I am just looking to purchase my first land to build my dream house, however it is in a body corporate managed estate.
Any one with their experiences or knowledge with these bodies please suggest.
All your help/suggestions are much appreciated:)
Would You Buy a Land to Build Your Dream House in a Body Corporate Estate?
Comments
There is a huge demand for the land in the area and it's expected to be a sell out. The release date and time (so as contract of sale) will be updated just few days prior to release so I doubt if I would have time to get the papers assessed by solicitor.
You don't have time to have the contract checked? Don't be in such a hurry is my advice. There's always another bit of land to be had.
Can't +1 this enough.
Its the one of the biggest purchases of your life!
You'll regret it much more if you bought it and later found out you can't build your dream home due to all the restrictions they have in place
It takes maybe $1,000 to get some advice from a competent solicitor before you are bound to the contract. If, however, you rush in, and have a barney over the contract, it could cost you up to $100,000 (or even more) to go to trial over a bad contract.
As a lawyer who has had to give advice to too many people didn't take the former option, you are asking for trouble if you don't get advice on this contract.
Cheers for your comments guys!!! Much appreciated. I have confirmed that I will be able to build the design that I have selected however I am concerned about the body corporate charges as I wil be paying that for my life.
Also, consider future requirements. What if you want to, for example, park a caravan in the driveway. Is that allowed? What if you want a second aircon unit with the compressor at the front of the house, is that allowed?
It is very hard to predict all the future requirements you might have before the house is even built, and the rules can be quite tricky.
yes The design you want can be build for now, however you may need to coordinate with your neighbor? or the land is huge enough so you do not need to to care? i.e. there should be no window face each other. If there is someone next to you and your design is not complies with the regulation then you are screwed.
Also you may need to print your external wall to match the color on the street and the front garden may have "guideline" to follow as well.
Just want you to think twice before you spend, money is yours.
Join the body corporate so you have a say in the issues.
Fees can vary and it depends on the body corporate what those fees may be. My body coporate are all townhouses and we have a single water meter which means we pay usage through the body corporate which gives a nice consistency to bills. However, you will also likely to be paying for common property maintenance. I'm assuming the estate will have things like parks etc so you will have to pay for the gardener etc.
The catch with body corporates is the fees can't really be determined until you get in there and the manager works out a budget. I pay about $2K a year for my fees. But I've seen other fees as high as $2K a quarter. There's just no way to tell. But yes you WILL be paying it for as long as you own the home in the estate.
The single water meter thing can be a downer though. My MIL lives in a village, single lady in amongst 50-odd townhouses. Her water bill is typically more than ours, a family of 5. All the other residents get the pension so pay next to nothing for water, while MIL pays full rates as a self funded retiree. We assume the other residents don't care about water conservation (or cost due to pension discount) based on how much they all seem to use.
Would the Body Corporate have any expectation that you would build within a certain timeframe?
If your plans/circumstances change, how difficult would it be to find a buyer that can live with the same conditions or conditions applicable at the time?
Are there any restrictions on who you could sell to or do you have to sell back through the Body Corporate or to someone the Body Corporate approve of?
Sounds like a lot of paperwork and stupid rules.Make sure you carefully read the whole contract and get a good solicitor.