Why a pre-purchase inspection is a must when buying apartments?

Summary:

A pre-purchase inspection is a must. If there is damage you didn’t see when inspecting and you don’t have one prior to purchasing you don’t have any leg to stand on and the damage found is your liability.

When looking at the apartment make sure your inspection is thorough, look everywhere, check the stove, oven and so on. Make sure everything works, look for stains or holes in walls and so on.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, Andrew Murray here from the Apartment Specialists, talking about what happens when you've do a pre-settlement inspection, and you find damage.

Now, it all comes down to, did that damage exist when you first looked at the apartment? And I see it a lot of times when I speak to people especially vendors, when I'm selling now or purchasers who have purchased one apartment. They come to me after purchasing through them, and telling me the stories about how they went to buy an apartment.

When they went to do their pre-settlement inspection, they found it has damage. They had no leg to stand on, to say it should be fixed. Because it came down to, when they viewed the apartment, that damage was there. Now, that may seem a little bit weird, because when you look at an apartment, when you first go to look at it, you've got to see the damage. But in a lot of cases, that's not the case.

What I'm talking about today, is when you look at the apartment you're about to purchase, you either have a second viewing, or when you do look at it, actually really inspect the apartment. Look behind the couch. Especially, if you've got tenants in there, and you're going to be buying it vacant or without a checklist, because who knows that there's a hole there? Who knows that there's damage? Who knows that there's cracked tiles and there's a mat over it? When you're actually looking into an apartment, walk in the door, obviously, look and see if you like it.

See its look and fee. See if it's the apartment you want to purchase, obviously first, and then go and look and actually have a closer look. A lot of people miss these things. Go and see if the dishwasher's working. Go and see if all the elements on the stove work. Go look behind the couch. Go look behind a poster that may be on the wall. Have a look at a bit more detail, because remember, you're purchasing something that you're going to be using yourself. You're either going to be renting it out, or you're going to be living in it. If you settle, and there's damage when you first looked at the apartment, you inherit that damage - inherit that cost.

Remember, when you're looking at an apartment, before you go and purchase it, actually look a little bit more closely, not just walking into a room and going, "That room looks nice." Actually, have a look at it. Have a look under the bed, see if there's a bit stain there. See if there's a hole there, because I'm coming across cases where owners have purchased, and they've been liable for damage that's occurred; they didn't know it's there. It's a bit of a quick one, but a small tip anyway.

That's it. Cheers.