Bought new townhouse - agents not responding to defect repair request

Hi All,

Recently bought brand new townhouse and in contract it stated i had 60 days to report and defects.
sent an email with things needing repairs/missing shelves in kitchen one week after moving in - no response. rang a couple weeks later and they said they would get back to us - no response since. sent another email - no response.

Now on day 48/60 and havent had any communication about the issues. Not sure what i should do except keep hassling them?

thanks

 

Pick up the phone and talk directly to the agent.

 

Do you need to report to the agent or the builder? Who was the contract with?

 

As others have hinted, the real estate agent's job is done.

If you believe there is a claim under the builder's warranty, follow the procedure recommended in your state. Your solicitor should be able to.assist if necessary.

 

Warning stay clear of agents when reporting problems in a new building. The sales agent has no liability and his job is done when the sale is complete plus the sales agent is agent for the builder not agent for the buyer. The strata agent may have been appointed by the builder/developer on a deal to “hide” all defects until the warranty runs out.
My wife bought a unit and inspected the records and noted no faults in a six year old building. she is an experienced strata manager. At the next agm, the warranty had expired and a number of the owners asked why the list of repairs forwarded three years earlier had not been carried out by the builder.
The manager said there was no record on file of these defects. 12 months of weekly meetings by the new committee were held where it was discovered that the manager had lost all letters and files of complaints, and that works totalling $3 million were required at the building as there was no waterproofing to tiled areas. That a special levy of $110,000 per unit being one third the value of each unit had to be determined to carry out all repairs as the strata manager did not know about the 27 letters complaining about structural faults in the building.
This is common in NSW where big name builders use their strata manager to set up and manage the strata plan until the building is no longer under warranty saving builders billions a year. The word billions is correct.

 

Can they sue the strata manager for liability? Surely that would be the course of action!

 

Where was the strata commitee?

 

Absent the first tranche was sold to investor owners through a property group. None attended meetings. No owners lived in the building. As time went on secondary sales went to owner occupiers who simply did not know better.

my wife called in a lawyer to address the current committee when she bought in. As there was no evidence and the builder could support the strata manager and vice versa it would be a costly exercise with little chance of success. They increased the levies to $5,000 per quarter and have two more years before the entire project is expected to be completed.
These are impossible to judge as so much can be hidden when the agent is in “cahoots” with the developer and the expiration date is near.

 

If the BC raised the issues with the SM, why didn't the exec committee receive any correspondence from the SM to the Builder? That would ring alarm bells.

 

I don’t think you understand how the average non resident BC works.
These units are sold years before they are built by certain companies with international links. Being new they have firb approval and 3/4 or more of the owners are non English speakers.
The spruikers, strata, the builders and the agents who manage the units are all interrelated. The investor owners generally all live in one city in China where the investment house has their marketing office.
It is only as the resales etc occur or as agents change that things come to light.
Their ec is usually the builder, the spruiker, the agent for the first few years. With this company they kept 20% of the units for 6 years and gave proxies to all involved.
Until 10-15 years ago one of Australia’s biggest builders lent you money at a favourable rate to buy units then as mortgagee used their vote to keep there agent in power.
In the western suburbs of Sydney the average attendance for a body corporate is 20% or less if totally investment. So it was easy for bad developers to keep related managers on side.
This was nothing like a building where there are resident owners and they form a committee of interested owners who can control the agent and oversee what needs to be done.
The government has tried to curtail this by limiting proxies in the last few years and making people who receive income from the building not vote on such matters. But I can see that the links between the builders and managers are still there.

 

Hi all,

just went back through my emails to check

"The clause says you have up to 60 days following settlement to report defects and the vendor will repair within a reasonable time. Minor settlement cracks and shrinkage is not included."

I have been just using the email the agent gave me since he said he would just be forwarding it on but will contact him directly today. if that fails will contact the solicitor.

i do receive an automated "we have received your email" response so do you think if it gets to the 60 day point it still counts since it was sent before?

Thanks

 

Agent. using the email/phone number he gave/was in the welcome pack.

 

Why are you contacting the agent instead of the vendor?

 

Thats what I was told to do by Agent and Solicitor.

 

I see your point and get the stacked deck but these owners dropped the ball badly ...

The one (and probably only time) I bought an OTP - I directly put the common area defects to the builder just to make sure.

I think we all agree about the risks in 0-15 year old strata though.... Need the first cycle of repairs, rain, leaks, corruption to filter through....

 

The average investor who is active on this forum is a lot more educated and proactive than your average investor especially those that buy from “property clubs”
Many investors buy wanting a one stop shop with no hassles for their investment. Buying a new property is not as worry free as buying a new car. They are very sadly disappointed when they find out in hindsight the agent they signed up with leans more towards the builder than the new owner.

 

Email the builder so it's in writing and then call later that day to follow up. If no response in 1-2 days, contact your lawyer. They have nothing to lose by ignoring you so will probably not make it easy.

 

I would email the builder but also send them notification via post. It won't hurt to do the same with the agent too.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies, have emailed the agent directly today. if no response will call tomorrow (was fast when it came to replying while interested in the place). if no answer then will get the solicitor involved on Friday.