All Australian states should make it mandatory for prospective buyers to obtain a pest and building report from the current owner of the properties and not have to pay for those reports individually.
Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president Malcolm Gunning noted at present only Canberra and Tasmania made it compulsory for sellers to offer these reports to their potential buyers free of charge.
However, property hotspots such as New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland do not have such a requirement in place which has proven to be quite cumbersome to many buyers.
Gunning said currently prospective buyers from Sydney and Melbourne had to spent close $1,000 per every time they were interested in purchasing a house for the pest and building report and that extra expenditure didn’t guarantee them the property as well.
“When you looking at buying a house particularly not necessary an apartment but more a house, you look for pest and building report to make sure there are no structural defects,” he told Elite Agent in a recent interview.
He said making such reports compulsory throughout Australia would make it less painful for prospective buyers who lose their bids at auctions or don’t end up owning the property.
“Right now many are upset because not only do they miss out on buying the property, second they get upset because they waste their money in these building reports as well,” he said.
He said practice has been ongoing for some time, and there was a need to make the pest and building report compulsory soon.
He said among the resistance faced in making these reports a must have feature was the lawyers, particularly in NSW.
“In their opinion, they are not qualified to give advice regarding pest and building reports. Therefore they feel it needs to set aside as a separate document as a service to prospective purchasers,” he said.
