Purchasing undeveloped land can be rather challenging: it is a totally different undertaking as compared to getting yourself a lot with a building already erected on it. With vacant land, you cannot see subsurface soil, know the condition of underground water or see how wastewater can be directed out of the property. Therefore, you need to learn how to evaluate such a lot so that you can accurately approximate the costs of development as well as avoid running into legal problems when developing the property.
Follow these tips to ensure things don’t go wrong when you’re acquiring vacant land from property sales.
Conveyancing searches
These searches are meant to help you know as much as you possibly can about the lot you want to purchase. You need to establish the boundary lines of the land you’re buying as well as find out what rights and limitations accrue when it comes to utilization of the property. This may include determining whether owners of the bordering property have rights of way over the land being bought.
Apart from that, you will also need to find out what public utilities are readily available in the area so that you can estimate how much it will cost to make the property functional. Are there goods roads leading to the property? Is there municipal water supply in the area or you will have to drill a well? Are there electricity lines running underground that might need to be secured when construction works begin? These are some of the things that a conveyancing search will help disclose to you.
Buildability of the lot
It is not unlawful for someone to sell you a piece of undeveloped land not befitting for your use. Therefore, the responsibility of ensuring that the property is buildable squarely lies with you: the buyer. Different places around the world have different topographies. Some places have extremely unpredictable cliffs, mountains, ravines, valleys, elevations, and so on.
These topographic features can adversely impact on the buildability of a property. For instance, for the reason that it is very dangerous to construct a house on the edge of a cliff, you should perform preliminary research to know the location of the land you want to buy as well as its topography. If the lot you want to acquire is suitable for the building you envision, you can go ahead and negotiate a price for it. But first, make sure what you want to build is in line with the zoning laws of the area.
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