Agent Said “Get Your Solicitor to Review the Contract.” And We Got Scared.

We recently inspected a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with two car garage in Hawthorn East. The asking price? Around $700,000.

For a large 155 sqm three bed apartment on Toorak, it certainly looked attractive.

There was another interesting detail. It was a mortgagee sale.

Most buyers would immediately think bargain!  But we've been in property long enough to know that mortgagee sales aren't necessarily cheap. Mortgagees generally have a duty to take reasonable care to achieve an appropriate sale price.

So, a mortgagee sale is never the reason for our purchase. And, although it is a "keen vendor" and the listing may sound like a distress sale, it is almost never as good as it may sound.

Following our inspection, the selling agent told us: “Get your solicitor to review the contract.”

Perfectly reasonable and valid advice. But something about the conversation, the tone and how the message was delivered, sounded our alarm bells.

And when we considered the other "yellow" flags with this property,

• Property is "under offer" but agent is still having inspections.

• A 475 page long contract

• 3 bedroom apartment priced at half the price of one sold next door

• Owner had been trying to sell for over 2 years; and of course

• Agent said to get the solicitor to go through the contract

This suddenly made us afraid.

So we examined the 475-page contract and Section 32 documentation.

And here's what we discovered.

107 Building Defects

A 2021 building inspection report identified 107 numbered defect items.

These included structural, and safety defects, basement water ingress, defective waterproofing, drainage problems, roof drainage deficiencies and fire-safety concerns.

Some were minor. Others were potentially expensive. But the report was five years old. Surely the problems had been fixed?

$167,000 in Outstanding Repairs

The January 2026 owners corporation AGM reported approximately $167,000 in outstanding structural and essential safety measures defects. The owners corporation had also approved borrowing of up to $200,000, potentially repayable over ten years. More concerningly, we couldn't find the complete itemised rectification scope in the sale documents.

Would $167,000 permanently resolve the basement waterproofing and drainage problems? Or would owners face further repairs and special levies?

We're not sure. We couldn't establish the answer.

The Builder and Developer Were in Financial Trouble

The original builder entered liquidation in May 2025. The developer's project company subsequently entered receivership, and the owners corporation's lawyers reportedly advised that funding repairs was more cost-effective than pursuing the original builder or building surveyor.

In other words, the owners corporation was facing substantial remediation costs without a clear prospect of recovering them from the original builder.

And the Ownership Costs?

The apartment's annual owners corporation administrative levies already exceeded $11,000 according to an October 2025 certificate.

Its registered lot liability was approximately 4.05% of the owners corporation's total.

That's a substantial ongoing expense before council rates, water charges and internal maintenance.

Would We Buy It?

No. We struck it off our shortlist.

Not because it was a mortgagee sale. Not simply because the building had historical defects. But because we couldn't establish whether the proposed repairs would permanently resolve the underlying problems or what additional financial liabilities owners might face.

Even at $700,000, the uncertainty was too great for us to recommend proceeding.

The agent advised us to review the contract. It was good advice. Experience tells us to read the messages, study the message delivery and interpret what's not said. Read between the lines. Reading the contract was only the beginning.

At Concierge Buyers Advocates, we're not paid simply to help buyers purchase properties.

Thinking of buying a property that looks too good to be true? Our independent property assessments look beyond the price guide to identify risks before you commit. Learn about our Property Inspection and Appraisal service.

We're paid to help them avoid buying the wrong ones.

This case study reflects the documents available when we reviewed the property. Historical defect findings may not represent its current condition.