Home buyers need to invest in pest and building inspections by an expert before buying a home
29/04/2012 
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Try as we might to be emotionally detached, when most of us are looking to buy a house or an apartment, the property’s overt attractiveness is often a big part of the appeal.
But it’s what we can’t see – whether the home is structurally sound, whether there is rising damp in the walls and whether the wiring is up to standard, for example – that can cause the biggest headaches.
It is for that reason that thousands of prospective homebuyers every year turn to an array of building inspectors for professional help in assessing the condition of residential properties.
Peter Georgiev, an architect who has been conducting residential inspections for 20 years or more, says that while people want properties inspected for a range of different reasons – they may want to assess whether their existing property is suitable for a renovation, for example, or require some advice on a particular problem they’ve noticed – when it comes to prepurchase inspections, there are at least three types.
“There’s the investor who wants to have some knowledge that the property is not going to cost them a fortune and take away from the income that they might require,” he says. “Then there’s the purchaser who is looking at something to renovate and they really want a position statement as to whether the property has reasonable bones for renovation … and there are those people who think they’ve got a property that they can move straight into and they want an assurance that the place is not going to cost them a lot of money in the short term.”
Mr Georgiev, who runs the Georgiev Partnership, in East Kew, is one of a couple of hundred registered architects working in Victoria who regularly conduct inspections in partnership with Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
Archicentre conducts about 7000 inspections every year in Victoria alone, most of which are residential.
The inspections involve a 300-point test that covers a home’s interior, exterior, roof, grounds and outbuildings, with a focus on nine key fault categories including cracking, dampness, frame faults, electrical faults and illegal building.
“It will give them a sense, obviously, of the condition of the building and, more importantly, it will give them an idea if any serious money needs to be spent any time soon,” says Archicentre state director David Hallett.
“So, for example, if the recommendation of our architect is that the house will need to be restumped or rewired or reroofed, or there’s a serious structural problem somewhere, that’s something (a prospective purchaser) can obviously factor into their budget in deciding how much to spend. It becomes a negotiating tool in some ways.”
Archicentre’s inspections – which have turned up everything from floor bearers supported by stacked bricks sitting on dirt to old pieces of railway track being used as support bearers and staircases being built too steeply – cost, on average, between $400 and $500 and come with a $10,000 structural guarantee.
While the older a home is the more necessary an inspection may be, Mr Hallett says any property that has been renovated recently should be looked at (in particular, he advocates pest inspections be carried out, saying that termites, in particular, have been found in some quite new properties).
Unlike those inspecting homes built by owner-builders, there is no requirement for those conducting pre-purchase inspections to be registered.
Experts suggest that as a result, people should be careful to check the credentials of a prospective inspector. Those with the requisite skills can include building surveyors, engineers, architects or registered building practitioners and can often be reached via a professional organisation such as the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors.
A quick scan of the Yellow Pages reveals a plethora of companies that run inspection services across Victoria.
Robert Paul, a registered building practitioner, is the owner of Just Inspections.
Based in Melbourne, the company, whose inspectors include a registered architect and former builders and tradespeople, conducts about a dozen inspections a week across the city and as far afield as Brisbane.
They offer only written reports, which involve examining a home’s structural integrity as well as an audit of the condition of everything from tiling to fences, on homes less than 30 years old, but do offer verbal reports on older properties.
Mr Paul says people are after “peace of mind” when they hire an inspection service; they want to uncover issues that might not be immediately obvious.
“They’ve generally been over it themselves and they know the obvious things,” he says. “If there’s something there they weren’t able to see, we can pick that up.”
He says his inspectors have in the past unearthed some major structural defects, such as rotten stumps or a collapsing roof-frame, which have led to clients pulling out of a contract of sale.
Buyer’s advocate Christopher Koren says pre-purchase house inspections are something he generally recommends, particularly for people looking to purchase properties while overseas or interstate.
“That’s one of the first things I suggest to them, if the property has even a hint of requiring some work,” he says.
“Even though it can be quite expensive, and I think charges can be anywhere from $300 to about $700 depending on who you use, a property inspection and a pest inspection are always advisable.”
Mr Koren says that as well as checking a prospective inspector’s professional credentials, people would be wise to check what insurances – such as professional indemnity insurance – they are covered by should anything go awry.
So what if something does go wrong – if an inspector misses what becomes a major problem six months down the track?
Nicole Rich, director, policy and campaigns at the Consumer Action Law Centre, says that under the state’s Fair Trading Act, there is an implied condition that the services will be rendered with due care and skill and will be fit for the purposes for which they are commonly used or that it is reasonable to expect.
Ms Rich says that if the services do not meet these expectations and the consumer can prove they relied on the report, they may be able to claim damages.
But, she adds, if there is a problem, it’s always advisable to approach the company that provided the services first.
If that fails to resolve the conflict, Consumer Affairs Victoria offers a free conciliation service.
“If you get no joy there, then usually Consumer Affairs will advise you what the next steps are,” Ms Rich says.
Looking for what lies beneath
For Denise Brand, it’s all about peace of mind. She’s used Archicentre’s inspection service twice before, including on the brick Victorian in Abbotsford she has lived in for the past 16 years, and she has just called the service in again, to examine a seven-year-old property she’s considering purchasing not far from her home.
Ms Brand says using an inspection service such as Archicentre allows her to go into a potential sale with her “eyes wide open”.
“It gives me more confidence,” she says.
Among the key questions she wants answered are whether there have been any illegal alterations or repairs carried out at the property and what problems might exist in the property that aren’t obvious.
On that last point, Ms Brand says that it was obvious when she bought her present home that it needed “massive renovations” – the wiring, plumbing and roofing all needed major work – but it was for what she didn’t know that she had the inspection carried out.
“It’s not only those obvious things that I can see,” she says. “But they can identify things like rising damp or rotting underneath that I can’t see and they’re costs that I need to factor into my calculations.”
Ms Brand says she prefers to use an independent service rather than rely on the advice of family or friends – even if they were working in the building trade.
“You don’t want them to feel responsible – totally independent is much better.”
Source: The Age , credit David Adams
Rick Adlam has been helping clients with home loan finance since 1985 when he was home consultant with AV Jennings. Rick started Equity Home Loans in 1996 to help homeowners become property investors. Rick currently consults in the development of Mr Mortgage for mortgage brokers and HomeMate for new home buyers.
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