Welcome to our second instalment of Caveat venditor, where we’re exploring the very real risks sellers can face during – and well after – property transactions.
If you haven’t already, you can check out part 1 here.
Selling self-help
Aside from the enduring implications of certain warranty clauses in the sale and purchase agreement that we discussed in Caveat venditor Pt 1, vendors commonly strike other avoidable problems during the sale process.
Your lawyer can guide you on protecting your interests, but there’s a lot of scope for a little self-help, too.
BEFORE you put your property on the market, assuming you’re in the Queenstown Lakes District Council area, one of your first ports of call should be the council website to seek the property file on “Edocs”. Included in this is your home’s floor plan. Now, it’s time to play “spot the difference”. Unfortunately, at this point, many stunned homeowners find themselves suddenly playing “one of these things is not like the other”.
If there are any omissions on the floor plan – commonly the likes of a lean-to, a fireplace … or even entire rooms – chances are you have an illegal addition or renovation on your hands … and, likely, a problem to sort out. It may be the work hasn’t been signed off, so doesn’t have that all-important Code of Compliance, or it could be that a consent was never sought in the first place.
A stitch in time …
But, glass half full, far better to discover that now and have time and options up your sleeve, than have a potential buyer break the news mid-negotiation. Depending on the situation, remedies – and the final bill – vary. It could be as simple as organising a building inspector’s inspection and providing verification the work passes muster. Or, alternatively, it could mean, well, ‘fessing up to potential buyers and trying to sell the property with its “little extras, sans consent” or, under the council’s guidance, bringing the addition up to consent-able scratch.
Even if you’re not thinking of selling at the moment, but you’re not sure if alterations you – or previous owners, for that matter – carried out have the right council ticks of approval, get it sorted now. Time and time again I’ve seen how good intentions to finalise, or even obtain, consents have given way to months … and then years … and, finally, come sale time, to a most inconvenient and costly headache.
Again, as an incentive to get cracking, just remember, historic work might have been done to the letter of the law in its time, but, if no consent was sought, it may be subject to modern-day – and often different – rules.
The longer you let it slide, the more slippery the slope will probably be, especially come sale time.