Buying a NEW home: issues with Finishing

Buying a NEW home: issues with finishing (paintwork/tiling etc)

Hi all,

This is posted on behalf of a friend.

I have purchased a new home. Could someone please explain to me whether or not I am entitled to hold back a sum of money or hold the vendor responsible to fix issues if, prior to settlement, finishing done to the property was not done properly. For example, say paintwork was not done properly or there are screws which can be seen where they aren't supposed to be seen. Or say some tiles have more gaps between them in some areas.

I do know that by law, the Vendor has to rectify structural faults up to 6 years after I purchase the home and 2 years for non-structural faults. But I am really unsure whether the vendor is required to rectify any finishing done to the property such as paint work etc.

Also, what if I knew the finishing such as paintwork was fairly poor prior to me signing the contract? Can I still have the vendor rectify this after settlement. Or can I only have the vendor rectify the paintwork if say, I was purchasing the home off the plan where the paintwork was not done when I exchanged contracts.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I won't be speaking with my solicitor until next week as he is away for this week so any any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
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If you engaged a builder and had a contract in place to build a home, before the final payment is made to them, you should have had a pre-handover meeting to go through the build, scrutinise the quality and make notes of any rectifications that had to be made before handover and the final payment took place.

If you bought a house off someone who engaged a builder than the above paragraph applies to them and you, who presumably inspected the house before making an offer, purchased the property in it's current condition.
 
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