think befoure you reno

hi all

I thought I would share my story of my first Reno deal that has turned sour right under my eyes and not knowing I done anything wrong

in 2007 I bought a ppor in the Latrobe valley Victoria it was a run down house with some work to do to make it pretty I wasn't scared of the hard work . a few years later I was working in the cbd and wasn't living in it much so I decide to do a full Reno of the house and get a tenant in there to pay the bills and mortgage

I thought all the work I was doing was cosmetic reno's and didn't think about permits at the stage of reno most was cosmetic but some was deemed to be structural as it turns out .

I found out as I went don't to clean the property up for sale a mate bought his gf around and she said I love the house can I buy it we worked out a price and great I had a sale befoure it went on the market , well her mum jumped in and works for council and asked if I had permits for the wall I took down,the decks, carport I didn't think I needed it she made it clear her daughter wont buy the house ,
fine by me ill go to market - I got a offer in 10 days at the price I wanted and then come a building notice from council to get a permit in 30 days or they will pull down the work .
iam am now working with all the consultant's to get this rectified as the new buyer has signed a 60 day contract and for me to get council approval by then , fingers crossed I get this done

I guess my point is if you are unsure if the works you are doing need's a permit talk with council or a building surveyor and find out don't make the same mistake as its a very expensive and time consuming exercise

best of luck guys

 

Hmm. Ok.

 

I wonder who told council. ....

Wall inside that's your business in my books
Decks under a certain m2 and few other things is ok and doesn't need council $donations
Carport same as decks

 

Yea not a rocket scientist .

It will all work out ok
Just going to affect my cash at the end by a little unfortunately with extra expenses

 

I thought the moral of the story would have been not to bring up unapproved works to someone that works for council, and then proceed to **** them off...?

 

Haha definitely you can't trust those council power brokers. My money says she's lower level admin in the waste management division. Nfi with dev

The only way forward is to fight fire with fire! I like the old suspected drug dealer or noise complaints from backyard raves

 

Let me see if I got this right. Your mate's girlfriend's mother works for the council. Right, got that.

She inspects the house, on daughter's behalf, and queries whether there are any permits for the renos. OK, fine, there ain't any permits. She tells daughter not to buy it. Fair enough.

Then, lo and behold, you get a notice from council to get permits? Now you're working your ring off trying to fix things.

Well, you know your mate's girlfriend's mother has put you in. I'd be telling your mate's girlfriend's mother where to go in no uncertain terms.

 

Internal stuff would not usually need a permit (or so I would suspect).. Any exterior structure or addition would generally require permit.

 

No the daughter inspected the house . The mother had only seen pics

 

It was a low baring wall unfortunately

 

I never knew she worked for council or this was going to happen
Morel of the story if there was permits this wouldn't have been a issue

 

I still reckon your mate's girlfriend's mother dobbed you in.

 

100% she did mate

 

I'd be telling the mate and girlfriend about it and expressing how peeved you are about it.

Or at least tell them there is a poster on PC who thinks the mum has shown low form!

 

Not a bad idea
But I've learnt you attract more bees with honey . Once this is finished I will speak my mind but not I don't know who she knows in council best to just leave it alone I think

 

But you attract more honeys by being fly lol^^

 

That's a good attitude/perspective imo, ultimately we all make mistakes, owning up to them means we're more likely to learn from them vs just blaming others.

Ultimately yes its harsh she dobbed you in but you yourself said its for load bearing walls, decks etc. In the interest of the safety of future occupiers/visitors to the property i dont entirely blame the mum for wanting it to get all certified and approved.

Also, in the event your building surveyor finds a potentially major structural issue now she would have done you a favour by dobbing you in because a cheap fix now is much preferable to a potential lawsuit down the track should the deck or roof or whatever collapse duw to not being done properly. If someone got injured your problems would get bigger again. Not probable but is possible so now that potential risk will be sorted out.

Hope you get it done in time!

 

Forget the honeyz i think that Icac might need to know about her!

 

If your assessment is correct then nothing to say but what a vindictive cow! Good on you for taking the high road but geez that kind of thing pees you off. She had nothing to gain personally from doing that, just straight up nasty act to pull someone else down.

 

Yea what a **** ! Lol