We recently acted for a young couple who had entered into a contract to buy a unit in a two unit complex on the coast.
Everything was going smoothly – finance applications had been approved, building and pest inspections complete and some initial searches carried out. At a meeting with our clients we asked them to verify the unit they were buying on the plan which we had obtained from the titles office. They were adamant they were buying the North East facing unit. This was the unit which the agents had shown them and which they had had inspected by their building inspectors. The agents claimed they had shown the correct property but it was clear from the title records the Sellers on the contract owned the other unit in the complex.
Our clients were therefore in a position where they had signed a contract to buy a unit they didn’t want. It turned out the Seller had in fact been living in the wrong unit and never realised they didn’t actually own the unit they were occupying.
In the end, the matter was resolved with our clients acquiring their chosen unit but only after a significant amount of work and nearly 6 months after they originally thought.
Residential contracts should not to be treated lightly and for most of us it will represent one of the most significant transactions in our lifetimes.
We can’t stress enough the importance of seeking advice from properly qualified experts to assist in these transactions.