Apartment building inspections - necessary or not

I am looking around to purchase an apartment in an apartment block that ranges from 4-in-a-block to 4 or 5 storey, nothing larger and I'd appreciate your views on whether an inspection is necessary. The primary focus is determining whether the building is fundamentally sound and not sweating on the small stuff like wear and tear of worktops, skirting boards, etc.

Is an inspection of this type advisable and necessary on an apartment block and if so, what type of inspection do I need to request and potential cost?

I'm based in Melbourne.

Thanks

 

Generally not, but you should definitely buy the strata report and comb through that which will (should) detail any defects in this regard given anything outside of the lot falls to strata in most cases.

If you're concerned about the internals at all then get a plumbing and electrical report done because items that are for exclusive use often fall to the individual lot owner. This will be detailed in the by-laws which you should also read. Plumbing and electrical inspections are cheap, usually just an hour or so of time for the trade.

- Andrew

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

I somewhat agree that a 3rd party inspection may be pointless in an apartment building as everything that may have been previously damaged will have been repaired, so unless there is something obvious it will likely be missed.

As an apartment owner, I have had multiple instances of leaks from upstairs bathrooms into similar layout bathroom. This would never be picked up in a Building Inspection report.

However, I would also say that if possible one should request historical AGM minutes (not sure if Strata Manager will provide?) as these may identify ongoing issues where the problems have been identified and the body corporate have had had to be involved in funding repairs or involving insurers to rectify.

An owner would normally keep at least the last 5 years of records on file, so any refusal to provide a copy may be a red flag or warning to potential buyer.

 

Definitely and I should have clarified that I would expect this as part of the package I requested from strata. These minutes will tell a story every potential buyer into that building should read.

- Andrew