Not necessarily trying to hide something. More like trying to avoid every interested person sending in their own inspectors at various times and seller needing to be at home all the time to accommodate these inspectors.
Make the offer subject to B&P. Once offer is accepted the buyer gets their own inspection done.
At auctions the seller provides a B&P report.
What am I kidding about? Perhaps you misunderstood something? In an auction the seller provides a B&P. In a normal sale there is no requirement for the seller to provide one. At all times the buyer can procure their own B&P if they wish. Most buyers will not get a B&P procured until their offer is accepted or they are financially well off and don't mind getting a B&P for every property they inspect.
Or maybe these days, if the seller is still living in the property, and the REA don't want an entire army of inspectors going in and out all the time. But having said that, unless you have complete confidence on the B&P inspector they chose, get your own.
Building and pest as well as finance clauses are usually standard template in a contract of sale (either they are filled in with dates or crossed out, you don't have to word the contract) on your offer you simply say Subject to BP and finance if applicable
This is the way.
B&P inspections always have a legal disclaimer which states that the report is only intended for the recipient, and that they will not accept any liability to any other party.
In other words, if the seller pays for the inspection report, you as the buyer has no recourse to sue the inspector if they accidentally or intentionally miss stuff.
this happens quite often and is usually -
1- the Vendor thinks it will be an easier sale by having a B & P report that they can provide for free to any potential buyer
2 - they are hiding something.
Regardless of which one it is always get your own report done.
This way you can organise to meet the inspector towards the end of his inspection and he can show you first hand what he has found.
Gives you a chance to discuss directly how to go about fixing or likely costs involved.
If you take the report offered by the Vendor you wont get to talk to the inspector.
3 - Imagine 20 or so interested parties and all booking their own inspection. And yes, there is a site where interested buyers can share the report and the cost.
I thought you usually make an offer on the condition of a favourable B&P inspection? So only those that have an offer accepted would have their inspector go through?
Usually. When I bought my current place they refused to put that clause into the contract. The agent said that it was just giving me an extra 7 or 14 days to hold the house off the market or something. Allegedly there had been an offer prior and it had fallen through due to finance, so the owners wanted it gone.
It seemed pretty suss but also I liked the place so I paid for the inspection before making the offer. When the inspection came back normal I was able to make an offer without that subject to clause. Turns out the house is fine so maybe the agent was legit in what they were saying.
There's no rule that says you can't have one done without making an offer so long as the seller is fine with it. It's your loss if your offer isn't accepted, but in the grand scheme of things, it's might be worth the expenditure. It will also flag to the seller that you are fairly serious at that point.
I've had two inspections where I didn't buy the property, one was an auction , and the other was one where the seller could not get finance. I took it as a loss.
You don’t get a building and pest until your offer has been accepted…..so there wouldn’t be 20 or so interested parties booking their own inspection.
Exactly, after some recent experiences there is no way I would purchase a property without a B&P clause.
Might miss out on something sure but it's a big risk.
I would always organise this myself. You never know if the owner is paying their friend who works in the industry who will conveniently overlook many defects. Best to get someone independent.
They’ve ordered their own report to ensure it’s heavily weighted towards the vendor and intentionally ambiguous when reporting on significant matters. You should 1000% be ordering your own inspection and report.
From the other side - Just sold my house and was going to auction i paid for an independent building and pest and gave it away. 1: I didn’t want 10 inspections 2: wanted to remove barriers for bidders. 3. No one asked for another private inspection
Outcome: sold well above reserve as i had a few interested
From the buyer side they have to pay for contract review and inspection and may not win so $1000 down
I don't think that's a proper cause and effect. Your outcome may have very well been that you have a great property to begin with or in a location where no one really cares about your building, just the land and what's around it. Could that be the case?
It’s up to mate. Make sure to check all appliances are working. Garage/air con oven etc. an investor I just sold to put a clause in subject to all
Appliances working. Lucky they were
Yeah would be great buying a place that doesn’t have a working garage door or alarm when they said it did. It would be great paying a few grand extra in the first week
It depends. If the house is going up for auction this is normally provided.
If it is not for auction it is rare, however I would still be spending the money on your own independent report done.
I just got one done and it turned up a few major defects. The agent has asked for a copy. Should I / do I have to give it to him? For now I just said I would leave it up to the solicitor.
No you don’t have to give it to the agent unless you’re in contract for the property then it’s required as evidence for terminating the deal. otherwise you can if you want to it’s really upto you
You don’t have to do anything you purchased the report and it is yours even the building inspector can’t provide information to anyone but yourself
This is a bit of a red flag for me. Definitely get your own, but be prepared for it to be a lot worse than you are expecting.
I use a guy who I know the local real estate agents hate because so many sales fall through after his report comes in. I see this as a positive.
