Real estate agent won't let me have a pre-settlement inspection for my property that settles tomorrow. What do I do?

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  Geewhizz on 10/10/2013 - 06:47

  +2

  Whether as a condition of settlement, or you do it yourself, you really need to get those windows fixed - the damage caused by rain coming through is going to be a lot more costly.

  As for the dog dirt under the house, if it really is that bad, ask the tenants to clean it up, and probably ask the property manager to keep a check on it when they do their inspections. The only way you're going to stop the dogs going under there altogether is to seal it off.

  If they are generally good tenants, clean and tidy, and have always paid their rent on time, then by the sounds of it you could be doing a lot worse.

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  Fizzydrink on 10/10/2013 - 11:12

  here in wa, and i presume there every day it goes past settlement you are entilted to charge interest if it is the sellers fault. them not sorting out tenants is their fault.
  on the downside it can happen tp you too.

  we sold our house, then the ppl buying it couldnt get the cash for a while, it went past settle ment by a month.. worked out to about 120 bucks a day., downside was it pushed back the settlement on what we bought, so we paid $70 a day to the sellers (different house values)

  ask your settlement agent, although they should be telling you.

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    lplau on 10/10/2013 - 15:02

    +1

    it really depends. From what I am reading here, he got shafted pretty badly by several parties in this transaction. His contract could also be part of this shafting where it is written to protect the vendors not the purchaser.

    Hard to know for sure unless he posts the contract of sale. It is best to go to your Lawyers to see what you can do about it.

    Ozbargainers aren't here to give you legal advice, from my experience on here….ozbargainers would probably do the shafting if it meant getting extra money…. haha

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  kimba88 on 10/10/2013 - 22:00

  Thanks for the advice so far guys. Today i contacted the lawyer to tell them the things that wee wrong. They told me to contact the building inspector. I contacted the building inspector (even though its now been over a month since i had the building inspected). The building inspector had a little trouble remembering which property it was, but he had the report on record. He was surprised he and the pest inspector could miss such obvious things as they are usually very thorough. I took pictures of the rotted beam and sent them to him. He agreed the beam looked like it was rotting, and the rest of the beam was possibly stained - so may even rot more. He was also very surprised about the broken windows. He insists that it wasn't broken when he saw them but told me to chase up the in-going inspection report for the tenants. I did exactly that, and it states the windows were broken before the tenants moved in. The building inspector agreed over the phone that he would have to cover the beam rot and he would chat a little more about the windows. If these things were picked up before the signing of the contract, i probably would have had more negotiating power.

  Basically when asking for advice from the lawyers, they said if i wanted them to fight a case for the vendors to pay for the windows, then they would charge extra, on top of their already ridiculous fees. Not sure what i've paid for other than for them to skim through the contract and chase up council and water rate payments.

  The real estate agent currently managing the property told me that the windows had been broken for at least 5-8years and just taped up. Apparently the house was rented by the vendors father, so didn't seem to care too much. I don't understand how someone can be such a bad landlord and leave windows broken - its an accident waiting to happen, especially since two young children sleep in that room.

  Settlement at this stage is likely to still go ahead tomorrow, and i will be sorting out the beam and windows with the building inspector since he missed them.

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    kingsville on 10/10/2013 - 22:09

    +2

    We had Archicentre inspect our house before we purchased. They missed some bloody obvious things (rusted gutters and rotten window frame) but nothing structural. After having them back to see their errors, Archicentre refunded the full inspection cost.

    This sounds a bit similar to your situation. But, as someone else pointed out, your repairs will be tax deductible.

    Also, don't forgot to step back and be proud of your purchase. It is a big deal!

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    rekabkram on 10/10/2013 - 22:18

    Brilliant news for you, but absolutely shit news when you think what else could this professional building inspector miss?

