It’s disturbing to find out that people still buy property without being armed with independent building and pest inspections. In this instance we can’t show pictures in order to protect the identity but we do want to tell the story as a cautionary tail.
There was a lot going wrong in this property so we’ll be brief. Below are some dot points noting some of the bigger issues.
The roof leaked after the first good rain.
The roofline was inconsistent and would require major building works to correct it.
The flashings weren’t compliant.
The guttering was falling apart and wasn’t capable of dealing with even a light rain.
Parts of the roof weren’t compliant, having an insufficient angle for drainage.
Internal doors were installed as external doors.
No fly wire on any of the doors or windows.
Large gaps in doors.
Inconsistent floor with drops in height, holes and patches.
This isn’t our area but you can get pre-purchase electrical inspections and it can save some headaches. This house didn’t have any fans or air-conditioning installed. The power connected to the stove was insufficient to run the stove. And the switchboard needed major upgrades to cope with any of the above issues.
Tiling was done by amateurs.
There was a non-compliant drop off on a deck. Decks over 1m high usually require a fall protection.
Decking rotten, screws rusted.
The cost of rectifying all issues, especially compliance issues and weather issues, will be in the league of $400,000-500,000. A full building and pest inspection would have allowed the buyers to negotiate price based on this or walk away from the deal.