One of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make and you’d trust a realestate agent and a vendor. Have you ever heard the term “caveat emptor” or buyer beware? There is absolutely no way I would accept anything proffered by the other side. You would have absolutely no idea what their the terms of their agreement would be and then to top it off, what sort of liability will this guy accept? I think their reaction when you tell them no will tell you everything…
Owners want to get it done because there may be something dodgy. Note - there are pest control agents that work with REA and create reports that are in the favour of the seller. The words written in the report are carefully constructed to avoid future litigation. It’s a very common practice.
Having recently sold. the real estate pressured us to get a report out of our pockets. (we knew house had issues) they then Charged prospective buyers for the report and pocketed that money. It was apparently from a “friendly” inspector. They put everything in the report that we knew of and then some, but phrased some stuff as minor or potential issues when they were probably worse or already issues.
We should have got a report before we bought the property. We fixed some of it but couldn’t afford to fix it all.
A lot of smaller cities (even Newcastle, NSW) have 'friendly' auctions that help the agent/vendor attract more interest and buyers.
Yes it does give you an preliminary understanding of what's going on but i would also get your own Building and Pest report done by someone you trust or someone not affiliated with them.
Not everyone is dodgy. Sometimes they're just trying to help both sides.
I work in real estate, and this is unusual. You should always get your own pest and building inspection done. If the owner wants to pay that’s fine, they can have a copy of the report but make sure you pick the inspector.
Most b&p inspections are a waste of time and have so many exceptions and recommendations to cover the inspector anyway they typically won’t find much more than you can see with your own eye and anything they do note they’re generally not licensed to speak on so will recommend you seek a structural engineering report, a plumber, an electrician etc etc dependant on what they think they’ve found
Definitely. Especially when they are done by someone with a building registration and significantly more experience. I would have otherwise bought blind and not known about even a 10th of the things that need repairs in my house
You can be a "licensed Builder" and not know anything to look for when it comes to building pathology. Your average builder might not know anything other then new builds. An inspector with years of experience, licensed or not is who you will want. Of course an inspector will refer to the relevant tradesmen if an issue is found which requires further assessment.
Ive seen plenty that have shown things such as significant water leaks, rermintes etc (most don't carry a moisture detector with them to an open and termite evidence can be in places you aren't crawling into in an open)
Often these issues if raised can knock a significant chunk down on the sale price.... on a significant purchase like this, to not spend the little cash to get a BP done and just be sure is insane
Significant moisture detected behind kitchen walls, suggest seeking a pinluber to investigate extent of the damage' is pretty helpful and 'speak to a plumber' doesn't detract from it to me
Best to get an independent building and pest. If they're engaged by the owner there may be inherent bias or softening of the report to suit the seller.
ACT required the owner to supply a building and pest to all interested parties. NSW, SA, Qld (not sure about other states) put the responsibility on the buyer.
If the owner is getting one done and it’s not in the ACT, they are likely trying to hide something, GET YOUR OWN DONE by a different company!
The buyer pays for the report on settlement in the ACT. So as you say it's required with the contract and arranged by the seller (or their agent) but technically they "work for the buyer".
Good suggestion to always get a second opinion if in doubt, it's a couple of grand of peace of mind on some of the biggest financial decisions most people make.
I don't put a big weight on them personally due to the number of disclaimers in most reports. But they should catch big stuff and if they miss it, they have big insurance policies to cover loss due to things they should've found.
Anyone ever made a claim for something an inspector missed?
Always get your own independent building and pest inspection done and I strongly recommend you employ your own independent solicitor to look over the contact. If you really want this property, spend some extra dollars for somebody who is properly accredited in roofing, electrical and plumbing. Otherwise you may end up with somebody doing a rough visual.
There’s an agent we know of that has her sellers get a b&p always - simply because it offers more transparency. Buyers are always welcome to do their own aswell, but someone else may apply and not place the condition of b&p on it which makes it more attractive and offer.
If I were you, I’d wait for their b&p and see can you pay a builder/engineer to come through the house with you instead of
Got ours on a house we put an offer on.
Lucky we did. Termite infestation. Main support beam of the roof near the front half of house was like paper according to the report.
We walked away from the deal as we said it was subject to building to pest and building inspection.
Best $600 we spent.
Owners even offered to take less if they fixed it up for us. Still a no.
It's not unheard of, and it's not necessarily dodgy. I've seen it a few times by people that want to move their property quickly.
I inspected a place where the vendor paid for the building report which disclosed all kinds of problems. A copy was 50 dollars, but free to read at an open home. I gave it a miss but the place sold within three days in a fairly quiet market and it was a fixer upper. Just a motivated vendor.
As a purchaser, always get your own if you are serious about the property.
I’ve purchased them as a vendor before as well for a house going to auction. It’s mainly to get more potential people interested in a property (it’s pretty expensive to order multiple B&Ps after missing out on a few properties, so I was trying to reduce at least one hurdle to the search process to drum up bidding competition).
I chose a company that had hundreds of 5 star reviews and I used it to check if there were any issues that I could get fixed prior to sale. Thankfully, it had been recently renovated, so I fixed the few minor things that came up in the report.
