Hello everyone,
I have a fairly new IP in NSW that is half-way through it's 7 year home warranty insurance period. My PM recently conducted a routine inspection and reported the following building faults:
1. The treated timber retaining wall (located on the fence line) isn't holding water run off. The soil/sand on my side of the retainer wall is being washed through the gaps in the timber and down into next doors yard. The water run off is causing flooding down the side of the neighbours house. Apparently the neighbour has rung the council about it 3 times and now has it documented with photos showing the water and sand gushing down through the retainer wall and onto their side of the fence. My tenant says the soil under the pavers on my side of the fence (above and along side the retainer wall) has been washed away so badly that it is now unsafe to walk on.
2. Some large cracks are apparent in the downstairs walls.
3. The tenant has reported that the front concrete steps are illegal because they get narrower as you descend. He has fallen down them a couple of times and so has his daughter when she came to visit.
4. There is very bad creaking in the floors to most rooms. The creaking is coming from the floorboards underneath the floating timber floors and carpet (it looks like large sheets of chip-board type material). From under the house it appears to be the glue coming loose in places allowing the boards to lift up where they join the timber beams.
My question is how many of these faults can I reasonably expect the builder to come back and fix? I understand I can only claim defects under the Home Warranty insurance if the builder has disappeared, is bankrupt, or has passed away. I've asked the builder to come around and have a look which he has agreed to do on Friday. Are all these faults his responsibility or should I be claiming them on my Landlords/Building insurance?
And what about the local council? Their inspector passed the final inspection during construction, including the illegal front steps. Are they held accountable for any of this? What happens legally if the tenant has another fall and decides to sue me? Is it the builder, the Council or the landlord at fault here? Would I be covered by the liability insurance under my Landlord/Building insurance policy?
So many questions for a first post.
With no responses it looks like I might have been too quick to ask too many hard questions.
. I've sent a few emails off to the Australian Building Code Board (?), the local council and my Landlord/Building insurer. No responses as yet.
My immediate concern is now the tenant has reported the fault with the front steps to me am I still covered by my insurance policy for legal liability? I spoke to the builder today and he reminded me the council inspector passed the construction with no problems so I assume he will put all responsibility back on the Council. I'm not sure where this leaves me.
Get out the copy of your home warranty insurance – make sure that it is valid (still within the period of coverage). You are only generally covered for structural issues not superficial defects beyond the first year.
If the faults seem to be structural, engage a building consultant/inspector to run through the list and to uncover more. This will firstly set your mind at rest with regard to which are the ones worth chasing.
Armed with this information, contact the dept of fair trading to determine your rights. Your ability to claim against the insurance (this will be virtually nil unless the builder is bankrupt, left the country or dead), You will then need to contact the builder (including a letter) for them to inspect and rectify – give them a timeframe for a meeting, inspection and rectification etc.
If this fails, armed with your letter to the builder, and their negative response etc, proceed to the building disputes tribunal who will waste your time and get to you talk with the builder again or order them to do some rectification works (where they feel that the builder was responsible).
Getting back to addressing your points:
1 – Retaining walls are designed to retain soil, not water. Walls which hold back water are called dams. You will lose soil through the wall. You may have to install something like an atlantis cell drain system to divert the water from the wall back into your stormwater system.
2. Cracks less than 2 mm wide are generally superficial – depends on the nature of the crack, how it travels up the wall etc as to whether it is structural.
3. What do you mean by 'the steps are narrower' – the depth of the going decreases or the width of the stairs (side to side). There is no requirement on the width however there is a formula for the basic design of stairs covered in the BCA.
4. Floors creak, chipboard is generally screwed down to the joists not just glued.
Hi Scott, thanks for your helpful reply. My home warranty insurance is still valid.
1. The council sent their engineers out for a look today and pretty much said the same as you. There is no problem with the retainer wall: the issue is with the drainage system. I'll look into those atlantis cell drain systems you mentioned. I assume a drainage problem would not be classed as a structural fault and would need to be fixed at my own expense?
2. I think you are right about the crack being superficial and not structural. It looks like the crack is in the render and not the brickwork below.
3. Yes, it's the depth of the concrete steps I'm talking about and not the width. Some of the steps half way down the stairs fit my whole size 13 boot from toe to heel plus a few extra centremetres protruding out the back of my foot, but if I stand on some of the lower steps my heel is hanging over the edge. Where can I view the relevent chapters of the BCA – is it available online? Would this fault be a structural issue?
4. I thought the chipboard would have been screwed or nailed down but the way it's starting to lift looks like it's only held on with the glue! Maybe there are screws in there somewhere. Perhaps they were placed too far apart and the glue is lifting in between? I probably won't know unless I pull the carpet and floating floors up. If there are no screws holding them down I assume this would be a structural issue for the builder to fix?
It 3 – From memory Section E Access & Egress. The formula for design of stairs is shown diagrammatically.
It 4 – Builder could probably shoot a few skew nails into the joists through the carpet.
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