Buying house woes

misterpotatomato on 10/01/2015 - 09:12

Hi all,

I'm looking to get some advice for my current predicament.

Basically,my wife and I have decided to get out of the rental system and buy a house instead. We've looked at a few places and settled on a house that we quite like the look of.

After we put an offer in, my wife asked a good question. There's a big shed on the property, and she asked "is it council approved?". Naturally, I assumed that it would be difficult or impossible to sell a property with an illegal shed on it, silly me.

So the shed isn't council approved… And building and pest came through yesterday and said that to get it approved it needed work, like cladding put up to make it safe (the shed is powered, and some of the cables are visible, but not like exposed wires or anything…)

We made the mistake of trusting the real estate, who said it would be done by settlement, he had a mate in the council, yada yada yada. As time goes on though, it's becoming clear that he's full of it.

The thing that is the most frustrating is that I am unable to find any hard and fast information on buying a house with a non council approved shed. What happens if I do? The house is in Queensland. Is there any hard and fast documentation around this?

I'm a bit stuck and would appreciate any advice…

Thanks.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • inherentchoice on 10/01/2015 - 10:09
    +5

    Find out about what the planning rules allow, especially with regard to boundary setback requirements and height limits. If it just needs a little work and then a certifier to approve it, then it's probably not such a big deal.

    You should be able to give the local council a ring and talk to someone in the building and/or planning area they should be pretty helpful. They may also tell you to talk to a private certifier.

    I work for a local council in QLD myself, and I don't work in the building area but there are so many situations like this with a noncompliant or unapproved structure. I don't believe they have prosecuted anyone in recent memory. Generally they send a show-cause notice and a compliance notice and people then have some time to get the proper approvals. Worst case scenario it may have to be pulled down or you may have to get it moved back from the boundary.

    As long as the structure fits within the town planning restrictions, perhaps you can get a quote for what it would cost to get the shed up to standard and get it approved by a certifier. Then perhaps reduce your offer for the property by the amount of the quote.

    Alternatively you may be able to prolong the settlement date of your contract until the current owner has got the shed certified.

    Disclaimer: These are just suggestions I really have never had to deal with a situation like this myself and it is not my area of expertise at all.

    Edit: For hard and fast documentation maybe try this link or just look on the relevant council website:
    http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/do-i-need-a…

  • Cheeper on 10/01/2015 - 10:42
    +5

    OP… You are looking at things from the wrong perspective.. completely.

    For one, every salesperson lies. It is up to you to always find out the truth, fact of life. Real estate agents would be the biggest shysters you will ever encounter… all smiles and nice words that you want to hear. Their only interest is their commission, not you.

    As for garages.. It is very common to find non council approved garages, carports, verandas on most established houses, that is how it is. What you need to do is to look at these things as always being non approved, that way you will not be disappointed. You can go to your local council and make an enquiry anyway. That way you will know and not relying on the word of a compulsive liar (real estate agent).

    When looking at a property consider the cost of knocking down and rebuilding a garage… say $10k?.. or even a lot less if only needs some mods are required to bring it up to standard. That is really lunch money when the cost of a property may be $500k? and overall the property is a good one, priced right and where you would like to live. I would not imagine the new owner being fined for the illegal construction, that would fall on the previous owner.

    You will never find a perfect established property, such is the way with houses. You are always fixing or doing up something. It is worth it though as there is nothing like having your own oasis and being out of the rental rat race.

    Good luck with the hunting, don't rush or get over excited as you will be spending a lot of money and you will have to live there for a long time.

  • p1 ama on 10/01/2015 - 10:55
    +5

    I completely agree with what Xywolap's said - it's a small thing in the grand scheme of things and if you like the house, then don't let the shed deter you. If it's actually a genuine hazard, then I would be concerned, but if it just doesn't comply with council standards, it doesn't take much to fix it up or to even knock it down and rebuild it so that it would comply with the standards.

  • mrpopo on 10/01/2015 - 11:31
    +3

    The contract should be subject to a building and pest inspection - if the date hasn't yet passed you can terminate for unsatisfactory report. You can use this leverage to negotiate a reduction to the purchase price (to make the building compliant) - you should speak to your solicitor. As others mentioned above, the worst outcome is pulling down the shed.