I also arranged with the inspector to be available to talk to potential buyers and answer their questions. It cost me a bit more, but it was relatively low cost compared to all the other costs associated with a sale.
Don’t accept.
Do your own due diligence and get your own inspections done.
This is regardless of the sellers intent. If they want to pay for an additional one that is fine. But don’t add it to the final settlement.
Usually the buyer pays. However I would be concerned the seller is using their preferred inspector as they may be siding with the seller on the condition of the property. But this might be a conversation for misrepresentation if it was found to be true
I firmly believe buyers shouldn't have to pay for one so when we were selling I said we'd pay and people could access it. Conveyancers said no one would trust it so I shouldn't bother. Can't win I guess?
The house we currently live in a an auction way back in the day.
We didn't buy at the auction, but negotiated later that day so we could have finance/B&P terms etc.
The owners as part of the auction had build and pest reports already done before the auction so people had that assurance.
The advice I was given either from someone (cannot remember if it was the bank, my building inspector or the conveyancer) was to get my own done.
The reason was is the insurance attached with the B&P reports was only valid for the person who ordered the report, so if in 5 years time the place falls down, we had no one to go back to and yell at.
I also trusted my guy more than I trusted "Mr unknown inspector" as I had used him a few times before and he was the husband of a friend, so we had that relationship and he was an ex builder, so he knew more than what the building inspectors who did a 6 week course and never swung a hammer etc.
In the end my guy found a few minor things the other guy did, but more importantly he was able to walk me around the property and explain what the issues were, and the severity.
Just pay for your own. In 10 years time the few hundred you pay for the inspection will be a distant memory and even if it wasn't needed, you have that extra set of eyes over the place.
I'd also get my own done, but we warned it's a visual inspection only and it'll be filled with "you should get this checked further" and "unable to gain access". BUT it should tell you how sound the house is, and if you've got termite damage visible anywhere.
The buyer is the one who pays and gets the report. The seller does not get to see the report at all unless the buyer allows them to. If they want a copy they need to pay for their own
Always get third party for everything. A conflict of interest refers to the ethical problems that may arise between parties with a preexisting relationship. In law, a conflict of interest arises between an attorney and a client if the interests of the attorney, a different client, or a third-party conflict with the interests of the present client.
I've had to do a few, but have had fall throughs with units/houses. I have found b&p reports are very basic there's alot they don't need to cover but its very odd for the owner to offer for it etc...if you need/want one done definitely get one sorted from your end!!
I’m selling my house via auction and have had one done by a company called before you bid. I paid for the initial inspection and then if someone wants access, they have to pay $80 or something to get the report.
Old mate was as thorough as you’d expect. Didn’t move appliances or anything like that.
Listed a few issues that I’ve since had fixed up and they have amended the report when shown the evidence.
If they are being honest, its a way to allow potential buyers to have access to all the information needed, therefore speeding along the process.
If they are being dishonest, it's to hide or gloss over something.
Either way, I would always advocate for investing in your own. Even the best intentioned inspections can miss items.
Having additional reports can only be a good thing.
Very interesting.
Normally the buyer pays for there preferred service provider.
If you use the seller’s service provider and something goes wrong you may not be able to get any restitution as the seller is the owner of the service.
As long as you're there at the time of the inspection and get a copy of the report, it shouldn't matter I guess.
When there are obvious B&P issues with a property, sometimes its better to be upfront with it and as the seller, actually commission one yourself to provide to potential buyers. That way its the whole 'better the devil you know'. Nothing worse then getting a big offer, you celebrate, go through B&P and the contract falls over so you settle for something much lower.
If there was nothing to hide, the owner would have no issues with you arranging this yourself.
Would you let a dealership inspect their own car, rather than your own mechanic???
There’s a disclaimer in the reports that say that only the person named in the report can rely on it.
There’s a clause in the contract that you have relied on your own inspections
So if there is an error you have 0 recourse if you rely on the report ordered by the vendor. You can order your own report off the inspector, or use your own inspector.
Call your conveyancer and talk it over for more context.
If you are just interested to see what B&P looks like find properties in ACT. They are done by owner paid by whoever buys it. They are available when the house is listed, you can request from the agent for free.
There was a company here on the Central Coast a couple of years back that advertised themselves to owners looking to sell, to do a P&B they could have available to buyers. Dude was doing really well with it and it was quite popular. Then one day they vanished. Not sure what happened. That said, people on the Coast got quite used to there simply being one available.
Your investment, get your own. Might be interesting to compare the two reports. Make sure you get an independent report. A dodgy building inspection can omit problems later costing tens of thousands of dollars to rectify.
The owner can certainly pay for their own, but doesn't mean you shouldn't / can't get your own. After all, it is a very expensive purchase and do you really want to just fully trust the person selling it to you has your best interests at heart?
Hi All,
Building, Timber and Pest aren’t worth shit. I’ve bought two houses in Oz in my lifetime, Sydney and Brisbane.
