Anyone else bought a lemon lately?

As the title suggests. Less than three months ago we bought an IP which will be our PPOR in a couple of years.

Big place, good location and happy to modernise and renovate when we move in.

Building inspection report came back with above average condition and no issues.

Rented it out straightaway and thought all good.

Fast forward a month and leaks start to appear, then flooding of rooms and now ceiling leaks and lighting issues.

Plumber has advised that all the plumbing is incorrect and needs fixing as it appears to be done by someone who is not a plumber. The pictures look terrible - not sure how it didn't flag in the inspection.

Awaiting the news on the roof and lighting.

It appears the one time owner who apparently built the place decided that he would maintain the house despite not being qualified in certain trades.

An expensive lesson to rely on a building report alone and still so much potential for more to go wrong.

 

not so far . I wonder if there is any recourse on the inspection company you can pursue? Good luck to you!

 

Thanks, I'm pretty sure they remove themselves of any liability stating that you should get the other 45 or so inspections to be sure.
Fingers crossed the roof is storm damage and not more dodgy work

 

Oh no!
Hopefully storm dmamge for sure, at least insurance will pay. Did you get title insurance? I wonder if that would count as unapproved work?

 

Shoot. Hopefully your insurance will pay.

 

Didn't know title insurance extends that far. Is this fairly common?

 

I'm going to raise some controversy here but in most cases, I don't bother with building reports - particularly on renovator delights, properties that need a lot of work etc.

For the tidy sum of $500 plus,I get 2-3 pages of semi-useful information plus another 8-10 pages of standard rehashed general info and a looong list of caveats.

I mean has anyone successfully sued a building inspector for wrongful info with the endless clauses starting with "inspector is not responsible for...." or "without accessing the roof cavity, the inspector could not verify...." ?

Nothing beats physically inspecting the property yourself.

 

I'm not sure, but it does cover unapproved structures, so it's not a long stretch to make the house an unapproved structure if the plumbing doesn't meet standard?

 

I'm not sure what title insurance is - will have to check. I think we have to suck this one up and hope that the expenses don't blow out. Just sick of fixing people's dodgy work.

I will be much more thorough next time and pay for more specialised inspections. Our last house was dodgy too. We found out that the electrics in the garage weren't earthed properly, the toilet wasn't connected to the floor properly. They had illegal lights in the pool. All things that looked fine to the naked eye. Plus how many people sit on the toilet at a property inspection?

 

They're all lemons, you just need to get good at making lemonade

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

Not a recent purchase but we bought our first IP in 1992 for $125,000. It didn't increase in value for the next few years. Our accountant at the time called it a "lemon".

Today it would be valued around $620,000. It has been producing lemonade for years.

Luckily for us, we changed accountants 20+ years ago.

 

My last purchase, typical inspection (with heat/x-ray camera for termite inspection) came back relatively clean.
Within a fortnight, found live termites throughout the place, horrible electrical works, plumbing is shot, and the list continues.

Luckily I planned to reno prior to leasing so I could capture these early, still p*ssed at the extra $ spent that could have been saved with negotiation.

In the end, my fault. 'If you want something done properly, do it yourself'

 

Feel your pain - still doesn't seem fair.

 

But if you don't have skills/experience what options are there except trusting B&P?