Some people will have a good look at the property they are buying and then decide it’s OK and will skip on a pre purchase inspection report.

If the property is only a few years old and it looks good, the temptation to save a few hundred dollars can override common sense. However it’s the things you can’t see or know about that may cause you headache, problems and cost you thousands (if not a lot more than that when it comes to health and safety).

Consider the following example, then make up your mind

My clients have purchased a property only a few years old and are now having problems with their swimming pool. The paving, coping and the bond beam have heaved and now have to be demolished and rebuilt together with drainage.

They did not get a pre purchase inspection and everything looked OK, but the problems started after the purchase about a year ago.

If I had inspected the property at the time of purchase, I too would not have reported problems with the swimming pool, however I would have alerted the purchaser to new pool construction, queried if there was a building permit, owner builder’s report and the required owners warranty insurance.

As it happened, section 32 of the purchase contract was defective because it did not report building permit. It seems that one or both of conveyancing companies were negligent, there was no owner builder’s report and no owners warranty insurance.

My advice would have set off alarms and given my client the opportunity to pull out.

That’s the depth of advice you get from your Building Expert.

Instead, my client is now facing thousands of dollars of repair costs, thousands of dollars of legal action expenses, uncertain recovery outcome and no insurance fall back.