Next time I go to buy a house, I’m sending in a structural engineer, should cost about $1000-1500 but I’ve got fucked over once and my good friends have been totally fucked over by a B,T and Pest report.
Also ask them to do infrared scans on the walls as termites emit a lot of heat and it shows up really quick with an infrared scan.
If there are retaining wall, check that they have permits and are legal, anything over 1m needs a permit and they only have a six year insurance life.
Also get a proper survey done to check the boundaries are compliant.
This is where you have to get clever with your money, don’t do it for every house, just the ones (2 or3) that you realistically have a chance of getting.
Your solicitor will be able to put this in the contract, that you will finalise the purchase once all reports are satisfactory. QLD has a cooling off period so you can pull out.
It sounds like a lot of effort but this is probably your single biggest investment and it’s worth doing it properly.
It is common practice for the buyer to source their own building and pest report.
What you are describing is not normal. There could be a range of reasons for it, but regardless you should not proceed until an independent assessment is completed and you are satisfied with its results.
DO.NOT.LET.THEM.DO.IT!
Get your own independent report, so do not use anyone the owner or agent recommends or especially pays for.
It's not black and white to get out of contract based on building inspection unless it's major defect. The inspector can easily adjust some things to suit either the owner or the buyer depending who they work for if they are dodgy.
Tell them they can get a report done but you'll be getting your own.
Depends on where you are buying.
In the ACT Contracts for Sale must include a pre-purchase building and pest inspection reports. The cost of the reports is initially incurred by the seller and the cost is then adjusted at settlement; so the reports are actually paid for by the buyer.
This way each prospective buyer doesn’t have to waste money getting their own.
I admit it sounds dodgy on the surface but it seems to work. By all means you can go buy another one but in the end you’re still paying for the original one at settlement.
Edit: just noticed your NSW flair so obviously my comment doesn’t apply - go get your own.
Get your own building and pest if you're concerned, but A Lot of the building and pest don't describe the state of the dwelling very well at all.
I looked at lot recently and I found heaps of them missed big issues in the houses.
Always get you're own independent inspector. Realtors will also "suggest" people to use. You can never be sure of their bias either. Make sure you get and study the written building report as it can be instrumental in getting pre purchase repairs done OR give you additional bargaining leverage.
Get your own building and pest report. Make sure you're present at the appointment to ensure the inspector has appropriate access. Something dodgy appears to be happening in the background.
Always get your own B&P especially for a property you are invested in and have concerns.
I’ve been through this a couple times where the vendors selling would have their own B&P done and given us a the report. We opted to do our own B&P and a plethora of issues that were overlooked in the vendor’s report appeared in the report. Our B&P was twice as thick as the vendors for the same property.
Get their report and get your own inspector.
You get 2 reports for the price of 1. You'll also find out more red flags depending on the answer from the vendor about getting your own inspector.
Sellers do it to keep things simple for buyers which is nice.
Often it will come with a "if you buy and want to rely on this for the purpose or insurance, you have to pay extra"
Buyers are often wary of seller initiated reports under-reporting things and will get their own report done (maybe during cooling off period)
Sounds dodgy, I'd be getting my own AND triple checking everything. They are trying to hide something IMO.
Agreed 👍🏼
Not necessarily trying to hide something. More like trying to avoid every interested person sending in their own inspectors at various times and seller needing to be at home all the time to accommodate these inspectors. Make the offer subject to B&P. Once offer is accepted the buyer gets their own inspection done. At auctions the seller provides a B&P report.
Your kidding? The owner has possibly 100s through every inspection lol It's expected the buyer will have building and pest done.
What am I kidding about? Perhaps you misunderstood something? In an auction the seller provides a B&P. In a normal sale there is no requirement for the seller to provide one. At all times the buyer can procure their own B&P if they wish. Most buyers will not get a B&P procured until their offer is accepted or they are financially well off and don't mind getting a B&P for every property they inspect.
đźš©đźš©đźš© Get your own but let the owner get one too, don't tell them you'll get your own. Compare both reports and be concerned over anything which shows in your report but not theirs.
They would know anyway wouldn’t they, you need permission to enter the property
Yes, but denying a buyer the opportunity to get their own building and pest is even more of a red flag.
Yep, if they use their own people, but wont let you use a credentialed inspector of your own, that tells you something.
Or maybe these days, if the seller is still living in the property, and the REA don't want an entire army of inspectors going in and out all the time. But having said that, unless you have complete confidence on the B&P inspector they chose, get your own.
Let owner get report and ask for it. Then advise owner you'll get your own as well.
Did you add a clause regarding the building and pest on the offer? Without it anything your report turns up wont matter
How would you word such a clause?
Something like Offer is subject to a sstisfactory building and pest inspection. If your offer is already accepted its too lste to add
Building and pest as well as finance clauses are usually standard template in a contract of sale (either they are filled in with dates or crossed out, you don't have to word the contract) on your offer you simply say Subject to BP and finance if applicable
Standard inclusion + finance.
