Buying a land with Expired Strata development contract

Hi
i am looking at a land for sale, it is part of a strata land where they developed half of the complex over 10 years ago and did they did not build the remaining proposed units. the selling realestate agent told me that you can not build a single house on the land but you have to finish all the remaining units, i am wondering why is that even though i see in the contract of sale that the development contract expired 6 years ago.
The land had separate entry off the street, so wont need an access easement
if i want to purchase the land to build just a single house, how hard would the process be?

 

You're buying a strata lot with no building on it?

Wouldn't you need strata permission to basically do anything with it?

 

i guess so, because the whole land including the neighboring one which is now a complex of over 10 units was meant to be developed together but looks like plans did not go well for them. and they left a big portion of the land not built and now they are selling it cheap. i am not sure how is it counted as a strata land if it is not yet built, should not the title still be Torrens until the complex was built?

 

If the development has reached 'substantial commencement', the approval won't lapse.

Is the remaining portion of the site in a different stratum to the first stage?

 

Unusual, but not legally impossible.

You're the one that's described it as "strata land" - so is it a strata lot or not?

 

they have developed less than half of the total number of proposed units,they all are part of the same strata plan, and water easement was through the remaining part

 

it is a strata lot, but because i do not know the process of strata development, i was wondering that how could they end up with an empty strata land for sale

 

A few different ways. In WA we actually have a strata system that can be partitioned by reference to land rather than buildings, but even in the latter, there could be some unusual situations where it could happen.

Best to get proper legal advice on what can be done if you want to buy something like that.

 

NSW ? it sounds like a staged strata.
the remaining lot is possibly a development lot within the original strata scheme
there will be a Strata Development Contract attached to the original stage document

without knowing the full details of this site, this statement is most likely correct.

the development was approved and for unknown reasons the developer cannot / will not complete.

the development contract indicates to the buyers in the first stage exactly what was to be built in the future, so unlikely to be changed without consent.