Buying Off The Plan – Personal Experience
Karen Stiles
Success
I fell in love with a quirky, angular unit advertised in the local paper. Over several visits to the display unit, I imagined myself living there happily with my cat. What I saw was what I assumed I got a couple of years down the track.
Luckily for me, a friend was in the building industry and not blinded by rose coloured glasses. Unlike me, he didn’t rely on the salesman’s assertions that everything would be wonderful.He itemised everything in the contract. The finishes, the brands, every fixture in the display … like power points, hose and gas fittings. My local solicitor, who had acted for me on a previous property purchase, thought I was overdoing it.
Some eighteen months later, I walked in to find something quite different to the brochure.The walled courtyard was now a low glass balustrade. Not cat friendly. The lounge room was shorter, the extra toilet was missing, and the air conditioner was conspicuous by its absence.
My lawyer said I was stuck with it as the contract allowed for a 2.5% variance. Again, luckily for me, another friend introduced me to a lawyer who specialised in off the plan purchases.I had a strong case. We negotiated. And, thanks to that meticulous list, the air conditioner was installed (the only one in the complex) and I received just under $10,000 cash compensation.
Despair
Sadly, it was all downhill from there. The building had substantial defects, some obvious, some it took time and experts to discover. The builder strung us along with small patch jobs and promises to make good, until the company went into administration.
We thought that would make it simpler. We would work directly with the Home Owners Warranty insurer to make good. Not so. The insurer played the same stalling game. Being a new scheme, we had no money in the sinking fund, so we took out a $1million line of credit to fight for our rights. It took some seven years and an insane amount of time and energy to get the claim paid and start the repairs.
What did I learn?
You need to do due diligence on the builder and the developer.You need a good lawyer experienced in off-the-plan purchases. Ideally you should be engaged in the running of your building, to ensure all the right checks are done within the ridiculously short two year statutory warranty timeframe. Rely on recommendations from experienced owners. You’ll enjoy the journey a lot more if you are well armed with knowledge and expert advice. We sacked two building experts and one lawyer before I discovered OCN and received invaluable guidance.