Hi All,
We are looking to purchase a unit in a building, built only 6 years ago, but the builder was not very good and the waterproofing has failed in many places. Sadly for the original owners they were not able to recover money from the since bankrupted builder.
In the last 3 years since uncovering/ investigating the issues, the OC has raised 220k in special levies to pay for the most urgent repairs, and has just decided to raise another 250k in levies payable next year (not by us though) to complete the rectifications of the defects detailed in the building report. We have read through a detailed full building inspection listing all the defects.
We are satisfied that the bathroom water penetration issues are being dealt with and similar for water penetration issues at the balconies.
One thing that is still a big question mark is the basement car park roof- it was reported that there was water penetration on the roof slab underside. To me, fixing a 2 story basement car park (With a 3 story building on top) sounds like expensive / impossible business. We want to be satisfied that the OC has raised enough money, and that fixing this issue will not blow out to be 2 or 3 times the cost of original levy.
Does anyone have any experience with basement car park water penetration? I know it's not possible to answer how much the bills could run to, but I don't know if this is an issue that *could* be fixed with 20k or more likely one that *could* need up to 1mil.
This is a property for us to live in, and we like it a lot, and have looked at many properties. If it were an investment I would not touch it (I have a feeling many of you will tell us to run run!!). We are budgeting that the repairs will cost 1.5 times what they think, and taking this into account with our pricing, we are also aware of the certainty of repairs being done on the building and the potential noise and mess that might entail. But if basement car park issues are too big a risk then we may just have to let this one go . (The building issues have already had an effect on the price of the unit, so if the building issues do indeed get fixed, we think we'll have got a relative bargain, provided they accept our 50% of levy (about 6k) buffer.)
Thanks for your advice!
We are looking to purchase a unit in a building, built only 6 years ago, but the builder was not very good and the waterproofing has failed in many places. Sadly for the original owners they were not able to recover money from the since bankrupted builder.
In the last 3 years since uncovering/ investigating the issues, the OC has raised 220k in special levies to pay for the most urgent repairs, and has just decided to raise another 250k in levies payable next year (not by us though) to complete the rectifications of the defects detailed in the building report. We have read through a detailed full building inspection listing all the defects.
We are satisfied that the bathroom water penetration issues are being dealt with and similar for water penetration issues at the balconies.
One thing that is still a big question mark is the basement car park roof- it was reported that there was water penetration on the roof slab underside. To me, fixing a 2 story basement car park (With a 3 story building on top) sounds like expensive / impossible business. We want to be satisfied that the OC has raised enough money, and that fixing this issue will not blow out to be 2 or 3 times the cost of original levy.
Does anyone have any experience with basement car park water penetration? I know it's not possible to answer how much the bills could run to, but I don't know if this is an issue that *could* be fixed with 20k or more likely one that *could* need up to 1mil.
This is a property for us to live in, and we like it a lot, and have looked at many properties. If it were an investment I would not touch it (I have a feeling many of you will tell us to run run!!). We are budgeting that the repairs will cost 1.5 times what they think, and taking this into account with our pricing, we are also aware of the certainty of repairs being done on the building and the potential noise and mess that might entail. But if basement car park issues are too big a risk then we may just have to let this one go . (The building issues have already had an effect on the price of the unit, so if the building issues do indeed get fixed, we think we'll have got a relative bargain, provided they accept our 50% of levy (about 6k) buffer.)
Thanks for your advice!
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