Building & Pest Inspection

[babysteps]

Hi.

My offer for a property has just been accepted and in the Contract for Sale, it says pest and building inspection has to be organised within 3 days of acceptance of offer. I still haven't signed the contract yet but I assumed it starts from the date the owner accepted the offer (or is it from the date I signed)?

The house does not have RCDs and smoke detectors as required by the current regulation and there are some dodgy looking electrical fixtures and fittings that may need to be fixed up.

So my questions are:
* Should we get the building and pest inspections done prior to my signing of the contract?
* Could we negotiate for further reductions in price based on the findings from the inspections?
* Rather than getting the owner to install the RCDs and smoke detectors, could we just get to reduce the price by say $1k and do it ourselves?
* Are there any good building and pest inspectors that are highly recommended in Perth?

Thanks!

 

[vbplease]

My offer for a property has just been accepted... I still haven't signed the contract yet...

So only your verbal offer has been accepted?

* Should we get the building and pest inspections done prior to my signing of the contract?

imo, unless it's an auction, paying for a building and pest inspection before signing a contract is likely to be a waste of money.. your verbal offer is still open to be gazumped.

If you're worried about the findings of the b&p inspection reason enough to break the deal, then make sure the b&p conditions in your contract are subject to your satisfaction. Talk to your solicitor about that.. because the terms and conditions of contracts are different for each state.

* Could we negotiate for further reductions in price based on the findings from the inspections?

yes, definitely.

* Rather than getting the owner to install the RCDs and smoke detectors, could we just get to reduce the price by say $1k and do it ourselves?

Yes, why not negotiate this when initially signing the contract?