Hey Guys,
My wife and I are new to whole real estate investing world, anyhow this is the situation we're in.
We purchased a house in Ipswich for mid 200's 1100m2 with renovated house.
The owner needed to get the final inspection signed off by the council for the renovations he did, we included in our contract that if it didn't pass that he had to pay us 3grand so we could use that money to finish the house off (that was the advise from the real estate agent) so we went ahead.We secured our first home and investment.
The building and pest report came back with flying colours, fantastic we thought, problem being is that the stuff on the building report needed to be fixed, long story short we had to redo the entire bathroom, repaint the whole inside, fix broken windows (which we did ourselves only to find out they need to be to Australian standards and we don't have proof they are) lay new carpet, fix windows, locks, doors, colourbond fence for the whole block, finish the rear deck.So as you can imagine we spent a bit of money, now the footings need to be inspected the council tells me and I some engineer to come out. We are 4months into it and still haven't moved in, getting a bit over the whole thing. as we didn't intend to buy a renovator or even a fix'er'uppera
What can I do with it?
The only thing I can think of is get it passed, increase its value and use it as equity.
Any ideas?
P.S: If you know someone who can sign off these footings please let me know.
Footing inspection – below ground….. Without destructive testing it may be a little bit difficult to get someone to sign off on it. Was it an owner-builder or a builder who did the work? Did they take out home warranty insurance? Is it more than 7 years old? Have you contacted the department of fair trading regarding your rights? Did you have a lawyer do your conveyance? Was there a building certificate issued? Who was the consent authority? Who did the construction certificate and was responsible for the inspection certificates?
If you can get answers to all of these then you may be able to get a start.
Was it an owner-builder or a builder who did the work? – don't know, the previous owner said he did a lot of work, all dodgie.
Did they take out home warranty insurance? – don't know
Is it more than 7 years old? – The house is approx 20yrs old, the work no older then 3yrs.
Have you contacted the department of fair trading regarding your rights? – no ??
Did you have a lawyer do your conveyance? – yes
as there a building certificate issued? – no it failed, but we purchased the house before the final council inspection.
Who was the consent authority? – what's that?
Who did the construction certificate and was responsible for the inspection certificates? – Don't knowThanks for helping me out, I'm kicking myself, we were 'friends' with the real estate agent so we rushed into it with their advice, my tip for 1st home buyers – do everything opposite we did!
First port of call will be the council – check that the work was approved ie DA/CC. They will then inform you who the certifying authority was or if the work was illegal – i'd be kicking my solicitor if the work was illegal and not identified on any survey plan.
Thanks Scott, I'll give the council a call tomorrow … I'll let you know what they say.
I've found the building permits, and their all council ones.I was told I should consult with a building certifier
Hi tommi,
just read your posts,were the permits issued and aproved by council or a private building inspecter ? if not then the work was illegal,if there were permits you need to find out who was the inspector.
if council had to sign off on the house there must be a permit of some kind,do some more digging in council.
in victoria we have VCAT where you can put in a complaint against faulty works and other things. there must be similar organization in NSW.
but keep asking questions and hopefully you will get some answers.
regards aaaworthTommi, if it is NSW then the council's website (under development & planning) may be able to give you details of the DA/CC. It will be a good place to start.
HI aaaworth, HI Scott,
House in sunny QLD, in the ipswich shire, it had a building permits for the work that was lodged with ipswich council, I talked to the building inspector who failed it, he wasn't very helpful and he basically said "too bad so sad" leaving me confused on what to do.
So I was told work colleague all I need to do is get someone out there to inspect the footings?
as you said: "Footing inspection – below ground….. Without destructive testing it may be a little bit difficult to get someone to sign off on it."Hi tommi,get on the phone and talk to other building inspectors about the footings.Did the inspector inspect the footings before they were poured or not ? talk to an engineer about how to check them now and get back on to the council and find out if the inspections were carried out on the varoius stages of construction,footings, stump holes ,frame , and final by the inspector if not why.ring up the building board in your state and explain whats happened and see if they can help.
Tommi, are the footings the only item which failed inspection or did the owner get inspection for the framing, wet areas etc? If council continued inspections in the absence of a previous satisfactory inspection, they may be liable for passing the subsequent works and thereby accepting that the footings met the BCA requirements. What failed the inspection? was it depth, size, placement of reinforcement, location of reo, support, cleaning of foundation material etc? Did it require reinspection and was it undertaken (satisfactorily or unsatisfactorilly)?
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