    With the rot this is truly best case scenario, not only do you get piece of mind since you were concerned that the whole thing had to come down. Your getting the whole thing fixed essentially for free.
    As for the windows, to be completely honest I'm not sure that it's the building inspectors job to now replace them free of charge. I could be wrong but since there not structural and your getting the rot fixed he may argue that it's incidental. I'm not on his side here, clearly he has done a shit job of inspecting your new property but it may be quicker and easier if he wants to negotiate say 'cover one each or split the cost 50/50' as I'm not in the field I don't know if you'd just be better off accepting any reasonable offer from him. Especially since if you disagree and he try's to screw you on the rot because of it you may need to take him to small claims court and it will cost you more than its worth to fight him.

    One other piece of advice with lawyers, some of them are scumbags and will try and charge for follow up letters and phone calls so while it's important to ask any important questions keep in mind that you don't want to be getting billed for a letter. Just saying this because we know someone who dealt with a shonky lawyer who kept sending follow up letters and charging around $60 each time these unnecessary letters were sent.

    I think you need to give yourself a pat on the back for sticking to your instincts and not just signing away blindly. You pushed that you wanted your inspection and it has paid off for you handsomely. Anxiously it would be better if you didn't have broken windows or rot but given the circumstances you absolutely did the right thing.

    Well done, hopefully it's all smooth sailing from here.

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      kimba88 on 10/10/2013 - 23:02

      The building inspector also gave me the option to get a quote from an outside company to fix the beam, and then he'll foot the bill. Or, he could do it himself. He doesn't seem to think its anything major, so thinks its an easy repair. The only thing that worries me now is, are there termites in the beams because of this rot from moisture? I think ultimately, i'd like to be told the whole roof needs to be done so i can get a roof higher than 2100mm and convert it to a granny flat one day. But, i know it should only be a minor repair.

      The broken windows are blatantly obvious for any inspector. he even took a picture of the same window - just the rotting wood around the outskirts of it.. but failed to look at the broken glass taped up.

      I actually feel bad that this has come back onto the building inspector. The vendors should have fixed the windows long ago. I'm not looking to push blame onto anyone, but these are things you don't usually look for when you first inspect a house. It was actually my partner who spotted these things.

      This has been a HUGE first lesson and I've learnt so much from everyone here too! I'm still unsure whether i'm completely turned off property investing for the rest of my life after this experience. Haha

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        rekabkram on 10/10/2013 - 23:20

        Don't feel bad. He has insurance, also don't let this put you off being a slumlor…. Landlord. Just spend a little extra time to go over every nook and cranny next time.

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    AlanHB on 10/10/2013 - 22:22

    Haha man those lawyers are lazy. I just hope that this ordeal is over for you soon.

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    Geewhizz on 11/10/2013 - 07:33

    +1

    I don't understand how someone can be such a bad landlord and leave windows broken - its an accident waiting to happen, especially since two young children sleep in that room.

    You've also gotten rid of a fairly sh*tty property manager by the sounds of it. It doesn't sound like he's doing anything to earn his $ other than check his bank account to make sure it has come in.

    If the same tenants have been there for 5 to 8 years, and looked after the place, you're on a good thing.

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  modsec802 on 10/10/2013 - 22:11

  I don't understand how someone can be such a bad landlord and leave windows broken - its an accident waiting to happen, especially since two young children sleep in that room.

  Welcome to the dark world of property investment speculation: where greedy landlords put money before safety of fellow humans.

  Check out this one:

  Isabella Diefenbach (7 weeks old) died in May 2010 after falling from her father's arms
  His foot fell through a rotted wooden plank on the deck of their Yeppoon rental home
  Complaints about the deck had previously been made to the estate agent

  http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/baby-death-may-lea…

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    kimba88 on 10/10/2013 - 23:42

    +2

    Thats pretty bad. I believe if you are a good landlord, it will encourage your tenants to treat you and your house with more respect.