  • Cheeper on 10/01/2015 - 18:05

    Does a building inspection include checking council compliance with all structures? Never heard of them checking, but it would be a good idea.

  • KH on 10/01/2015 - 22:13

    Not quite sure on what stage you are with the settlement, but :

    1. Have a look on title insurance, it might / might not be what you need
    2. Contact your local council, I am located in VIC, but as far as I know the council will only give you penalty or force you to fix the non-compliance structure if you are to renovate / work on it. If you purchase a property with a pre-existing non-compliance then the council will not care.

    regards

  • gomertose on 10/01/2015 - 22:38

    Always get it in writing and should have put "subject to shed council approval" in the contract.

  • srhardy on 11/01/2015 - 08:32

    ALWAYS USE A CONVEYANCING AGENT WHEN BUYING and if your smart you have one you use even before you buy a house (they will review the contract before you sign) and you would have brought this up with them and they would have added clauses FYI… thats why you use them - you dont need one when selling but they are better value than the agents fee's IMO too.

    If you can, cancel the contract and get an emended offer/contract using your agent/conveyancer otherwise see a lawyer quick… Nothing on the property has to be legal for you to buy it, just the location (land) and dimentions. Everything else can be as dodgie as hell…. Your buying it, and thats why they say 'buyer beware'

  • windale on 11/01/2015 - 08:51
    +1

    We purchased a house in 2003 in QLD and it had a patio roof that was not council approved. The agent got her husband to remove the roof, the council approved it and the sale went through. The agents husband then put the roofing back on. No big deal. As long as the shed is within the right boundaries and appropriately rated for cyclones it should be ok. You can get post approval for things. In our case we lowered the patio roof support posts so there was appropriate fall angle and all was ok. I wouldn't let small issues put you off. Get advice from the council though incase it is something major causing the non approval. Could be as simple as paying the approval fees to council and inspection fees. Good luck

  • Geewhizz on 13/01/2015 - 09:30

    the real estate…. said it would be done by settlement

    Do you have that in writing?

  • misterpotatomato on 13/01/2015 - 11:53
    +2

    Hi again all,

    So, the conveyancer has come back and said that there is no chance of the sellers approving anything, and they won't reduce the price. Building and pest came back and said that the gas system isn't certified (gas bottles too close to a window - indicates its probably a DIY job). So if the house caught fire or exploded from the gas system, it'd be too bad so sad from the insurance.

    On top of that, the seller has not agreed to repair the house at all or paint walls or anything. The house is in a bit of disrepair and would probably need about $20k put into it.

    So we've wasted at least a grand in building and pest and legal fees, but at least we've learnt an important lesson. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE UNDERTAKEN LEGAL ADVICE.

    :(

    • inherentchoice on 13/01/2015 - 13:49

      They say they won't reduce the price. But what if you back out of the contract and make a new lower offer?

    • gevidian on 13/01/2015 - 17:08

      Was the house in a different state of disrepair before you made your offer?

    • lisss on 30/01/2015 - 18:57

      Why would the seller paint the walls? You saw the state of them during the inspection, and you didn't make it a condition that the house be repainted, so I think that's an unreasonable request.

      I also don't think you've wasted a grand on building and pest and legal fees, you'd be up for a lot more if you just signed the contract without knowing about these issues.

  • misterpotatomato on 26/01/2015 - 14:51

    I made a website talking about the problems we're having… (because I can't see any sites in Australia that are dedicated to this)…
    http://www.homebuyingaustralia.net/

    Maybe it could help someone else :)

  • misterpotatomato on 26/01/2015 - 14:52
    +2

    Also, friendly update, we hinted that we'd be cancelling the contract based on bad building and pest, and the seller came forward and said they would repair the problems we had listed (apart from one of the problems… but it is what it is).

    The main thing is they will certify the shed & patio, so thats a good thing :) Things can be good when you stick to your guns :)

    • lisss on 30/01/2015 - 18:58

      Well done, that's good news. I would think a bigger issue would be the gas system though, unless it's cheap and easy to get fixed yourself - I wouldn't be taking that risk with insurance. Good luck!

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