Paying to view a completed building inspection??

Common sense would say the BI is particular to the house - but as I well know common sense doesn't always rule once the lawyers come into the fray.

 

So are you saying that in the case where I buy a report and buy the property, that the building inspector has some sort of contract with me as the buyer of his report (unlike the scenario Perp and others mention), and that I could hold him responsible if, for example, it had something obvious that he missed that cost a bomb to fix?

 

We've also never had a building inspection done (have probably bought and/or sold over a dozen houses). Neither did my parents ever have one done, but early days when they purchased their first IP (back in 1975) it wasn't something they knew about, and possibly wasn't available in the form we have now.

Every house (almost) we've ever bought has been a queenslander where we can see up under the house, look for white ant mud trails. We've had our pest chap come and look at a house for us when we've gone to an open house, but never paid for a BI (except when our son bought his first unit, and we didn't want to put him at any risk due to us).

For our middle son's purchase we had our pest chap and a builder we know come and take a look in exchange for a bottle of Johnny Walker.

I would be more careful if queenslanders were not so easy to inspect ourselves.

 

But I'm wondering about the fact that even if he does the report (as mentioned earlier) and the owner doesn't get a copy unless they pay for it, but I as a potential purchaser pay my $240, does this mean I have a contract with the builder? The owner has allowed him in the house but not contracted for him to issue them a report. So I would be contracting with him, wouldn't I?

I think if this was correct, this is a great idea. Cheaper reports than if everybody individually arranges for one and all butts covered?

 

Thanks legallyblonde. I've emailed the agent asking about this. Will report back if I hear back from him.

 

Ok. I got a very quick response from the agent... "Thanks for your inquiry. I can't see why there should be any problem with the insurances etc associated with the building inspection. Please see contact details of the building inspector in question on the flyer attached."

Next I had an email from the building inspector himself. I wrote to him -
"This property listing was brought up on a property forum and is being discussed as to whether this is the way of the future, ie. one report is done, and anyone interested can purchase that report for less than if they engaged a building inspector to do the report from scratch.

There were a few questions about what happens if something major is found to be wrong that was missed in the report, and whether the building inspector’s insurance would cover anybody who purchased one of these reports? Nobody seems to know and I thought I would ask the agent. Do you know the answer?"

He replied - "Yes every report we do is insured with Professional Indemnity and Public Liability so if by the odd chance we miss something the house is insured to be fixed."

 

All good Perp. I was getting confused too as I couldn't see why buying the pre-prepared one from the BI wouldn't be the same as engaging him separately. Anyway, seems to be cleared up now and I think this is a great idea and if others could get on board, it could save multiple building inspections and save dollars too for people trying to buy a house and not wanting to pay full price for a report and then not getting the house. That would add up quickly.