Sale of Land for Overdue Rates -

W

willair

Just wondering does anyone have experience in buying semi-rural,small comm,house and land resi small country blocks at auctions from Country
Shire Councils ,,In default of payment to the Council of the amount stated as "Outstanding Rates & Charges" and any other Rates (including extra charges) what are the hidden traps that one has to look out for the property i'm interested in is a over 100HA ex 1960's Tin Mine that has about 23k owing in rate and other charges,just trying to think what one needs to know that sometimes you find out when it's too late..
thanks..
 
willair said:
Just wondering does anyone have experience in buying semi-rural,small comm,house and land resi small country blocks at auctions from Country
Shire Councils ,,In default of payment to the Council of the amount stated as "Outstanding Rates & Charges" and any other Rates (including extra charges)
Click to expand...
I have been to a few auctions for this style of property - yes.

willair said:
... what are the hidden traps that one has to look out for the property
Click to expand...
No real traps - just do the same DD as you would on any other property purchase.

The ONLY thing I'd say to watch out for is a last minute (literally) offer by the owner to pay up all the overdue rates (even on a payment plan) to stop the property from being sold.
 
Propertunity said:
The ONLY thing I'd say to watch out for is a last minute (literally) offer by the owner to pay up all the overdue rates (even on a payment plan) to stop the property from being sold.
Click to expand...
That's the one item the Lady in the Shire Council said can happen prior too the sale,just not sure of the timeframe but i have been watching the site for 3 months and so far out of the 40 or so blocks on offer several have been withdrawn from sale over the past few days,but the one that i'm interested in is owned by a Japanese Company from the mid 1970's
and the amount in default is over 23k,so my guess they will want above 23k or it will get passed in like 5 years ago,i went for a walk over the property several weeks ago could not find any tin mine but there were several buildings in several locations on the site..
Thanks for your help..
 
My Dad bought a block of land that backed onto our block a few years ago on the west coast of Tassie he was the only one that wanted to purchase it and they sold it to him for a couple of thousand, exactly the amount that was owing on the rates. At the time he kept saying something has to go wrong but he is still smiling :)

Councils do some odd things…. 23k not a lot to pay for a block of land you never know your luck!

KJ#
 
Willair, not sure if this is your area but they had an auction the other day on the NSW Mid-North Coast. Sounds like it would have been a fun event.

Bellingen Shire Council Auction

Got to laugh at some of the articles comments. If you don't pay your rates for 5 years then count yourselves lucky you're only losing your block of land!!
 
willair said:
and the amount in default is over 23k,so my guess they will want above 23k or it will get passed in like 5 years ago,
Click to expand...

I believe they will be happy to have someone else paying rates again.

I purchased a rates owing property 20 years ago and got it for way less than what the council was owed.

I also went to buy one approx two years ago and the auction was on the Monday,owners came in Monday morning early and paid up,disappointing,as I had organized cash beforehand.The auctioneer didn't say anything until a couple of minutes before the auction:(

Best to maybe talk to some one in confidence from the council.
 
I was looking at this stuff awhile back, just anything .
Derelict old tennis courts for example, talking ruralish area's . Some of them have ac's of land with them, shed's, power, unused for 20 yrs.
They told me they keep them just in case an area sparks up again, they can redevelop them.
I also checked maps and found 100's of blocks on corners, bends or just anywhere , with their own titles that did nothing.
I gave them a list of about 15 or so one day that were just going to absolute waste , never be used.
Pretty surprised , he went through all of them and said we may need this one for that and that one for this and we don't have any others we'd like to sell right now.

So I said but this is just a small selection of 100's I've been looking at on the map , surely they aren't all going to be used . He reckons most of them actually do have some long term plan or purpose.

I got the feeling though that it was all in the too hard basket for this guy. Maybe if I got someone else or persisted with some others , lost interest after that.
I was hoping to catch something they hadn't thought of selling yet so it hadn't hit the market or an auction.

Cheers
 
Willair, did some googling after seeing this thread back in Feb. Don't think I came across your specific property, but there are certainly some interesting ones going to auction.

Did you end up following up on yours or is the auction still pending?

From the article Gools linked:
Sydney couple, Paul Poinkin and his partner, Konstanza Kulakowski, were angry at being refused the right to bid at the auction.

Auctioneer with Crown Real Estate Paul Tobias said he had been instructed by the vendor, the Bellingen Council, to refuse their application.
Click to expand...

It was interesting to note the council refused this buyers application, is it possible their location was the problem and the council wanted to sell the land to locals?

I tried searching for regional SA councils doing similar sales, but can't see that they do... anyone know why these auctions are particular to some states and not others?
 
I had a buyer looking at one in NSW just outside of canberra a few years ago but it was a bit like a mortgagee sale in that the smell of blood in the water stirred up a few buyers and the property actually went for more than expected on the day of auction.

I dont think you would be able to find such properties per se, you would just have to find them listed as normal but with "under instruction from so and so council". Perhaps you could ring the council in the area you are interested in direct to see if they had any coming up but I assume they would have to be sold at arms length via an agent to be above board.
 
hobo-jo said:
I tried searching for regional SA councils doing similar sales, but can't see that they do... anyone know why these auctions are particular to some states and not others?
Click to expand...
In our area Landmark tends to take all the council auctions, deceased estates etc. I don't know how far Landmark's powers hold, they certainly don't go to Whyalla (my parents are involved with a deceased estate there). A few years back Landmark did a really big batch of repossessed land from all over my old council held at the council chambers itself.

Probably find each area has a particular agent that they use for this kind of thing.
 
hobo-jo said:
It was interesting to note the council refused this buyers application, is it possible their location was the problem and the council wanted to sell the land to locals?
Click to expand...

Hobo, I think I read somewhere else that those refused buyers were trying to buy their own block as a way of maintaining their ownership. Maybe they were pressuring others not to bid....

Gools
 
I did see one that had already hit the market up in Bega once , NSW .
What it was was a slightly burnt commission house and that was very cheap. They did put it in with an agent though but it was still well under what it was worth , 50% at least . Went in a day or two.

Cheers
 
hobo-jo said:
Willair, did some googling after seeing this thread back in Feb. Don't think I came across your specific property, but there are certainly some interesting ones going to auction.

Did you end up following up on yours or is the auction still pending?
Click to expand...
Been down that way for the last 3 days and have had a look at every block still up for auction,, several have been unlisted due too the title holders paying up their outstanding bills,i'm just looking for something to put a removal on the property if something goes for below 10-15k i will post the link too the sale after the auction most only comes up every 5 years and this one is in nth nsw and by the way i see it there has got to be something near a creek that no one wants-or a old tin mine-one of the listing has an very old stone house on it,, then you just have too turn up on the day and keep your hands in your pockets till something come up that no one bids on,and if you have walked evey block then i just might be lucky..
 
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