18. http://adgnetworks.blogspot.com/ Re: Certificate of occupancy has been issued following vanda 13Jun 17, 2012 6:48 pm Don't know which Contract you have but the Standard HIA contract says the builder is responsible until HANDOVER. Clause 20 I would be seeing a lawyer. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Congratulations! Nice to put that to bed before christmas, now you can relax 3 7133 We are in NSW and require 2 positive covenants to be placed on the property didnt really underdtand this but apparently it will take a few months, and have just been… 2 7434 0 5668 |