Browse Forums Buying Land 1 Aug 08, 2020 5:47 pm My husband and I are considering buying a new house and land package in Melbourne. We are thinking of going with Metricon and one of their "home solution" packages. The land is due to be titled late 2021 which gives us time to save the rest of the deposit. All seemed to be going well until we got the contract of sale for the land from the developer. We were told by the person who sold us the package at Metricon that the most we would stand to lose would be $5000, the initial deposit, should something happen between now and settlement, after I expressed our concerns given the (at the time) newly re-instated stage 3 restrictions. (As I write this we are now in stage 4 restrictions!) The part of the contract that concerned us, and our solicitor, is special condition 28.4 which states: If the contract ends by a default notice given by the vendor: (a) the deposit equal to 10% of the price is forfeited to the vendor as the vendor’s absolute property, whether the deposit has been paid or not;... Given the land value is $235,000 that is $23,500, significantly more than the $5000 we were told (both verbally and in email). Our solicitor requested that this part in the contract be amended but the response from their solicitors was a straight up, NO basically. So I rang the sales lady from the developer and told her my concerns. She was like, oh its just a standard contract. I said, well this is what it says, and her answer was, Oh.. well don't worry, THAT NEVER HAPPENS. We would not pursue a purchaser for 10% in worst case scenario, the most you would lose is your deposit of $5000. My answer was, Of course I believe you believe that but I would prefer it to be in the contract that we are about to sign and be bound by. She has gone back to her management and said she would get back to me, as she understood my concern. My question is... I am right to be concerned about this, am I not? I have ready quite a few posts here of people who have signed off the plan contracts and are asking if they can get out of them. I don't want to be that person. To my husband and I this is a deal breaker, especially in these "unprecedented times"! Am I being a Negative Nancy or a Prudent Percy here?? Thoughts?? Are you saying that these consultants are involved at key-points of the building, and perform site inspects at the stages, or only after building is completed to point… 4 9010 That's very helpful, thank you. I was mostly interested in knowing if a spoon drain requires a specific slope, but I appreciate the extra information. 4 3922 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 11145 |