Areas we serve / Mornington Peninsula / Capel Sound and Tootgarook
Lawyers and solicitors for Capel Sound and Tootgarook
Buying and selling, bathing boxes, land near the wetland, and wills and estates for Capel Sound and Tootgarook clients, from our Frankston office about 35 minutes away.
What we do for Capel Sound and Tootgarook clients
Choose what you need help with. Each one opens the detail further down this page.
Legal services for Capel Sound and Tootgarook clients
Capel Sound, known until 2016 as Rosebud West, and Tootgarook sit on the bay between Rosebud and Rye. Behind them lies Tootgarook Wetland, a large freshwater marsh, most of it on private land, and along the foreshore are campgrounds and bathing boxes run by volunteer committees.
We act for home owners, buyers and sellers, for owners of bathing boxes, and for families making wills and powers of attorney or dealing with an estate. Radek Dajer, our principal solicitor, acts personally on each matter, in English or in Polish, and we meet at our Frankston office or by video.
Local note
Capel Sound was named Rosebud West until 2016. Older titles, contracts and records may still use the old name.
Property, bathing boxes and wills in Capel Sound and Tootgarook
Choose a topic to see what it involves and how we help.
Contract and section 32 review, auctions and private sales, and settlement for houses, units and townhouses.
- Before you sign: we check the contract, the section 32 statement and the planning controls on the land, including any overlay, and suggest changes while you can still negotiate.
- Units and townhouses: properties with common property are managed by an owners corporation. Read the rules, the fees and any special levies before you sign.
- Cooling-off: for many private sales of residential property, you have 3 clear business days after signing to end the contract. There is none at a publicly advertised auction.
- Duty: concessions apply to some homes, including for pensioners and first home buyers. We check whether you qualify.
Planning checks for land near Tootgarook Wetland, behind Capel Sound and Tootgarook.
- Tootgarook Wetland: much of the land around the wetland is in the Green Wedge Zone, with an Environmental Significance Overlay for the wetland (ESO30) and the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay.
- Permits: these overlays can require a planning permit for buildings, works and removing vegetation. We check the controls on the land before you buy or build.
- Flooding: a planning permit is generally needed for buildings and works on land in the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay.
- Dwellings: in the Green Wedge Zone a dwelling needs a planning permit, and generally only one is allowed on each lot. The Mornington Peninsula Shire says there is no entitlement to build a house on rural land.
Buying, selling and passing on a bathing box on the foreshore.
- A licence, not a title: a bathing box on the foreshore stands on Crown land and is held under a licence, not a freehold title.
- Fees: for boxes the Shire manages, there is an annual licence fee, and a transfer fee of a set amount (reviewed each year) or 6.5% of the capital improved value on the rate notice, whichever is greater. Committee-run foreshores, such as Capel Sound, set their own terms.
- Buying or selling a box: the licence has to be transferred with the managing body’s approval, so we check the licence terms and the transfer steps before you sign.
Wills, enduring powers of attorney and medical treatment decision makers, prepared to meet the formal requirements of Victorian law.
- Wills: executors, gifts and the residue of your estate. For blended families, life interests and protective trusts can balance a surviving partner against children from earlier relationships.
- Enduring power of attorney: appoints someone to make financial or personal decisions for you, or both, and continues if you lose capacity. Made under the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic).
- Medical treatment decision maker: the person you choose to make medical treatment decisions if you cannot, with an advance care directive recording your wishes.
- Without these documents: nobody has automatic authority to deal with your bank accounts or property, and your family may need to apply to VCAT for an order.
Planning ahead
An enduring power of attorney lets someone you trust act for you if you cannot. It must be made while you have capacity, so it is worth making one now, while there is no hurry.
Buying a home
Buying in Capel Sound or Tootgarook, step by step
From the first look at the contract to getting the keys. We explain each step, in English or in Polish.
01
Before you sign
We check the contract, the section 32 statement and the planning controls, and suggest changes while you can still negotiate.
02
Cooling-off
For many private sales of residential property, you have 3 clear business days after signing to end the contract. There is none at a publicly advertised auction.
03
Duty and finance
We calculate the duty, claim any concession you are entitled to and work with your lender on the settlement date.
04
Before settlement
Inspect the property before settlement, and tell us straight away if anything is not as it should be.
05
Settlement
Settlement happens electronically through a platform such as PEXA, so you do not need to attend. Once it is confirmed, the agent can release the keys.
How we work
Visit us from Capel Sound and Tootgarook
435 Nepean Highway, Frankston VIC 3199
Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm, by appointment
From Capel Sound and Tootgarook
About 35 minutes by car via the Mornington Peninsula Freeway and Peninsula Link.
By bus
Route 788 runs along Point Nepean Road through Capel Sound and Tootgarook to Frankston station, a short walk from our office.
Parking
Wilson Parking at 453 Nepean Highway, street parking on the Nepean Highway, and the car parks at McDonald’s across the road and at Dan Murphy’s.
Common questions
Can’t see your question? Call 1800 776 529 or send us a message.
Yes. The locality was renamed Capel Sound in 2016. The name comes from the 1836 survey of the bay by HMS Rattlesnake.
Yes, but a bathing box is held under a licence on Crown land, not a freehold title. The licence must be transferred with the approval of the Shire or the foreshore committee that manages it, and fees apply. We check the licence and the transfer steps before you sign.
Often. Land near the wetland can be in the Green Wedge Zone, the wetland’s Environmental Significance Overlay or a flood overlay, and each can require a planning permit. The planning property report shows what applies, and we can check it for you.
No law requires it, but homemade wills are a common source of disputes. A will that is unclear, is not properly witnessed, or leaves out important assets can cost your family far more than it saved.
Our office is at 435 Nepean Highway, Frankston, about 35 minutes by car. Much of the work can be done by phone, video and email, so you may only need to come in to sign documents.
Yes. Radek Dajer speaks Polish and can take your instructions and explain your documents in Polish. See our Polish-language services.
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Talk to us about your Capel Sound and Tootgarook matter
Tell us briefly what has happened or what you are planning. We reply to every enquiry within one business day, by phone, email or text, whichever you prefer.
What happens next
- Send the form.
- We reply within one business day.
- We arrange a time to talk, or ask for any information or documents we need first.
Prefer to talk? Call 1800 776 529, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm.