Builder not building as per the sale plan

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by Ideacrash, 28th Aug, 2017.

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  1. Ideacrash

    Ideacrash Well-Known Member

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    Hi All,

    Am facing an issue with my builder. Have bought a home and land package on a narrow lot ( 252m2) . We have a series of lots next to each other. So these are zero boundary on the garage side.

    In the last month they have comeback saying due to easement issues the width of the house should be reduced and they can compensate by adding space to increase the length of the house so that the total area would remain same. This has also impacted the start date of the build by more than 2 months.

    Will I hold a chance to get any compensation if I take any legal advise or escalate to some tribunal ?
     
  2. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    It will all depend on the contract you have signed.
    Legal advice first would be my suggestion.
    Marg
     
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  3. Ideacrash

    Ideacrash Well-Known Member

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    its a standard HIA contract. It does have a clause that due to new easement introduced the buidlign design may change. However, the builder knew about the easement during sale and they did not assess it properly or overlooked it.
     
  4. Propertunity

    Propertunity Well-Known Member

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    It sounds like the contract has an out clause for the builder in this eventuality. The builder is offering to do the same size m2 house. I don't think you have a case. This is just one of the (many) hazards of building new.
     
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  5. Westminster

    Westminster Tigress at Tiger Developments Business Member

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    If the easement was in the contract and it said they could change the design then alarm bells should have rung for you. You have contractually agreed already they can change the design due to the easement.

    At the time of negotiating and doing your due diligence you should have firmed up exactly what you would have been happy to do with the easement. If you never wanted the design changed then the clause needed to be taken out or you walk away.
     
  6. Ideacrash

    Ideacrash Well-Known Member

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    Lesson learnt if at all I am going to build my next house ...
     
  7. Corey Batt

    Corey Batt Well-Known Member

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    Silver lining here - at least they can still produce a similar sqm build on the block. There's been some cases of investors buying properties and finding they can't build anything, or something considerably different to what they originally planned and being left significantly out of pocket.
     
  8. Stoffo

    Stoffo Well-Known Member

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    What is the easment for ?
    Plenty of people have built over easments before
     
  9. Ideacrash

    Ideacrash Well-Known Member

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    its the maintenance easement for the next lot . Bascillay the eaves were falling over it and as per the CDC it cannot. Also, they are saying they cannot provide the promotional ceiling height due to CDC restriction and has to go with standard ceiling height. But if we go to DA instead of CDC , I believe there should not be any restrictions on the ceiling height as well.
     
  10. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    My builder made our garage a 2.5 car garage (1 +1.5) v's 2 x singles when they looked at the site and didnt like how the house was centred. This was changed when the slab was being marked out. And the revision included a wider lintel and wide automatic door + extra concrete and materials.

    No extra cost. First we knew was when we saw it was wider and supervisor said "yeah it looked crook on the block". A neighbour got a 3.5 width single span garage for the exact same issue.