going bush - vendor finance

[spice-of-life]

Hi Guys, I just bought an acreage in QLD on vendor finance and the terms are as follows: total price of the land is $39,000 with a deposit of $6000. I have just paid a part deposit of $1000 and am paying off the deposit at $260 per fortnight which will take around six months to pay off. After that I am simply making repayments of $100p/w until the balance is paid in full. I am on Centrelink so I don't have a great deal of cash especially with the extra sixty dollars per fortnight while paying the deposit off so my question is this:

Can I put my caravan on the land and live there while I'm paying off the deposit or do I have to wait until the deposit is paid in full? I just don't see the purpose of paying rent in Brisbane while paying off a block of land at the same time. It would leave me financially stuffed.

If I were to move, it would allow me an extra $200 per fortnight to help pay off the finance faster but I don't want to get in trouble with anyone by doing this.

Any help here is much appreciated as I'm not 100% sure on the laws of putting a caravan onto land while paying off. The region is the north Burnett council, QLD.

[Kee]

I agree it would make sense if you were able to go live on the land you're in the process of buying. Bureaucracy does have a lot of loopholes and inconsistencies though so i'm unable to help .

How did you find the seller for such land? I have been interested in buying a small acreage property to start sort of a hobby farm while I rent small city apartments for living.

[ballzac]

There is some discussion in this thread, if you haven't already seen it.

[Torsten]

Vendor finance is like a mortgage owned by the vendor rather than a bank. So, you have no right to the property until the deposit is paid in full at which time the contract is exchanged and the title amended. Now the property is yours, however the vendor will have a first mortgage registered on the title [same as if a bank had it]. The vendor now has no right to the property. if you fall behind in payments at this stage the vendor will need to repossess, which I think needs to go through the court.

However, most vendors who offer these sort of deals will also let you live on the property before the contract is exchanged. They may charge you a nominal amount of rent as it is still technically their property. The rent is usually minimal or he may even waive it.

I also recommend you do everythign by the book and get mortage registered etc. Vendor finance deals are very prone to fraud.