NSW Sydney House with history of significant fire damage

I inspected a house in Sydney, for Investment purpose, this house had a major fire 9 years ago. The owner got the house fixed but no reports/ any paper work is available as the work was carried out by his builder friends. The owner has passed away few years ago and the property is inhabited by his wife currently. As per the agent, only timber floor and outside walls are original rest all was changed after fire The outside walls are original brick but rendered to hide the black fire marks. I noticed two cracks on one side wall in the bottom section, not sure if they show structure problem.
The agents story is that the owner didn’t have insurance at the time of fire so his friends helped in fixing the house, who were legit builders. But, since all was informally done there are no reports available to say that everything was done up to standards.

Somehow this property is not generating much interest in market in spite of being in good location as comparing with other properties sold recently in vicinity. I am not sure what’s the implication of fire and why it is not getting much traction? If I think to move forward, what all checks shall I get done apart from normal building/pest inspection given the history of fire 9 years ago. Are there any long term problems for such a house?

 

Did they submit any approvals to council for the repairs (if it was structural works then there would have been a DA/CC or CDA)?

 

According to agent, no changes were done to outside structure - so DA was not needed

 

I'd get a building report before deciding.

 

If the building report that you commission, is OK, then the only thing will be that this issue will come up again when (if) you come to sell in the future.

 

Thanks..that I am planning to do anyways for any property purchase

 

Exactly that’s what I suspected that I will face similar difficulty in future when I will be selling

 

If structurally sound, buy it cheap enough, hold long enough for it to be a building site?

 

I agree. Especially given I am not planning to knock it down in future, probably not worth

 

In NSW thats not correct. Non-structural is also affected. The house loses its occupancy certificate when it is significantly damaged or destroyed requiring new works that must be certified and new DA and new occ certificate to comply with present standards is required. If it was a bushfire affected property it may even have been unable to be rebuilt without major changes. This is a common issue in some areas eg Winmalee / Springwood NSW

What does the local council say ? Ask them for free without disclosing actual address. If they say a DA would have been needed it may answer the question in the eyes of the relevant council. You could buy a problem and inherit a demolition.

 

You may be correct, Paul that property losing its occupancy certificate. Local council was clear that if no structural changes (?) then no need to get council approval but I understand that’s a grey area. This property got fire (as per what I have been told) due one of the down lights in hall