Inspecting a Building File

Hi All

the conveyancing process is making me almost tear my hair out!

we are purchasing a property in NSW, and our solicitor has told us we need certain documents before we should sign/exchange. He was talking about making sure the house is actually approved/was granted a building permit when it was built, and that its built in the right spot/ on the right piece of land (i think thats what he was talking about?).

Anyway he went and asked the vendors solicitor if they had any documentation supporting these questions which they didnt (strange considering I think they only bought the house in 2001 unless they didnt bother checking this stuff…), so in which case we now need to "Inspect the Building File" held at the council – the vendor solicitor faxed us authoristaion to do this but the council wont accept it unless its signed by the Vendor themself (they said its due to NSW Privacy legislation). Anyways we are waiting to get that which will take a few more days and hold things up. Then once we get it , its gonna take the council a day to get the file, then probably another day or two for our solicitor to look at what they give us.

There is a chance we could be waiting all this time only to find that the building file doesnt contain the information needed, in which case i dont know what the next course of action will be (can you get a building compliance inspection in NSW?? would that be what we need) or we might have to get a survey done on it ? (god knows what that will cost??)

My main question is, does all of this stuff sound normal/like we are going through the process correctly – or does it seem like the chain is being dragged when it doesnt need to be..? The house would be approx. 20ish years old and is located on half an acre in a township.

Thanks for your help