ought house in Victoria is a Termite and or building inspection worthwhile in 3 day coolin goff per

Hi there

We have just made a unconditional verbal deal for an expensive house purchase in Inverloch, South Gippsland, Victoria to be our future retirement home. House is a 2 story 234 sq metres built in 2005 by builder as their family holiday home, BV construction rendered and Vic Ash floors. Poor quality paint work, recently repainted by owner/builder. It has been on the market since 2015, but presents poorly due to no outside garden, small backyard, and very rough paint job.

I have heard a few negative comments about building inspections being a waste of money and a termite inspections being a better option.

I believe we have a 3 day cooling off period so we have the option to get a BP inspection done within the cooling off period.

Would you get a building and pest inspection?
Are there any recommendations of people who would do one in this area, it is about 1.5 hours east of Melbourne

Thanks for any advice and have a good day
Cheers
Kevin

 

I don't think the offer is official until your written offer is accepted in writing.

I say yes to both inspections.

(I'm surprised you didn't make the offer formally subject to B & P. If you had - and it failed the B & P - you would avoid the cooling off fee and get a bit longer to organise the checks)

 

Yes always.
You want to be making the best decision at the time with as many facts as possible.
If you had made it conditional to building and pest and they found damage you could renegotiate price.
As it is you can withdraw if they find something but you are going to struggle to find someone within 3 days to do it - though as your offer isn't accepted yet or even in writing you do have some time up your sleeve to find out who services the area.
If there is no one in Inverloch then try Wonthaggi

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I have arranged a BP inspection report for Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

S32 was prepared in Nov 2017 and agent /Vendor are getting it updated, it should be ready Monday or Tuesday. If all goes according to plan we get s32 and sign contract after verbal report from BP on Tuesday, so we can simply do not sign if BP has major issues and avoid any fees for terminating during cooling off period, or negotiate a new price if there any minor issues.

Have a good day

Cheers

Kevin

 

It's a great spot - I hope all goes well. Is it inlet or near the beach?

I've been there a few times as friends have a holiday house there

 

It is one street back from the surf beach. About 5 minutes walk. Just found out that there is an order from sewage authority that garden shed and part of side deck extend over easement or within 1 metre of easement and need to be moved/modified or new owner will need to enter a deed of indemnity with sewage authority in case of any future works and access to the easement. I am trying to work out what sort of price reduction I should ask for as contract not yet signed and I take on risk with deed of indemnity or would it be better if vendor fixes these things to sewage authority standards before settlement.

What would you do?

Cheers

Kevin

 

Not enough information, what is the value of the shed e.g. is it new or is it about to fall down?

Is the shed a small tool/garden shed or is it a large/garage shed.

etc

 

Actually I have more information, it is a 4m*3.6m room with hot tub built on external deck with council permit. Cost 10000+ But there is a manhole at edge of deck and hot tub wall and is half under wall, but there is clearance for manual work with a shovel. Secondly there is a timber fence about 1-2 metres that runs across easement, blocking access to manhole, although there is another way around, thirdly a second manhole is 20 centimetres from outside deck ramp, rather than minimum clearance of 1 metre

 

So value is 10k but what was that the consideration value you gave it? was it more/less?

For example a spa is not something I wouldn't directly associate some value to it personally as I am not a fan of spas (prefer pools) so the value of it would be less than the actual price (potentially zero). Or if you were planning on knocking down the spa/shed and doing something else you likely wouldn't of added any value for it. However if this was a driver or key driver in your decision process then maybe you value it more than the actual 10k to replace as you get the immediate benefit.

So really it would depends, in the unlikely event they need to rip down the shed how would this impact your life and does the vendor think you are now screwing them by trying to negotiate after agreeing and they terminate the deal?

Sort of similar but when we purchased in Brisbane last it was a 1,600m2 block of land and there was no easements it was advertised. There was nothing on the paperwork received however my solicitor discovered there was an easement. This easement had a pipe running right through the back 1/3 of the block so it clearly impacted us. We then renegotiated as we can still work around the easement but it cost them quite a bit as a price reduction as the easement would reduce from 4 blocks (STCA) to 3 blocks (STCA). It didn't impact the house that is currently there but it fully impacted our decision to purchase. However if I wanted a 1,600m2 block of land and loved the house and then discovered it well I may not have renegotiated at all - hard to tell as I wasn't in this situation and I wouldn't of selected the property to purchase as i am in Melbourne so clearly isn't viable to live in Brisbane and work in Melbourne.

 

The spa is not a high priority, having more deck space may be more useful, but hard to knock down a 10K+ asset. I suppose we could sell it.

In the end we left the offered price the same and we have gone for a special condition in the contract that the vendor will sort something out with the water authority before settlement and we will get a copy of the agreement

cheers

Kevin

 

Glad you got a successful outcome.