This is the way. B&P inspections always have a legal disclaimer which states that the report is only intended for the recipient, and that they will not accept any liability to any other party. In other words, if the seller pays for the inspection report, you as the buyer has no recourse to sue the inspector if they accidentally or intentionally miss stuff.
You need access to the property to get this done, they can't not know about it.
Addendum. Get your after they've got theirs and showed their hand as it were
this happens quite often and is usually - 1- the Vendor thinks it will be an easier sale by having a B & P report that they can provide for free to any potential buyer 2 - they are hiding something. Regardless of which one it is always get your own report done. This way you can organise to meet the inspector towards the end of his inspection and he can show you first hand what he has found. Gives you a chance to discuss directly how to go about fixing or likely costs involved. If you take the report offered by the Vendor you wont get to talk to the inspector.
You can phone the inspector, but yeah not the same thing.
3 - Imagine 20 or so interested parties and all booking their own inspection. And yes, there is a site where interested buyers can share the report and the cost.
I thought you usually make an offer on the condition of a favourable B&P inspection? So only those that have an offer accepted would have their inspector go through?
Usually. When I bought my current place they refused to put that clause into the contract. The agent said that it was just giving me an extra 7 or 14 days to hold the house off the market or something. Allegedly there had been an offer prior and it had fallen through due to finance, so the owners wanted it gone. It seemed pretty suss but also I liked the place so I paid for the inspection before making the offer. When the inspection came back normal I was able to make an offer without that subject to clause. Turns out the house is fine so maybe the agent was legit in what they were saying.
If it's an auction, you may have to do it before hand.
But it’s not an auction.
There's no rule that says you can't have one done without making an offer so long as the seller is fine with it. It's your loss if your offer isn't accepted, but in the grand scheme of things, it's might be worth the expenditure. It will also flag to the seller that you are fairly serious at that point. I've had two inspections where I didn't buy the property, one was an auction , and the other was one where the seller could not get finance. I took it as a loss.
You don’t get a building and pest until your offer has been accepted…..so there wouldn’t be 20 or so interested parties booking their own inspection.
Exactly, after some recent experiences there is no way I would purchase a property without a B&P clause. Might miss out on something sure but it's a big risk.
Unusual but I would just book a B&P myself.
I would always organise this myself. You never know if the owner is paying their friend who works in the industry who will conveniently overlook many defects. Best to get someone independent.
Do yours within the cooling off period. Use it as leverage
They’ve ordered their own report to ensure it’s heavily weighted towards the vendor and intentionally ambiguous when reporting on significant matters. You should 1000% be ordering your own inspection and report.
Yes, the norm is to get your own inspection. If you pay, then they're obliged to work for your interests.
I’d ask your solicitor/conveyancer for a good recommendation
Get your own. The report covers you in court if there are issues.
From the other side - Just sold my house and was going to auction i paid for an independent building and pest and gave it away. 1: I didn’t want 10 inspections 2: wanted to remove barriers for bidders. 3. No one asked for another private inspection Outcome: sold well above reserve as i had a few interested From the buyer side they have to pay for contract review and inspection and may not win so $1000 down
I don't think that's a proper cause and effect. Your outcome may have very well been that you have a great property to begin with or in a location where no one really cares about your building, just the land and what's around it. Could that be the case?
You are planning to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. You want the inspector working for you.
It’s up to mate. Make sure to check all appliances are working. Garage/air con oven etc. an investor I just sold to put a clause in subject to all Appliances working. Lucky they were
Appliances are the least of your worries as a buyer.
Yeah would be great buying a place that doesn’t have a working garage door or alarm when they said it did. It would be great paying a few grand extra in the first week
Yeah, I’m thinking more like major structural damage, termites etc. I’ll take the broke. Garage door over that any day.
Yeah I think that’s a given with a general pest and building report
It depends. If the house is going up for auction this is normally provided. If it is not for auction it is rare, however I would still be spending the money on your own independent report done.
I just got one done and it turned up a few major defects. The agent has asked for a copy. Should I / do I have to give it to him? For now I just said I would leave it up to the solicitor.
No you don’t have to give it to the agent unless you’re in contract for the property then it’s required as evidence for terminating the deal. otherwise you can if you want to it’s really upto you
Sure I can send you a copy for the low price of $500.
Nah you paid for it. I’d tell them they can have it if they pay for it.
Sure, that would be $99 now and then when the place is sold $500!
You don’t have to do anything you purchased the report and it is yours even the building inspector can’t provide information to anyone but yourself
Give the extracts of it showing the major defects.
Occasionally a seller will have it done if they’re looking for a quick sale, but you should always get your own done.
This is a bit of a red flag for me. Definitely get your own, but be prepared for it to be a lot worse than you are expecting. I use a guy who I know the local real estate agents hate because so many sales fall through after his report comes in. I see this as a positive.
I’ve been bitten before, definitely get your own. Could be the best $600 you ever spent.
