Aussie family horrified as 'eyesore' suddenly appears in front yard of new home
Despite their desperate pleas, the family are completely stuck with it.
A family who made the "rookie error" of "not paying attention to" the land survey before building their dream home have been left shattered after discovering an "unattractive", enormous green box centimetres from their bedroom windows during a check-up.
The transformer box — a metal unit that contains a piece of electrical equipment called a transformer, used to reduce high-voltage power to a lower-voltage that can be safely used in homes — was always set to be installed in the spot, but the family say they didn't realise before building started, and now it's too late.
They said online that they'd embarked on a routine check-up of the Sydney home's progress when they noticed the eyesore, later revealing their grave mistake of not checking the land survey. They said the box, roughly the size of a small shed, may even devalue their home should they eventually sell.
Family stuck with transformer box
"I am helping a friend with a property her husband signed up on," a friend of the family wrote on social media. "She went and inspected the property as it is nearing completion — and saw this green transformer box built in front of the house and very close to its front window."
"Does this pose a health risk and a safety hazard? Does this impact property value? Is there anything they can do about it?"
As it turns out, not really.
The box cannot be moved or adjusted in any way, due to various landscaping restrictions it can't be decorated in greenery and according to one property expert, it can even decrease the value of the home by up to 10 per cent.
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Adam Flynn, Victorian State Director of the Coronis Real Estate Group, said that unfortunately for the couple, who may find future buyers are "turned off" by the box, there's little they can do.
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"It's like a telegraph pole being in someone's front yard — you can negotiate why you want to pay $50,000 or $70,000 less for the house because of it," Mr Flynn said, the Daily Mail reported.
"The worst part is it can't be moved — it's 100 per cent there even if you cover it with a tool shed or paint it another colour.
"It might be common area by law — but it is a person's front yard, and anyone looking at it from the street is going to think it's unattractive."
People online sympathised with the couple's situation, with many claiming the box would bother them as well, though a number of other's flagged the importance of always checking the land survey.
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