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  kimba88 on 11/10/2013 - 18:18

  +1

  THE PROPERTY IS SETTLED! Just organising with the building inspector what can be done about the 2 windows and rotting beam. I also contacted the lawyer to see if he could send me the settlement papers, depreciation schedule and fax the papers to my property manager so he could go pick the keys up from the current property managers (I also asked the lawyers in the morning if they could send the papers over to my property manager as soon as it settled so he could pick the keys up). My lawyer agreed to do it straight away. Then 15mins later my property manager contacted me and said he had been waiting and the papers hadn't arrived yet after 2hours after settlement. I gave my property manager the number to the lawyers - he then had to call and they wouldn't fax the papers over initially. The property manager reminded the lawyer that they were my instructions to do so. They finally got the papers faxed over, but they sent them so late that my property manager couldn't pick the keys up as the real estate was closing. So they'll have to wait till Monday. As for an email and depreciation schedule, my lawyers said not till monday or tuesday even though he said to me on the phone that i would receive it by email today. These lawyers and selling real estate agent have really left a sour taste in my mouth.

  I'll keep you guys updated about how i go with the windows and rotting beam. i might be able to sleep a little better tonight.

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  ilostnemo on 11/10/2013 - 19:58

  Did you buy the property fully furnished?

  I'm just wondering why you would care for the depreciation schedule.

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    rekabkram on 11/10/2013 - 20:18

    When you buy a rental property you can claim depreciation of appliances as a tax write off, for example oven, water heater, split systems, dishwasher and basically any other fixed appliance that he now owns and is responsible for. I know the depreciation report was done at the house I rent immediately after settling.

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  ilostnemo on 11/10/2013 - 22:13

  Yes, but wouldn't the depreciation be based on his/her purchase price.

  for eg If I buy a car, and the previous owner has depreciated 90% of its value over the years. I still depreciate it on my purchase price, not the price he has depreciated to.

  I'm not a full bottle on depreciation, I know when I first bought my unit, I replaced the carpet, and on my depreciation schedule I was depreciating two carpets, the new and the old, didn't make too much sense to me.

  I'm pretty sure my accountant, told me to allocate costs to the items, ie without the items the property would be cheaper. Disclaimer (I no longer use this accountant, and haven't done so for over 20 years)

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  kimba88 on 05/11/2013 - 19:58

  So everything seems to be running smoothly thus far. Today i had a call from the building inspector saying that he will replace one of the broken windows, but not the other because it is only a crack and not going to be a big issue. He also said that my rotting timber beam in the garage is only rotten for about 6-7cm, so does not think that is enough to claim to even fix that.

  What are your opinions.. should i fight to get these things fixed or am i just being petty? Technically its something i may have been able to negotiate for when i was signing contracts. I will upload pictures when my internet works properly.

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    kimba88 on 05/11/2013 - 22:22

    This is the picture of the rotten beam. Its a little hard to see. Its on the left hand side next to the beam you can see
    http://tinypic.com/r/14t1tmu/5

    This is a picture of the window he won't fix.. since it is only a crack. The laundry
    http://tinypic.com/r/4smvrk/5

    This is a picture of the window he is willing to fix since he should never have missed the break. The bedroom
    http://tinypic.com/r/k32atu/5

    Would you fight to have all 3 things fixed.. or just be happy he's offered to fix one window in the bedroom? It worries me that the crack in the window of the laundry could turn into a break. And not sure how much rot has gone through the timber of the garage. Not sure if i should be footing the bill for them, thats all.

    Any opinions are appreciated :-)

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  ilostnemo on 05/11/2013 - 23:41

  +1

  I would firstly get the windows fixed as a matter of priority. If the tenant has an accident and cuts themselves and proves you negligent, you'll have bigger problems than the cost of a window.

  I would get another builder inspectors opinion, on who is liable.

  I wouldn't be put off too much by this, you happen to get idiots on all fronts, also next time, get other people to see the property, friends relatives, the more eyes that see it, the more they'll pick up.

  The inspector has done a bit of a backflip.

  The repairs are a deduction for you, so you'll be able to claim these when you do your tax.

  Good Luck

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