Withheld money on the settlement date.

My property will be settlment in next couple of days. Final inspection was done with some notices:

1. Overgrown garden after 4 months since the contract date. Grass and weeds up to the body hip.
2. Rubbish left in and ouside the house
3. Certificate of Pool Safety is not ready.

Can you withhold some money on the settlement date and use it to clean up garden, remove rubbish, and make the pool safety compliance? I will send the invoices of these works to the vendor and refund the surplus.

How to work out how much money to be withheld?

Or what is your advice?

 

This!

Also, check what the contract says about pool compliance. Sometimes this is disclosed on the contract if they don't wish to do it themselves.

 

Below are photos

 

Thanks skater
Contract says pool compliance certificate is provided before the settlement date. There are some more days for the vendpr to provide the cert. Just want to prepare what happn if they cannot provide cert before settlement.

 

I will email conveyancer today. Not sure if they work on weekens.

 

The agent told me that vendor will clean the garden and remove the rubbish before the settlement date. I asked her to re-inspect the IP after rectification but she refuse and said this is a final inspection, no more inspection. Then, I requested the photos as evidence after the works are done.

I am wondering what the best way to ensure the issues are rectified before settlement if I am not allowed to inspect again.

In the meantime, I asked my conveyancer to send the request below to the vendor's solicitor. I have not got a reply from my conveyancer yet.

"I request the issues above must be rectified before the settlement date? The vendor must clean up the garden, remove rubbishes and send photos as proof of rectification to me before the settlement date. If these works are not completed by this date, I request to withheld $5,000 on the settlement date. The withheld money will be released to the vendor if he rectifies the issues within 14 days from the settlement date. If the issues are not rectified in the14 days, The withheld money is used to hire tradespersons for gardening and rubbish removal. Any leftover will be refunded to the vendor."

Do you think the request above is fair?

 

I know this does not cost me a fortune. I will not risk delaying the settlement date. Just want to avoid hassle and save my time after the settlement.

 

Perfectly reasonable to with hold monies at settlement pending certain issues. The money is held in solicitor or settlement agent's trust account so it is not like you can spend it anyway.

 

Erm, then why consider withholding money which might create a shitstorm with the seller?

 

What does the contract say? This is what it comes down to. You can't just start changing the terms of the contract midstream.

 

The garden and pots are cheap to fix. Lawn mowing and perhaps some weeding or roundup.

However, I would be concerned about the pool.How do you know how much the pool will require? Does it need a new fence to be compliant?

 

Personally I wouldn't settle until the pool certificate is provided assuming it is required by your contract. The rest is not worth the hassle - just deal with it after settlement.

 

Thanks Mark & Terry

I will focus on the pool. Conveyancer told me that there is still time for vendors to prepare a compliabce cert.