Hello!
I had purchased an investment property in Victoria in 2018. The selling agency had an open and had put out brouchers explaining the huge STCA potential printed on the broucher with a land size of 798 sqm with a house on it – I went ahead and bought it.
I have since owned the property since then and decided to sell now to upgrade my PPOR. It turns out that sec 32 lists the land size as 709 SQM. So the seller agent I have engaged is advicing that he cannot advertise this as 798 sqm.
Realestate.com.au and the RP data still shows the house as 798 sqm.
I am really confused with this situation and unsure of what my options and next steps are. I had engaged a land surveyor and they had also listed the lot size as 709 sqm.
Do I have any legal option to sue the vendor/agent/agency from 2018 as it is clearly a case of fraudelent advertisement.
Thanks,
AHello there.
What’s the address please? Let me do a little bit of searching.
Do you have any marketing from when you purchased that says the larger land size? Can you demonstrate that you relied on the real estate agent’s representations(perhaps by communication pointing to discussion about land size?)
Most advertising material does come with a disclaimer on it saying, essentially, all care and no responsibility. Indeed, checking land size ought to have been done during your due diligence. Sadly though, that’s now a bit like saying don’t eat that 10th course at the Chinese buffet.
That said, you may have something to discuss with a lawyer if you feel the agent engaged in false and misleading advertising, or if the Vendor falsified their Section 32.
Note – this is NOT legal advice as I am not a lawyer. Just thoughts on what I would do if I were in your shoes.
Bye,
– Steve
Steve McKnight | PropertyInvesting.com Pty Ltd | CEO
https://www.propertyinvesting.comSuccess comes from doing things differently
Absolutely right, I bought it based on advertising material. I had engaged a conveyancer obviously they failed to provide one service they are supposed to. Can you please point me to any lawyer or share a number and I am happy to talk through ? Best regards
Hi Curious
Just noticed – this looks like an honest mistake rather than an attempt to deceive. When someone typed the brochure, their right hand slipped one position too far left, thus the 09 became 98. It happens often – but proofreading would (should) have picked it up. Or a title search during conveyancing….
FWIW
Benny
Well, this could be a small mistake made by slipping hand, but the difference of 90 sqm is a huge mistake. I think you have to check you advertising twice or even more times before publishing it. I am very curious how this will be explaind by the company and how the are going to solve it
Hi there,
I always ask for a copy of the title then use a calculator to work out the actual land size :).
You must rely on the S32 not the advert as errors are quite common.
The agent would have pulled the size from another source like RP Data.
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