Help with a perculiar situation

Need help in trying to figure out what is the best way to tackle this....this is the situation that has come across our way....
There is a house 2 doors up, that has been so badly run down, it has now reached the stage that it has been deemed UN-inhabitable to live in by the council.... This is were it gets interesting. The house was owned by an old lady who has since passed away , and the house was left to her son, who is pretty useless. There is a car in the carport that has been there for over 8 years and flat tyres etc. eaves falling down, electricity has been cut off, water has been cut off. The son moved out years ago and has never bothered with it. It is overgrown and the pool has 5 inches of muck growing on it, that it is infested. The council workers refused to go in it, due to OHS issues. The house itself is probably about 25 years old. Its still locked up , but worse for wear.
Now, we have since found out, that the lady left it to her son to live in , and part of the will is that he has to live in it, until such time that he doesn't. Once that happens, the house is bequeathed(think how u spell it ) to a charity. No one knows the charity. The son (45yo) doesnt bother about it, and basically spends his money in a bar ...The council are owed rates for over 10 years, which has been estimated at $30,000. The house has to be knocked down..for sure...no one has been inside it for 7 years so we dont know...however the land itself in its current state has been valued at $620K as per council rates. Basically we want to buy it. It was only in the last year that the council have known the current situation after numerous visits. In its current state it would go well over a mill if it was sold...even if knock the house down, it would be up round 900K just for the land.
we want to know if it possible to speak to a council to see if they can push or what needs to be done to sell it. Now not being sneaky, we have been asked by the neighbors who all have fantastic homes to do something. one neighbor has been admitted to hospital due to the state of the next door house and this has been going on for over 10 years. The scenario would be , ok buy it, pay council out of sale, money goes to charity, knock house down...then think next step...Has anyone herd of this or something similar or if it possible to go about this?...speak to council or who you would need to speak to and which department. any advice?

 

I think you may have to wait till the council auctions the place.

 

I think there's a strong chance it could end up in an unpaid rates auction by Council. But that's from only my experience of NSW not Melbourne.

 

we have been told that it may go to an council, but they are dragging their heels. So we are going to approach council to see what the go is and see what would happen if offered to pay rates etc...who knows...can only guess if dont ask...

 

A few things spring to mind.
Who is the executor of the Will. If the son chooses not to live in it, then the Executor should have given it to the charity as per the conditions of the Will - if it is a valid instruction in the Will.
If the instruction in the Will is invalid and/or the son contested it then it belongs to him and you could offer to him to buy it directly rather than wait for it to be possessed for unpaid rates.
The reality is, if his name is on the title then he has legal control of it, and you stand more of a chance buying it directly from him and offering to settle the outstanding council rates as part of the deal.

 

As westy said you'd be better going straight to the source. I understand council can sell but surely the outstanding rates would need to be a lot closer to the $mil selling price you mention, 30k is easy off.
How do you go to hospital due to state of the neighbours house?

 

Set up a tent and live on the property with the view of claiming adverse possession haha. Although I think the council would step in before an adverse possession claim could be made

 

Why not try and speak to the son about purchasing it? Go direct to him if it's in his name and see if you can strike a deal. Present a win-win scenario and go for it.

 

Have you checked the actual ownership ? It may have been passed to the charity, who cannot afford to do anything with it. Like the son, they may be happy for a cash settlement to get it out of their way.

 

The son has no bearing on the house and has not made any claim at all. We think it was the mum said here it is yr house, until you leave it then its going to charity...he cracked it and said fine..and left it 10 years ago. numerous times contact has been made to the son with , dont care, not interested not mine..its not his, that is known. Rang council today and they said they dont know, but it has been passed to their collection agency to recall the rate debt..but this has been done months and months ago....we need to find out which solicitor is handling it, or if just been forgotten about..but its like a bit of a hook in a fish mouth..hard to let go...
In regards to hospital, the lady next door has a rare condition, mosquitoes..the ingound pool is infested and swarming...hence a health hazard, which is when the council finally stepped in and duly noted. I just went up today to have a look, its like a ghost lives in it, looked through the windows, and all furniture etc is still in the house in same position 10 years ago, its a really weird sensation to go and look and see such a house that was grand, to be like something in some hick country town....so council were pretty useless. Next step is we will speak to the lady next door who has been hounding the council for years and see what she knows or maybe point us in the direction on whom to speak..

not as yet to see who owns it...but if its in an estate, then would have the solicitors who would be in charge of the executor...so another avenue to follow up.

 

Even though you think the son has no bearing on it he may well do. Find someone who has RPData or Pricefinder to see who is listed as the legal owner.

Presumably the council has been sending rates to someone - though they kept on sending rates to my dead uncle for 2yrs even though they were notified of the executor.

 

Only logical way to get it cheap would be if it's owned by son . Find out how much is owed by council . Go to son and say I'll give you 500K for the house . If you mention a figure like that , he might be interested ....

otherwise council have to go through their process .

PM me the address and I'll tell you who owns it ....


Cliff

 

How do you know the details of the will?

The council aren't going to act on it any quicker because you want to buy it.

 

LOL...and who are you and what makes you think you can get your hands on it by pestering council or otherwise ?

Your intentions are very clear, you want to steal it price wise. That is the only "perculiar" thing, were not a communist country you know where the govt can just seize and sell something, luckily.

 

And you really don't want it to go to a mortgagee/debtors auction because everyone comes out of the woodwork to get a 'bargain' and it will sell for $1m

 

3 options:

Buy it from the legal owner, who would be the trustee of the trust set up under the will (if what you said above is correct). But the trustee may not have the power to sell it.

Buy it from the charity who will get the house as legal owner once the terms of the will are met.

Wait for the council to auction the property off to recover their debt.

 

yer all true....its just a thought to take a certain route to see if possible...and if I can do anything that gets it for a bargain, I will..whats wrong with that.?..it is a very small chance I think ...but if i gave you the similar information, would you say no way cant be bothered or nup, im going to pay top buck...get real...why post a negative tone...if it doesn't occur or unable to, ....then no loss...but if dont do it, ill never know the answer. Yes, next step will be to locate possible executor....and correction...rates have not been paid for 15 years...

 

If it goes to council , they " should " observe due process and it " should " go to auction .

Cliff

 

It's seems the process you have gone though so far is what's known as a WOFTAM (Waste Of Time And Money...)

Have you considered moving all your stuff into it and becoming a squatter?

It'll save a heap of further wasted time and money...