Do I crash the contract.....CAN I?

OK, got a bit of a curly one here. Im in Brisbane and have put an offer in for a property in WA, wife and I have signed the contract and now vendor has added a couple of clauses to the contract and REA is now "asking us to please sign here and here" but I am not exactly happy with those clauses.
Specifically they relate to the spa the property has. It is a "portable" spa, above ground and is not fenced. As per new WA State Government Regs on pools, spas, smoke alarms and rcds : the pool/spa mechanical and electrical plant and equipment will be in good order etc AND pool/spa safety barriers will comply. Vendor has inserted new clause stating spa on as is, where is. This will negate any responsibility the vendor has to make sure spa works and is also fenced. I know theres no fence, so I would be stuck with fencing it.

Next is the side verandah, I now find that it is not council approved and certified and given the property is in a cyclone prone area I may also need to reinforce and then have the verandah certified.

Given the property is $650K and as yet we havent countersigned these amendments, I could use some opinions.....
1) Would these changes be a justifiable reason to withdraw our offer?
2) I believe this becomes the vendors counter offer and as such we are under no obligation to accept these terms, but this is a WA contract so am I able to do this?
3) Should I bite the bullet and go ahead with the deal, given the rent is 1200 p/w?
Cheers
Tom
 
Now that you know , what you are in for , it is your choice what YOU want to do!You can bork it perhaps and say ,well if i need to do all those things, i should look else where, but this will leave you open to allowing others to purchase the home, or you could take a small risk , and continue with the deal, and make good if it arises, later.
 
It if was just the spa, and with rent like that, I would be just getting rid of the spa and there go your problems about fencing and all the problems that go with spas and pools, especially if it is a portable type.

The verandah is a different kettle of fish and you need to decide for yourself if you are prepared to either rip it down at worst case, or get it fixed and pay some dollars to do so.

That is good rent for the purchase price so it would be a hard decision.
 
State laws vary, but I can't imagine that any Australian state allows one party to unilaterally add clauses after the contract's been signed. The vendor's too late; if they wanted to get rid of responsibility for fencing etc, they should have done so before signing a contract. Re-reading, you say that you signed, but had the vendors counter-signed the original contract (ie without these clauses)? If so, then just stick to the original contract, and get the vendor to fix these things at their expense.

If they hadn't counter-signed, which I'm now thinking they must not have, then it's simply a matter of whether the deal as it sits now is acceptable to you in terms of risk-reward. If not, then I think you should lower your offer, to take these expenses into account. Otherwise the vendor is getting "something for nothing".

In a sense, I agree with wylie that the spa's more hassle than it's worth, but if there's an existing tenant, you can't remove that amenity during their tenancy (it's part of what they signed up for), so you'd have to construct a fence anyway, or else negotiate a rent reduction with the tenant (who holds all the cards!) for removal of the spa.
 
Good points raised by all, thanks.
Wife and I made the offer and signed contract. REA sent contract on to vendor to sign and they have added these clauses and signed and now its back to me to initial their changes.
Tenant is already in place until Sept 2010 with another year option so simply ripping out spa is a no go.
As for the verandah which is really my main concern, its a pretty decent size so if it had to be ripped down and replaced or half rebuilt and certified that could be a fairly major expense.
Time for a serious think.......
 
You are also able to change your first offer price and offer less if you are interested in continuing the negotiations.

Price, settlement terms, clauses are all a few areas you might look to gain concessions.

I have a friend who is fond of offering a price to take the property off the market, and then when the building/pest report come in with issues (there should always be some issues) tries to negotiate the vendor down. The agents and vendors hate it of course.
 
As others have said...Their counter offer has the effect of making your original offer void, therefore you are able to adjust your price/add conditions to suit their proposed conditions or simply walk away from the deal.

Is this particular property unique in any way, or are there plenty of others that are similar that will offer the same yeild? If so, you may want to have a go at another property.

You could also ask for vacant possession at settlement, and leave that up to the vendor to sort out with their existing tenant. Then get rid of the spa and fix up the veranda.

Perhaps you could make your new offer subject to obtaining council approval for the veranda...

There are plenty of options, but the most important thing is that you are in the controlling position at the moment.:)

Boods
 
The big issue is if someone injures themself with anything to with verandah or spa you will be in big trouble financially and otherwise, no insurance will cover you,
Since there is a tenant in it this would concern me bigtime, it may never be a problem but it could be catastrophic.
I would resolve it now before moving ahead, either discuss with the tenant removing the spa and then allowing for having the verandah approved and built properly so that insurance is no issue or don`t buy it.
 
$1200 a week rent for a $650k house!!!

If it's in a good CG area then who cares. Even if it costs $5k to get it all compliant it only going to cost one month's rent. If you had to lose one month's rent to get the deal done, is it still a financially viable deal?
 
I must be getting old too travelbug. I had to look it up :) in the urban dictionary. (warning contains coarse language)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=borked

I though he meant Baulk?

WordWeb Link

Stopping short and refusing to go on

Refuse to comply

Pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness

What was it Craig?

PS: Urban Dictionary was no help on Baulk Propertunity, but led me onto another word..some funnnny terms in there
 
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