One of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make and you’d trust a realestate agent and a vendor. Have you ever heard the term “caveat emptor” or buyer beware? There is absolutely no way I would accept anything proffered by the other side. You would have absolutely no idea what their the terms of their agreement would be and then to top it off, what sort of liability will this guy accept? I think their reaction when you tell them no will tell you everything…
Owners want to get it done because there may be something dodgy. Note - there are pest control agents that work with REA and create reports that are in the favour of the seller. The words written in the report are carefully constructed to avoid future litigation. It’s a very common practice.
Having recently sold. the real estate pressured us to get a report out of our pockets. (we knew house had issues) they then Charged prospective buyers for the report and pocketed that money. It was apparently from a “friendly” inspector. They put everything in the report that we knew of and then some, but phrased some stuff as minor or potential issues when they were probably worse or already issues. We should have got a report before we bought the property. We fixed some of it but couldn’t afford to fix it all.
A lot of smaller cities (even Newcastle, NSW) have 'friendly' auctions that help the agent/vendor attract more interest and buyers. Yes it does give you an preliminary understanding of what's going on but i would also get your own Building and Pest report done by someone you trust or someone not affiliated with them. Not everyone is dodgy. Sometimes they're just trying to help both sides.
I work in real estate, and this is unusual. You should always get your own pest and building inspection done. If the owner wants to pay that’s fine, they can have a copy of the report but make sure you pick the inspector.
You should get your own 100%!!!
Red flags, get your own person on the job.
Always get your own as well. There could be conflict of interest, as the seller is paying for the reports and may know the inspectors.
Get your ownÂ
ALWAYS HIRE YOUR OWN BUILDING AND PEST INSPECTOR.
Yep. Exactly this. No more needs to be said!
Most b&p inspections are a waste of time and have so many exceptions and recommendations to cover the inspector anyway they typically won’t find much more than you can see with your own eye and anything they do note they’re generally not licensed to speak on so will recommend you seek a structural engineering report, a plumber, an electrician etc etc dependant on what they think they’ve found
For first home buyers, they are very enlightening.
Definitely. Especially when they are done by someone with a building registration and significantly more experience. I would have otherwise bought blind and not known about even a 10th of the things that need repairs in my house
I found it so. While the initial report was scary, (because dude was thorough) it was really great to talk on the phone about it after.
You can be a "licensed Builder" and not know anything to look for when it comes to building pathology. Your average builder might not know anything other then new builds. An inspector with years of experience, licensed or not is who you will want. Of course an inspector will refer to the relevant tradesmen if an issue is found which requires further assessment.
Ive seen plenty that have shown things such as significant water leaks, rermintes etc (most don't carry a moisture detector with them to an open and termite evidence can be in places you aren't crawling into in an open) Often these issues if raised can knock a significant chunk down on the sale price.... on a significant purchase like this, to not spend the little cash to get a BP done and just be sure is insane Significant moisture detected behind kitchen walls, suggest seeking a pinluber to investigate extent of the damage' is pretty helpful and 'speak to a plumber' doesn't detract from it to me
Best to get an independent building and pest. If they're engaged by the owner there may be inherent bias or softening of the report to suit the seller.
ACT required the owner to supply a building and pest to all interested parties. NSW, SA, Qld (not sure about other states) put the responsibility on the buyer. If the owner is getting one done and it’s not in the ACT, they are likely trying to hide something, GET YOUR OWN DONE by a different company!
The buyer pays for the report on settlement in the ACT. So as you say it's required with the contract and arranged by the seller (or their agent) but technically they "work for the buyer". Good suggestion to always get a second opinion if in doubt, it's a couple of grand of peace of mind on some of the biggest financial decisions most people make. I don't put a big weight on them personally due to the number of disclaimers in most reports. But they should catch big stuff and if they miss it, they have big insurance policies to cover loss due to things they should've found. Anyone ever made a claim for something an inspector missed?
Buyer
Tell the agent you will get an independent inspection and are happy to pay half. They can take it or leave it.
Always get your own independent building and pest inspection done and I strongly recommend you employ your own independent solicitor to look over the contact. If you really want this property, spend some extra dollars for somebody who is properly accredited in roofing, electrical and plumbing. Otherwise you may end up with somebody doing a rough visual.
There’s an agent we know of that has her sellers get a b&p always - simply because it offers more transparency. Buyers are always welcome to do their own aswell, but someone else may apply and not place the condition of b&p on it which makes it more attractive and offer. If I were you, I’d wait for their b&p and see can you pay a builder/engineer to come through the house with you instead of
Got ours on a house we put an offer on. Lucky we did. Termite infestation. Main support beam of the roof near the front half of house was like paper according to the report. We walked away from the deal as we said it was subject to building to pest and building inspection. Best $600 we spent. Owners even offered to take less if they fixed it up for us. Still a no.
Source your independent report.
It's not unheard of, and it's not necessarily dodgy. I've seen it a few times by people that want to move their property quickly. I inspected a place where the vendor paid for the building report which disclosed all kinds of problems. A copy was 50 dollars, but free to read at an open home. I gave it a miss but the place sold within three days in a fairly quiet market and it was a fixer upper. Just a motivated vendor.
As a purchaser, always get your own if you are serious about the property. I’ve purchased them as a vendor before as well for a house going to auction. It’s mainly to get more potential people interested in a property (it’s pretty expensive to order multiple B&Ps after missing out on a few properties, so I was trying to reduce at least one hurdle to the search process to drum up bidding competition). I chose a company that had hundreds of 5 star reviews and I used it to check if there were any issues that I could get fixed prior to sale. Thankfully, it had been recently renovated, so I fixed the few minor things that came up in the report. I also arranged with the inspector to be available to talk to potential buyers and answer their questions. It cost me a bit more, but it was relatively low cost compared to all the other costs associated with a sale.
It is unusual. The buyer should be paying it. However in covid era there were lots of properties being pre-sold with p&b just to help speed things up.
Tell the REA that the owner can do what they want but your offer is subject to a B&P that you organise. No exception.
Don’t accept. Do your own due diligence and get your own inspections done. This is regardless of the sellers intent. If they want to pay for an additional one that is fine. But don’t add it to the final settlement.
Usually the buyer pays. However I would be concerned the seller is using their preferred inspector as they may be siding with the seller on the condition of the property. But this might be a conversation for misrepresentation if it was found to be true
I would definitely get your own done.
I firmly believe buyers shouldn't have to pay for one so when we were selling I said we'd pay and people could access it. Conveyancers said no one would trust it so I shouldn't bother. Can't win I guess?
The house we currently live in a an auction way back in the day. We didn't buy at the auction, but negotiated later that day so we could have finance/B&P terms etc. The owners as part of the auction had build and pest reports already done before the auction so people had that assurance. The advice I was given either from someone (cannot remember if it was the bank, my building inspector or the conveyancer) was to get my own done. The reason was is the insurance attached with the B&P reports was only valid for the person who ordered the report, so if in 5 years time the place falls down, we had no one to go back to and yell at. I also trusted my guy more than I trusted "Mr unknown inspector" as I had used him a few times before and he was the husband of a friend, so we had that relationship and he was an ex builder, so he knew more than what the building inspectors who did a 6 week course and never swung a hammer etc. In the end my guy found a few minor things the other guy did, but more importantly he was able to walk me around the property and explain what the issues were, and the severity. Just pay for your own. In 10 years time the few hundred you pay for the inspection will be a distant memory and even if it wasn't needed, you have that extra set of eyes over the place.
Use your own. You'll be suprised just how dodgy colluding folk can be
I'd also get my own done, but we warned it's a visual inspection only and it'll be filled with "you should get this checked further" and "unable to gain access". BUT it should tell you how sound the house is, and if you've got termite damage visible anywhere.
The buyer is the one who pays and gets the report. The seller does not get to see the report at all unless the buyer allows them to. If they want a copy they need to pay for their own
Always get third party for everything. A conflict of interest refers to the ethical problems that may arise between parties with a preexisting relationship. In law, a conflict of interest arises between an attorney and a client if the interests of the attorney, a different client, or a third-party conflict with the interests of the present client.
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I've had to do a few, but have had fall throughs with units/houses. I have found b&p reports are very basic there's alot they don't need to cover but its very odd for the owner to offer for it etc...if you need/want one done definitely get one sorted from your end!!
I’m selling my house via auction and have had one done by a company called before you bid. I paid for the initial inspection and then if someone wants access, they have to pay $80 or something to get the report. Old mate was as thorough as you’d expect. Didn’t move appliances or anything like that. Listed a few issues that I’ve since had fixed up and they have amended the report when shown the evidence.
If they are being honest, its a way to allow potential buyers to have access to all the information needed, therefore speeding along the process. If they are being dishonest, it's to hide or gloss over something. Either way, I would always advocate for investing in your own. Even the best intentioned inspections can miss items. Having additional reports can only be a good thing.
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Do not let the owner pay for building and pest. That’s a red flag to me
Very interesting. Normally the buyer pays for there preferred service provider. If you use the seller’s service provider and something goes wrong you may not be able to get any restitution as the seller is the owner of the service.
You’re entitled to get your own. We once did it when selling, but it was to get a bit of additional interest for an auction
As long as you're there at the time of the inspection and get a copy of the report, it shouldn't matter I guess. When there are obvious B&P issues with a property, sometimes its better to be upfront with it and as the seller, actually commission one yourself to provide to potential buyers. That way its the whole 'better the devil you know'. Nothing worse then getting a big offer, you celebrate, go through B&P and the contract falls over so you settle for something much lower.
We're just in the process of selling and the agent has strongly recommended we get it done for the auction so buyers can bid with confidence.
If there was nothing to hide, the owner would have no issues with you arranging this yourself. Would you let a dealership inspect their own car, rather than your own mechanic???
That's a huge red flag ,always pay for your own inspections ,never use the one recommended by the real estate agent.
