Offer to purchase question

Sadly in our price range, Its like getting a dog from the SPCA, you know its ****ed up and has had a hard life, but with some love it can come back.
We are avoiding anything showing water damage and rot. So far only one has had cracks
 
Oh, last thing for now: at OTP signing time, get to the property and take time stamped photos of everything, and I mean everything. Every single surface every corner wall etc. Be thorough. I just had an issue where this saved me big time. When viewing a property look with a critical eye, in a bathroom why are some tiles mismatched? Could be a leak repair, who did it? What happened.
Get photos of every single thing. Especially the DB board.
 
The Darkness said:
Oh, last thing for now: at OTP signing time, get to the property and take time stamped photos of everything, and I mean everything. Every single surface every corner wall etc. Be thorough. I just had an issue where this saved me big time. When viewing a property look with a critical eye, in a bathroom why are some tiles mismatched? Could be a leak repair, who did it? What happened.
Get photos of every single thing. Especially the DB board.
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This is a great tip actually. Thank you.
 
surface said:
This is a great tip actually. Thank you.
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You're welcome. Remember that the house needs to be exactly as you saw it at OTP time. Come time to take ownership and the garden is dead now, or there's a new crack in a wall etc, these photo's will be needed when your attorney fights.
 
The Darkness said:
You're welcome. Remember that the house needs to be exactly as you saw it at OTP time. Come time to take ownership and the garden is dead now, or there's a new crack in a wall etc, these photo's will be needed when your attorney fights.
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Hope it helps. I wonder how these photos would have any legal basis unless they are submitted along with OTP ?
 
The Darkness said:
You're welcome. Remember that the house needs to be exactly as you saw it at OTP time. Come time to take ownership and the garden is dead now, or there's a new crack in a wall etc, these photo's will be needed when your attorney fights.
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When I bought my place, 2 rooms had ceiling fans and aircons. The day I moved in I noticed the fans were removed, luckily I had taken pics of rooms when I viewed the place. Ended up getting reimbursed for 2 new fans plus installation. I didn't need it since the rooms had AC but it was just about the principle
 
marbro said:
why houseplans? @The Darkness
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The best advice that someone gave me is to include a full house inspection as a clause in the OTP. I.e - OTP is subject to a favorable home inspection. The inspector will also check the plans in detail. It allows you to lock the seller into an offer while you can get out of the deal if major issues are found.

And include a separate clause about the plans.
 
surface said:
Hope it helps. I wonder how these photos would have any legal basis unless they are submitted along with OTP ?
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Plenty of legal basis, they’re dated and have metadata. You can easily make sure the agent and seller are in a few of the pics too. The sellers scummy lawyer won’t be able to duck and dive around a photo. It’s expensive to go to court, and the sellers scummy lawyer will know this too. Most importantly, don’t trust the seller, their lawyer and especially don’t trust the estate agent. All of them are vested in grabbing your money.
 
MidnightZA said:
When I bought my place, 2 rooms had ceiling fans and aircons. The day I moved in I noticed the fans were removed, luckily I had taken pics of rooms when I viewed the place. Ended up getting reimbursed for 2 new fans plus installation. I didn't need it since the rooms had AC but it was just about the principle
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Nice story! Great example. One property of ours had a huge issue that had been concealed by the seller that amounted to R75k to fix, all proven and leveraged by my attorney through one photo.
 
Aeryn23 said:
The best advice that someone gave me is to include a full house inspection as a clause in the OTP. I.e - OTP is subject to a favorable home inspection. The inspector will also check the plans in detail. It allows you to lock the seller into an offer while you can get out of the deal if major issues are found.

And include a separate clause about the plans.
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The "favourable home inspection" clause is obviously of value, but it needs a bit more fleshing out.

What constitutes a favourable inspection?

No defects whatsoever?

Defects with an estimated repair cost of less than X?

Assuming the purchaser is responsible for arranging and paying for the inspection, which seems sensible, the clause in any event shouldn't be written up as a suspensive condition as suggested in the post above, but rather as a resolutive condition. Otherwise if the purchaser neglects to instruct and conduct such inspection the contract could be voidable as the inspection never happened, or the parties could become embroiled in a tacit fulfillment matter.

In order to protect both the buyer and the seller, and to ensure that the contract accurately reflects the mindsets of both parties at the time of contract, the clause should be worded something along the lines of:

"The purchaser undertakes, at his own expense, to commission an inspection of the property in order to confirm that it is free of defects, save for those which have been disclosed by the seller and attached to this agreement of sale and noted as Annexure 'A'.

The purchaser further undertakes to furnish the seller and/or the seller's conveyancing attorneys with a copy of such inspection report by no later than 12h00 on DD/MM/YY, failing which this clause shall be deemed to have been fulfilled and will no longer be of any force or effect"

It would also help to lay out in writing what the way forward would be if further defects were indeed to be discovered in the course of this inspection.

Point of the matter is that these type of clauses need professional legal input regarding their wording, or they can lead to unanticipated legal disputes and actually muddy the waters instead of protecting anyone.
 
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Hi guys

Need some advice regarding house plans for a place I'm interested in. The house plans say 130sqm but my measurements give me 160sqm under roof.

The shape of the actual house and layout matches the plans so all that is in order.

Is this a major issue? How much can the actual building deviate from the plans?

Thanks
 
aomar296 said:
Hi guys

Need some advice regarding house plans for a place I'm interested in. The house plans say 130sqm but my measurements give me 160sqm under roof.

The shape of the actual house and layout matches the plans so all that is in order.

Is this a major issue? How much can the actual building deviate from the plans?

Thanks
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Its all a gamble. Fnb ask randomly for approved plans. But lets say they dont, you buy it, and walls fall over and try to claim via insurance... you gonna burn yourself!

Rather make it a topic in the opt (approved plans by seller)
 
zerocool2009 said:
Its all a gamble. Fnb ask randomly for approved plans. But lets say they dont, you buy it, and walls fall over and try to claim via insurance... you gonna burn yourself!

Rather make it a topic in the opt (approved plans by seller)
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Thanks zerocool

The plans are approved and all is in order in the seller's mind, but I'm finding these decrepencies in the size of actual house versus plans.

Do we insist that they redraw and resubmit or is it acceptable?
 
aomar296 said:
Thanks zerocool

The plans are approved and all is in order in the seller's mind, but I'm finding these decrepencies in the size of actual house versus plans.

Do we insist that they redraw and resubmit or is it acceptable?
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My advice! Ask for approved plans (submitted and signed off)
 
aomar296 said:
Hi guys

Need some advice regarding house plans for a place I'm interested in. The house plans say 130sqm but my measurements give me 160sqm under roof.

The shape of the actual house and layout matches the plans so all that is in order.

Is this a major issue? How much can the actual building deviate from the plans?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I really depends how you measure and how it was measured on the plans.

There is a 6x5ish room somewhere that is not on the plans. Sounds like a carport/garage as been added on or patio/porch has been enclosed.
 
Is there normally a difference between the plans and the actual building?

Does the builder normally allow for some extra metres here and there?
 
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