Browse Forums Buying Land 1 Jan 04, 2022 10:57 am Hello to All, This is my first in the forum. We bought a 11 X 40 sqm land in Brisbane, QLD. It went through and got settled. Immediately, we started looking for builders. Builder A was charging us 40+K for the earthworks, site costs, retaining walls. While Building B was charging us closed to 70+K for the same. We were really confused why the site costs was that steep. We then found out that the land has a 3M upward (from the road to the back) slope from the cadastral survey done by both builders (after spending 5K). It was then we realised that the Disclosure Plan provided to us by the land developer, did not contain the actual cadastral survey information which will tell the slope of the land (I don't know what you call this). The Disclosure Plan only contains the lot orientation, referring to North, lot number and lot dimension. THUS, we thought we were buying a flat land. We obviously saw the land and didn't really notice the slope. It looks fairly flat to me =). Also the agent did not mention anything about the land having a 3M slope. It might be a fault on our part, but we are first time home owners and didn't know any better. It was also the first and only time we came across a Disclosure plan which didn't have the cadastral survey information as all the others we've seen have these information so we actually feel we were deceived and misled by the developer into thinking we have bought a flat land. It was also the same PD we provided to the builders to base their building quotes on. So imagine the surprise after spending 5K to do their costing with their own survey and being slap with the site costs. We have been avoiding sloping blocks for almost 2 years because we knew of the site costs involved and it's funny we still ended up, unknowingly, buying one in the end. If we were provided with the information we wouldn't have bought this lot as it also wasn't cheaper than the others. Now we are lost on how to proceed. I certainly do not want to spend a 100 grand for site costs but we are stuck with it. I want to know my options and any advice is really appreciated. Should I engage legal help on this? OR is there any government agency I can talk to regarding my situation? Thank you and happy new year! Re: Need advice-Developer deception in Disclosure plan 2Jan 04, 2022 9:57 pm I think this unfortunately a case of buyer beware. You saw the lot and assumed all land is flat unless otherwise stated which was not a safe assumption to make. Most blocks have some fall, and building to suit the slope with a split level home can give you lots of options for a more interesting house. Sorry, it would be different if you were deliberately misled. Re: Need advice-Developer deception in Disclosure plan 3Jan 05, 2022 8:29 am Hey arth_of_war Welcome to the forum Pity you only discovered the forum now otherwise you would have got your own contour survey, title check and geotechnical assessment done prior to the purchase. OT, I always remember the words of my geotechnical professor who said "I can never understand why land purchases refuse to pay for proper inspections.............." How very true. Land developers always with hold information and make changes particularly when they start running out of money during the development stage. Rule of thumb The bigger the purchase item the greater the Due Diligence if you can't afford the extra costs now put it back on the market Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Need advice-Developer deception in Disclosure plan 4Jan 05, 2022 4:41 pm 3m rise across 40m is quite a lot, i'm surprised you haven't spotted it, cause you'd be able to see the end of your lot being way above your eye level. anyway, depending on what kind of house you're building and where you want it positioned on the lot, you could ask the builder to just level/retain that part. you may still end up wanting to level the rest of it later to make that space usable, but it would be less investment upfront 6 55869 Levelling compound Ardit is the best but buy a bag of sand and make sand dam to protect your wood floor 2 15395 XCEM Alpha flooring seems to relatively new and I could not found any reviews. Have you or someone you know have used it and would recommend over other subfloor options?… 2 7712 |