Stockland's broken promise for our land - Is there anything we can do?

Hello All,

First time buyer / builder / human here. We are buying a lot from Stockland in their Pallara development. The lot we selected is a large corner lot, only one neighbour and we were promised surrounding bush views that were state forest zoned and not up for development.

Now that the land is prepped enough, we can see where the land will be in reality and the surrounding bush view is non existent, further more they have cleared the bush and are developing something else there. The left side of the property is a giant retaining wall separating us from a commercial estate (no bush) and the right side is the neighbour's house (as expected).

Our piece of land is the only piece of land that is supposed to have bush views which doesn't, and that is a concern from a value perspective. The insult to injury is that despite having no bush around us at all we still have a 12.5 BAL applied to the property (even I have to chuckle at that one).

I have emailed Stockland already regarding this but based on my past interactions with them, I don't hold high hopes and it seems everyone is away this week 'on training'.

I was looking for advice on what we should / could do in this situation, as I have a feeling they will tell us to shove it without us leading the discussion. My thoughts at the moment are, we have been duped and there is nothing we can really do (you can't make the bush reappear nor will the development stop).

Keen to hear everyone's thoughts - thank you.

 

Same pic, higher res.

 

It will come down to whether you can prove that Stockland made those promises. Is there anything in writing?

 

Learning this and everything the hard way, we have enjoyed the luxury of picking up a phone and visiting them in person.

 

What was the area shown as in your contract (Disclosure Plan/Survey Plan)? Do you have a marketing plan which depicts the proposed bushland?

 

I will check my documents tonight when I return home and let you know. thank you!

 

Contact a Contracts lawyer.
Was "bush views" in your mind at time of signing contract? Bush views the reason you signed. Possibly a "meeting of the minds"

or Fair Trading? They sold you a block with bush views and didn't supply. Again Lawyers are best people for advice.

 

The "surrounding bush views" were a critical factor in our purchasing land decisions. Without it, this particular lot isn't a good investment in our mind (it's funny shape, whilst larger than other lots it's all in the front and thus not usable like it would be in the back yard) and we only accepted this, and the cost / impacts of the BAL because of the "surrounding bush views", otherwise we would not have entertained a property that is subject to a BAL without any Bush.

Put simply. No we wouldn't have selected this lot if it didn't have the views, we would have gone for Lot 522 which is slightly smaller, but a far better shape. Even worse still, this lot has far better bush views than our lot, despite us being told differently before (again in person).

 

Years back in our housing dev there was a area marked with green trees and tiny print "potential future development"". I asked the sales guy and he said - Oh thats where a planned small block of units is planned. Could be townhouses too - we arent sure ye. He explained its a medium density zone. In any event had zero impact on us. I admitted I thought the depiction of trees a bit of a stretch...Maybe cause it was all shaded green with a tree here or there. Yet when we bought it was a old farm house scheduled for later demo. I couldnt imagine it would be allowed to revert to bushland...It had to be a future dev no matter what.

Four years later many neighbours whinged. Said they thought it would remain bushland. They saw the same material I did. But didnt ask any more. None did searches when the bought which would have show it had a DA for medium density issued by council (for 28 townhouses). This was later changed to 18 units.

They tried (unsuccessfully) to argue they were misled. The developer (a LARGE project housing co) pulled out same info I had seen.

Heaps of developers do this. They misrepresent bushland as a permanent feature. Reality is it wont be unless its a protected environment AND you do searches to confirm that.

Often people are told - Oh your land will have bush views...Yeah until the neighbouring site is cleared. All of this on the left...was once bushland views for the homes on the right

 

Technically, in WA, those practices are against the REBA Act and Code of Conduct.

A selling agent must clearly explain what may or may not happen in the surrounds if it may materially affectshow, or the reasons why, a lot is purchased.

 

Feel free to email through the contract, disclosure documents and anything else you have in writing and I would be happy to give you a high level opinion without charge