Access to property between contract and settlement?

We've been successful in our search and are now under contract for a PPOR in Eltham, VIC. Building and Pest were done before the offer and now waiting on the valuation only for the lender. Settlement is at the end of January.

(Thanks to everyone who offered advice on working with a broker while having conditional approval from a bank - in the end we were able to get across the line with the bank funding and didn't need more funds. The broker was great to work with in any case and I'll go to him when we buying an IP.)

Is it customary for the purchasers to be able to schedule a time to visit their future home for planning purposes and to organise some repairs that need to be done? We'd like to check some details so we can sort out furniture in rooms and adding things like bike storage. The repairs would be done after settlement before we move in but we want to get estimates from tradies and book them in advance.

I'll go through the listing agent but figured I'd find out if our request is normal. Our last purchase in NZ was new so there wasn't any problem getting access.

 

is it currently tenanted?
does the owner currently live there?
Organise with the selling agent.
Your request is normal, and you should be doing a final inspection before you settle in any regard.

 

Yes, the vendors are living there. I'll talk to the selling agent to organise a time then, after school is over since I know they have kids finishing up exams etc.

We'll definitely be doing a final inspection before we settle.

 

Unless specified in the contract, access is limited to the pre-settlement inspection, usually in the last few days.

Of course, it never hurts to send a polite request, but approval is at the vendor’s discretion, so be sure to word your request accordingly.

 

It is not customary, you will need to contract for early access

 

We fully understand that they don't have to let us visit but are hoping they'll accommodate the request. When we sold up in NZ, our buyers stopped by several times to check things out and chat. I actually wrote up a little introduction to the neighbourhood since they were coming from the North Island and explained about various things around the house to make it easier for them to get settled.

 

Thanks - I'll talk to the agent to see what we can organise.

 

Who did the Building and Pest prior to your offer? You or the seller? If the seller, I'd do my own B&P so you can draw up things that you want the seller to fix.

 

I had my preferred inspector come in to do the B&P and I walked through with him as he did it. That's where my list of fixes was generated. We agreed on the price to reflect us making the repairs since I want them done correctly.

One of the issues was a small leak in a ceiling under a bathroom and the inspector suggested removing the plasterboard, drying the space out and then replacing the ceiling before we paint it. The sellers were like "it just needs a coat of paint and it will be all good!" Yeah, nah:

 

Or perhaps working out where the moisture is coming from

 

That is a given! I have my suspicions but we won't know until it is opened up and we can trace it to the source, whether the bidet in the bath above (what the owners say) or one of the hydronic heating radiators right above the spot (what I think).