Pest & Building Reports

Following is a copy of my submission to Matt Brown MP for the Review of Vendor Disclosure for Residential Property Sales in New South Wales:.

Dear Mr Brown,

As requested in your correspondence of 14 July 2010, please accept this letter as my submission for the Review of Vendor Disclosure for Residential Property Sales in New South Wales.

Just the other week one of my clients was gazumped a matter of hours before exchange by, in the agent’s words, "a substantial increase on our agreed purchase price".

It turns out that the purchaser had not internally inspected the property or conducted a building and pest inspection.

I guess they will find out about the $50,000ish termite damage and damp issues we had factored into our offer soon enough...

If you’ve been house hunting for a while and you come across that perfect property you’ve been looking for it’s tempting to rush in and try to buy it as quickly as possible.

The selling agents are sure to tell you that they’ve had plenty of interest already and that it’s unlikely to stay on the market long, and you may start to feel the desperation of missing out on your dream home.

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.