Pest and Building Reports... who should pay?

Following is a copy of my letter to the editor at the Sun-Herald:

I’m writing with reference to the article titled “Pest plan to put bite on vendors” which appeared on August 16. In it, NSW MP Matt Brown called for the NSW Government to make it mandatory for auction vendors to provide pest and building reports to prospective buyers. I believe this suggestion has some merit and should be explored further.

As a buyer’s agent in Sydney I regularly see prospective buyers who spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on pest and building inspections on properties up for auction. Unfortunately the price guide provided to the buyers is often well below the property’s true value, or a value the vendor would accept, thereby misleading people into thinking that the property is in their price range.

Why should the buyers who are misled in this way bear the cost of these reports? Maybe the selling agent and/or the vendor should be jointly responsible for these costs if the reserve on auction day is higher than the "marketed price guide".

Patrick Bright
Buyer’s Agent and
Author of “The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction”