Little Things You Hate

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Dealing with real estate agents. A place we are looking at buying has an illegal garage on it, we've discovered. The agent tried to mislead me on many occassions about the legality of the garage, which makes me think he was privy to it all along and was trying to pull one over on us. As soon as we got council involved to confirm our suspicions, he got nasty. When he tried to convince my lawyer there was no problem, he ended up hanging up on my lawyer when confronted with the facts.

So now we are just waiting to see if the vendor is going to be too stubborn to let the sale continue now that they've been caught out.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Dealing with real estate agents. A place we are looking at buying has an illegal garage on it, we've discovered. The agent tried to mislead me on many occassions about the legality of the garage, which makes me think he was privy to it all along and was trying to pull one over on us. As soon as we got council involved to confirm our suspicions, he got nasty. When he tried to convince my lawyer there was no problem, he ended up hanging up on my lawyer when confronted with the facts.

So now we are just waiting to see if the vendor is going to be too stubborn to let the sale continue now that they've been caught out.
So you intend to buy despite the unauthorised construction?
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Dealing with real estate agents. A place we are looking at buying has an illegal garage on it, we've discovered. The agent tried to mislead me on many occassions about the legality of the garage, which makes me think he was privy to it all along and was trying to pull one over on us. As soon as we got council involved to confirm our suspicions, he got nasty. When he tried to convince my lawyer there was no problem, he ended up hanging up on my lawyer when confronted with the facts.

So now we are just waiting to see if the vendor is going to be too stubborn to let the sale continue now that they've been caught out.
Did it happen to fail a building inspection with this garage, most sale contracts have a clause about building and pest inspections.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
If they drop the price enough for us to take on the problem, yes. If not, we'll walk.
Depending on how it's been built you might need to demolish it now that you've got council involved, if it's someone's odd and strange design you'll need to get an engineer involved and they're far from cheap.
 

creaky

XMAS Plumper
Depending on how it's been built you might need to demolish it now that you've got council involved, if it's someone's odd and strange design you'll need to get an engineer involved and they're far from cheap.
+1
Is the garage obviously inconsistent with the planning outcomes for the street (e.g. built to front boundary when no others are in the street)?

Heaps of properties around without everything above board but with no dramas.

If the garage is not subject to any action from Council/neighbours at present, and has been there for a number of years, I would be worried that contacting Council about it may have created a problem for you if you do decide to purchase at a lower price i.e. using it as a negotiating tool.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Depending on how it's been built you might need to demolish it now that you've got council involved, if it's someone's odd and strange design you'll need to get an engineer involved and they're far from cheap.
Yeah, we checked with council what needs doing and got multiple quotes to do that work. Its not a small job by any means. I was suspicious of the structure so got a clause put in the contract so we could get out if necessary.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
+1
Is the garage obviously inconsistent with the planning outcomes for the street (e.g. built to front boundary when no others are in the street)?

Heaps of properties around without everything above board but with no dramas.

If the garage is not subject to any action from Council/neighbours at present, and has been there for a number of years, I would be worried that contacting Council about it may have created a problem for you if you do decide to purchase at a lower price i.e. using it as a negotiating tool.
Yeah, I work in Surveying and see a lot of that. This one set alarm bells off because its right on the boundary. I'm not concerned about council knowing about it now. We will only take it on if they drop the price enough to bother. If not, its not worth our time and they can deal with council.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
+1
Is the garage obviously inconsistent with the planning outcomes for the street (e.g. built to front boundary when no others are in the street)?

Heaps of properties around without everything above board but with no dramas.

If the garage is not subject to any action from Council/neighbours at present, and has been there for a number of years, I would be worried that contacting Council about it may have created a problem for you if you do decide to purchase at a lower price i.e. using it as a negotiating tool.
Some estates have a local governance for roof area per block because the storm water pipes can only take so much water but the big issue with this sort of stuff is how stable are the footings built that are now underground and it's usually up to the council if they want to pass it. If it's a tin shed with a basic concrete slab that's not going to be so bad.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
If they drop the price enough for us to take on the problem, yes. If not, we'll walk.
Well hopefully that plays out for you. Agents+vendors+lawyers can get pretty tricky. Are you already engaged in the purchase process?

As per above you may be engaging in a money vacuum. My first house was so old that it pre-dated a lot of modern rules, like proximity to boundary...my eaves hang over the boundary in a section on one side, yes the house was also not square on the block. Fortunately it all sailed through and then became someone else's concern. Which is really nothing because nobody had ever cared.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Well hopefully that plays out for you. Agents+vendors+lawyers can get pretty tricky. Are you already engaged in the purchase process?

As per above you may be engaging in a money vacuum. My first house was so old that it pre-dated a lot of modern rules, like proximity to boundary...my eaves hang over the boundary in a section on one side, yes the house was also not square on the block. Fortunately it all sailed through and then became someone else's concern. Which is really nothing because nobody had ever cared.
Thanks. Yeah, we are already in the purchase process, hence why I'm fuming about the agent. It was only because the garage was close to the boundary and I found a pencil sketch of the proposed garage dated 10 years later than they were saying it was built, that we picked up on it. As others have said, I probably could've ignored it as the neighbours seemed fine with it, but then I might end up being the one having to wear the problem down the track if we went to sell it, or the neighbours complained. We have obviously spent a bit of money on inspections, etc, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not worth locking ourselves into a bigger problem for the sake of having sunk costs into one place when there are plenty of other properties on the market. At the end of the day, I'd rather be out of pocket say $1k now, than $20k+ in the future.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Inspections etc are pretty cheap and cash well spent in the scheme of things with buying a house. Boundary disputes are unpredictable and painful if they arise. There is also the safety risk of a poorly constructed building to consider. It sounds like you guys are doing the right thing, the agent is going to be looking out for their arse. If the sale looks like it will fall through they may even switch teams and start pushing your agenda on rhe vendor to get the deal finished.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Yeah, I figure it's worth it in the long run. The agent is obviously working for them, but if he doesn't get the sale he doesn't get his commission and the longer it drags on and the more time he puts into it, the more it'll weigh on him. I think he's just butthurt that his tactics didn't work on us, but hopefully he comes to his senses.
 
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