Most of us believe that nurses are very trustworthy – as surveys regularly show. I first really trusted and appreciated nurses during the big cleanup after Queensland’s 1974 Australia Day floods – 37 years ago this month.
BY TIM O’DWYER
I had been helping friends whose highset home in the Brisbane suburb of Graceville went completely under water. On the way home, with mud-splattered brooms and shovels sticking out of my VW’s passenger window, I stopped at traffic lights. Suddenly a volunteer nurse appeared and gave me a protective tetanus shot.
Just a few years ago a very trusting nurse (a family friend) arrived from interstate, promptly went house-hunting and visited a real estate agency. This mature-aged lady soon discovered why agents are at the bottom of the trustworthy surveys.
The saleslady told her first lie when Nurse Betty, as I’ll call her, noticed that the newly renovated highset house she liked adjoined a park and creek. "Any flooding here?" she asked. "Not a problem," replied the saleslady.
The creek happened to be notoriously flood-prone Oxley Creek, named after John Oxley who first recorded evidence of massive floods when he explored the Brisbane River in 1824.
After Nurse Betty’s eager offer was accepted, my wife and I joined her to revisit the house. We asked a neighbour about flooding. In 1974, said the neighbour, the water went over his roof guttering. He always worried in heavy rains, he added, when the creek sometimes overflowed into his backyard.
Nurse Betty’s flood search later revealed that more than five metres of water covered the land in 1974.
Allowing for the Wivenhoe Dam, the Council estimated a Q100 flood (bigger than ’74) would still put this block more than two metres under water.
The saleslady told her second lie when she assured her believing buyer that the renovations and the relocation of the house to this land had passed all council inspections. Nurse Betty’s building records search would show otherwise. The council had no record of any inspections.
Needless to say the Queensland Law Society/Real Estate Institute of Queensland contract used by the agency contained no clause about past flooding and gave no redress for the outstanding inspections.
Suffering a little buyer’s remorse by now, Nurse Betty sought an independent valuation. Yes, she had signed the pre-contract warning statement recommending legal advice and a valuation. No, she did not do either before signing the agent’s contract. She was like most homebuyers who trust the seller’s agent and ignore this overly wordy and poorly designed government form.
The valuation came in below the contract price because of the block’s flood history and high-tension power lines in the park. Nurses are usually pretty observant, but Nurse Betty had not spotted these.
The sales lady told her third lie (a variation on the first) to the valuer when she volunteered that the block had been filled above the flood level. Hardly. According to the valuer’s report, the council would have required the floor of the house to be 300 millimetres above the Q100 flood level, which was 2.6 metres above the fill level.
Another friend of Nurse Betty’s later enquired about flooding with the principal of the real estate agency. The agency, part of a national real estate group, kept no flood maps. It did not ask sellers about past floods but said it would give prospective buyers whatever local flood knowledge the principal had – if they asked. No mention that the agency office itself most likely went well under water in 1974. Nurse Betty bought the house anyway, although I advised her to cancel for misrepresentation and claim her expenses – or else keep a dinghy on the front verandah.
Nurse Betty loved her new home, and trusted that when her official complaints were properly investigated, the Office of Fair Trading might give more than a tetanus shot to one dishonest real estate agent. No one held their breath on that issue.
POST SCRIPT: Nurse Betty, her daughter and baby granddaughter are presently staying in my home. Friends and family helped them evacuate their home shortly before the latest floodwaters in Brisbane rose.
Tim O’Dwyer is a Queensland solicitor, watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au
But wait, there’s more to this story. Would you believe Nurse Betty later sold her Oxley home (with full flood disclosure to her buyers, mind), but then happily (and fully informed) bought another in nearby Graceville? This home was completely submerged in 1974, but this time the waters went just below the ceiling.
Comment by Tim O'Dwyer — January 19, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
Interesting story – I love a happy ending! My daughter and her husband have an investment property that was affected by flood waters and whilst there are so many others affected far greater than they are, they too are feeling quite jaded. They obtained a ‘floodwise’ property report before purchasing the property – it suggested they were much higher than a ’1 in 100′ flood – assuming that would be a flood similar 1974 (like so many others) given there is no explanation of a ’1 in 100′ year flood in the document. They also thought that their insurance policy had all of their bases covered. Having spent several thousands of dollars repairing and replacing items in the home that previous tenants trashed only a couple of months ago, they now face another repair bill that they are struggling to come to terms with. They are new parents and living on one wage and truly trying to get ahead in life and despite the fact that they have a mortgage to pay on the rental property, no rental income until they can repair the house (which is still without power one week on as Energex continue to battle to reconnect the power in their area) it appears that they are not entitled to any assistance as the property is not their principal place of residence. Hardly seems fair. Their tenants who chose to leave many of their possessions in the house despite evacuating three days prior to the water coming into the house are entitled to at least $1000 per adult (due to loss of power for more than 48 hours) and will no doubt receive significant support from the Australian government, local council and other flood relief avenues.
Perhaps an API reader/contributor may know of some assistance available to them?
Comment by Tracey Toovey — January 19, 2011 @ 8:16 pm
Dishonesty by real estate agent is well known and somehow acceptable industry practise. Those who are new and innocent get caught in it one day or other.
Comment by AGS — January 25, 2011 @ 11:17 am