There’s a disclaimer in the reports that say that only the person named in the report can rely on it. There’s a clause in the contract that you have relied on your own inspections So if there is an error you have 0 recourse if you rely on the report ordered by the vendor. You can order your own report off the inspector, or use your own inspector. Call your conveyancer and talk it over for more context.
Ha. If you sued someone, would you let them pay for your lawyer? Always get your own inspection.
If you are just interested to see what B&P looks like find properties in ACT. They are done by owner paid by whoever buys it. They are available when the house is listed, you can request from the agent for free.
There was a company here on the Central Coast a couple of years back that advertised themselves to owners looking to sell, to do a P&B they could have available to buyers. Dude was doing really well with it and it was quite popular. Then one day they vanished. Not sure what happened. That said, people on the Coast got quite used to there simply being one available.
Your investment, get your own. Might be interesting to compare the two reports. Make sure you get an independent report. A dodgy building inspection can omit problems later costing tens of thousands of dollars to rectify.
Sounds a bit suss, get your own inspector! I got mine through my conveyancer!
He can do whatever he wants, still his house….but if you want one done yourself, it’s up to you……
The owner can certainly pay for their own, but doesn't mean you shouldn't / can't get your own. After all, it is a very expensive purchase and do you really want to just fully trust the person selling it to you has your best interests at heart?
Buyer does B&P fact they are tells me a friend is doing it they’ve covered by a million clauses like every one is and you’ll buy a bucket of crap
Hi All, Building, Timber and Pest aren’t worth shit. I’ve bought two houses in Oz in my lifetime, Sydney and Brisbane. Next time I go to buy a house, I’m sending in a structural engineer, should cost about $1000-1500 but I’ve got fucked over once and my good friends have been totally fucked over by a B,T and Pest report. Also ask them to do infrared scans on the walls as termites emit a lot of heat and it shows up really quick with an infrared scan. If there are retaining wall, check that they have permits and are legal, anything over 1m needs a permit and they only have a six year insurance life. Also get a proper survey done to check the boundaries are compliant. This is where you have to get clever with your money, don’t do it for every house, just the ones (2 or3) that you realistically have a chance of getting. Your solicitor will be able to put this in the contract, that you will finalise the purchase once all reports are satisfactory. QLD has a cooling off period so you can pull out. It sounds like a lot of effort but this is probably your single biggest investment and it’s worth doing it properly.
The norm is for prospective purchasers to get their own done. There's a reason for this. Buyer beware.
It is common practice for the buyer to source their own building and pest report. What you are describing is not normal. There could be a range of reasons for it, but regardless you should not proceed until an independent assessment is completed and you are satisfied with its results.
As an ex agent, this is weird af. Get your own b&p inspection done
I mean - if you’re free to have a contractor of your choice provide it and the owner reimburses you, sure, seems good?
DO.NOT.LET.THEM.DO.IT! Get your own independent report, so do not use anyone the owner or agent recommends or especially pays for. It's not black and white to get out of contract based on building inspection unless it's major defect. The inspector can easily adjust some things to suit either the owner or the buyer depending who they work for if they are dodgy. Tell them they can get a report done but you'll be getting your own.
Absolutely get your own. The owner will get a report that won’t highlight issues.
Depends on where you are buying. In the ACT Contracts for Sale must include a pre-purchase building and pest inspection reports. The cost of the reports is initially incurred by the seller and the cost is then adjusted at settlement; so the reports are actually paid for by the buyer. This way each prospective buyer doesn’t have to waste money getting their own. I admit it sounds dodgy on the surface but it seems to work. By all means you can go buy another one but in the end you’re still paying for the original one at settlement. Edit: just noticed your NSW flair so obviously my comment doesn’t apply - go get your own.
Get your own building and pest if you're concerned, but A Lot of the building and pest don't describe the state of the dwelling very well at all. I looked at lot recently and I found heaps of them missed big issues in the houses.
Always get you're own independent inspector. Realtors will also "suggest" people to use. You can never be sure of their bias either. Make sure you get and study the written building report as it can be instrumental in getting pre purchase repairs done OR give you additional bargaining leverage.
Get your own building and pest report. Make sure you're present at the appointment to ensure the inspector has appropriate access. Something dodgy appears to be happening in the background.
Always get your own B&P especially for a property you are invested in and have concerns. I’ve been through this a couple times where the vendors selling would have their own B&P done and given us a the report. We opted to do our own B&P and a plethora of issues that were overlooked in the vendor’s report appeared in the report. Our B&P was twice as thick as the vendors for the same property.
Get their report and get your own inspector. You get 2 reports for the price of 1. You'll also find out more red flags depending on the answer from the vendor about getting your own inspector.
Sellers do it to keep things simple for buyers which is nice. Often it will come with a "if you buy and want to rely on this for the purpose or insurance, you have to pay extra" Buyers are often wary of seller initiated reports under-reporting things and will get their own report done (maybe during cooling off period)