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One Berwick family has $200,000 reasons to be upset with the Andrews Government’s ban on property inspections.
The family just listed their four-bedroom family home last week with Ray White Berwick Sales Agent Anne Haynes and they are devastated there’s no private inspections allowed until the end of October.
“We need to sell our house in lockdown as we purchased a house in early July which we negotiated a very conservative settlement of 27 November 2020,” Joanne said, who runs her own business from home while home-schooling her two little ones.
“We just managed to get our photos completed before Stage 4 was enforced, we were disappointed but willingly accepted our six weeks in lockdown.
“Following Sunday’s announcement we discovered we cannot have a potential buyer through our house until late October. This leaves less than 30 days for us to sell and settle our house and in a dire situation.
“We must now hope their house will sell, ‘sight unseen’ and without as much as a building inspector allowed through their property. In the week since the Victorian Government’s decision to extend the lockdown and ban inspections of property in metro Melbourne for a further seven weeks, the leading property group’s sales plummeted 86 per cent, compared to the same week last year.
“We are devastated by this and do not know what to do!? If we cancel our purchase we stand to lose our life savings of $200,000.
“I cannot understand how private inspections are not allowed in homes, with a strict COVID safe plan. To have four months in Victoria when house inspections are not allowed will lead to monumental losses and heartache.”
Since Sunday, the Ray White network has sold 22 properties in Melbourne across its network of 60 offices that fall under 'Metropolitan Melbourne Stage 4 Restrictions'. That's an 86 per cent fall on the same week last year.
In the first week in July, the same network of offices sold 202 properties across metropolitan Melbourne. Regional sales are holding up better at 45 transactions since last Sunday.
The group’s data shows sales listings in metropolitan Melbourne last week fell to 84, down 51 per cent year on year.
Ray White Group Managing Director Dan White said the network was hurting.
“Our members and our customers are in pain. We support the measures the government has taken to suppress the virus to date but the ban on private one on one inspections is hurting all Victorians. The single largest impediment to transacting property is the ability of people to see the property,” Mr White said.
“Our franchisees and their clients are struggling and circumstances will not improve if the lockdown continues indefinitely and private one on one inspections are not allowed.
“Unfortunately we have a collection of heart wrenching stories. For many people, the transaction to buy or rent a home is the largest financial transaction they make.
“Many Victorians were waiting for restrictions to ease to move forward and now they simply must buy, must sell or must relocate - their time is up wherever they are, for varying reasons - illness, financial and personal.”
The leading group long supports that private one on one property inspections can be conducted in a highly controlled setting – in a pre-scheduled activity where only a small group of people interact with each other, while still being able to properly observe social distancing and enact effective transmission mitigation (ie sanitisation of surfaces and the use of personal protective equipment).
The leading group long supports that private property inspections can be conducted in a highly controlled setting – in a pre-scheduled activity where only a small group of people interact with each other, while still being able to properly observe social distancing and enact effective transmission mitigation (ie sanitisation of surfaces and the use of personal protective equipment).
