Building inspection

[timtamtastegood]

Hi everyone,

Signed an REIQ contract on a house for PPOR. Had building inspection today which they said there is movement in the walls and require underpinning. Is this enough to terminate the contract? Is this a major defect and has anyone had any experiences?


QLD

thanks

 

[csc]

Hi everyone,

Signed an REIQ contract on a house for PPOR. Had building inspection today which they said there is movement in the walls and require underpinning. Is this enough to terminate the contract? Is this a major defect and has anyone had any experiences?


QLD

thanks

absolutely....doesnt matter if its major or not, the report should actually tell you if its major, if not call the inspector and ask for his opinion, thats what you are paying him for....for me it would be major as its structural......

if your unhappy with the inspection report either terminate in writing or negotiate further..now you have something on your side to reduce the price if the vendor is negotiable..............

they may request a copy of the inspection report which you are obliged to offer.

if your building inspection saysone termite spotted sunning (not that will happen) itself on the concrete you can terminate) its your legal right In Qld as is for the vendor to request a copy of the report..good luck with it..

 

[Propertunity]

...there is movement in the walls and require underpinning.....Is this a major defect and has anyone had any experiences?

What csc said is right. If you have a property that needs underpinning - that is considered a major defect and can be very, very expensive.

Terminate the contract and move on to the next property in my opinion. This is why you get pest & building reports done - so you pay a few hundred bucks for due dilligence and to not put at risk several hundreds of thousands of dollars of the lender's and your money.

 

[Jacque]

Good advice so far, and you'd be wise to either get a quote for the work required and subtract that from the agreed price or get the vendor to pay for the work.

Either way, at least you did the right thing, conducted an inspection before committing hundreds of thousands to a purchase, and can move on if you need to.

 

[craigb]

NAH! you don't want that one , unless its aknock down rebuild, next ......!

 

[timtamtastegood]

thanks a lot guys.

Spoke with solicitor to terminate the contract first thing after report. the inspectors were literally telling me to run away... hahaha.

 

[Boof]

the inspectors were literally telling me to run away... hahaha.

I am looking for a good building inspector..... can you recomend them?

 

[timtamtastegood]

i used queensland building and pest reports. but its the only one Ive used.

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Actually the above advice is necessarily correct. To assume you may automatically pull out of a contract based on trivial matters has at least 2 potential issues. Firstly, you are assuming the contract is bound by the standard terms and conditions of a contract, however a contract may have Special Conditions which over ride the standard terms. I know of plenty of agents who use their own conditions to tighten the building and pest clauses.

Secondly, the contract requires the buyer to act reasonably, therefore a termite "sunning itself on the concrete" may not necessarily be considered reasonable in a legal sense. (although I did love the analogy csc )

In essence the points are correct, but it is wise never to assume anything about contracts. Many buyers would say to me they wanted the "standard conditions" or they thoughts finance and building clauses were "standard" within the contract however this is far from reality.

Nothing about a contract is standard and assuming anything can be unwise and costly in the future.

Kev
www.reas.com.au

 

[wylie]

Secondly, the contract requires the buyer to act reasonably, therefore a termite "sunning itself on the concrete" may not necessarily be considered reasonable in a legal sense. (although I did love the analogy csc )

I also had issues with this part, and would not think a buyer would have a chance of getting out of a contract by finding a "sunbaking termite". Let's face it, in Queensland, you could find a termite in most gardens.

The house mum just sold had the pest guy suggesting that the house was "a disaster waiting to happen" because he was wanting to flog off to the potential purchasers a $4K barrier. Our long term trusted pest guy quoted $1.5K but said regular checks were fine and a barrier was unnecessary. The other guy didn't find the termites in the tree stump in the garden. Our guy did, and dealt with them then and there.

With Mum having sold real estate, I have heard soooooo many stories about building and pest inspections that I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. They are responsible for many contracts crashing, very often totally unnecessarily. Some are trying to get more business (like the pest guy) and most write up the reports in such "scary" terms just to cover their butts by pointing out that a 70 year old house falls short of today's building code (duh!!!!). The good ones will verbally say that the house is in good condition but the paperwork has to cover their butts, and many inexperienced buyers get scared off.

 

[csc]

I also had issues with this part, and would not think a buyer would have a chance of getting out of a contract by finding a "sunbaking termite". Let's face it, in Queensland, you could find a termite in most gardens.

i disagree........finding termites, even one is grave cause for concern of a building and its structure........

if you ask an agent i guarantee the mention of termites has been the cause of thousands of contracts falling over immediately.....

the old wording in contracts holds true for me:

vendor finding "suitable" finance

vendor obtain a positive building inspection.

pests are clearly listed on most building inspection work sheets...its an important part of building and pest.....

if you ask me its an easy out, id challenge anyone to advise if they rejected the purchasers decision to pull out of a contract after termites were noted on the building and pest...........

getting out of a standard reiq contract before it goes unconditional is not rocket science, its basic stuff............

 

[wylie]

I just don't think many pest or building inspectors would report that there was "a termite sunning itself on the concrete"......

Second last PPOR we bought, the contract before ours crashed purely because there were missing ant caps. We all know that with a queenslander on stilts, ant caps will slow the little blighters down, but they can just build up enough mud to get around those pesky ant caps. Hence the regular checks.....

We could not believe our luck. We jumped in like fleas onto a dog and got ourselves a great house, NO termite damage, worst house in arguably one of the best streets in Coorparoo...... and all because some building inspector said there were missing ant caps.

Sometimes you just gotta love those pesky building inspectors .

 

[craigb]

Willy , the caps are for visual inspection , for exactly that< the little mud tubes, they do get around, the caps, but its the home owners responsability to do visual inspections, Cheers,