When we found what's missing

When we saw this property listed at what appeared to be a very reasonable price, we got excited.

It matched our client’s brief, so we arranged an inspection.

On paper, this house looked excellent: a well-maintained, nicely presented, 10-year-old three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. At the advertised price, it looked like a steal for this part of Melbourne.

Within minutes of walking through the property, however, we walked out with a red circle drawn on the floorplan.

The issue?

An outdoor kitchen that appeared to have been added after the property was built.

Now, as Asians ourselves, we actually loved the idea. A proper outdoor kitchen is brilliant, particularly when your cooking involves plenty of stir-frying, wok cooking and high heat. It keeps smoke, oil and smells out of an open-plan indoor kitchen, typical in modern Australian homes.

The show-stopper wasn’t the outdoor kitchen.

The problem was what we couldn’t find.

We requested the contract of sale anyway, knowing our client would probably still be interested if the documentation checked out.

Interestingly, the contract included a building inspection report supplied by the vendor.

As we have mentioned previously, we do not rely on vendor-supplied building inspection reports. Even when the inspector is competent and professional, we prefer our buyers to engage their own independent inspector because independence matters when hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars are at stake. And we would only trust our tried and tested partners whom we know we can rely on. Not because we receive any referral fees, but because we know they are reliable.

Unlike other agents, we do not receive a cent of referral fees from these partners. We keep this profession and transparent, so, our conscience know we referred our clients to them because they are reliable. Not because of referral fees.

In this case, that concern became particularly relevant.

The report, engaged by the seller, mentioned that the outdoor kitchen itself did not require a building permit. That may well have been correct, depending on exactly what had been constructed and how.

That wasn't what concerned us.

Many buyers would have read the phrase as it had been given an "all-cleared" from the inspection.

What was missing was any evidence of electrical and plumbing compliance documentation for the outdoor kitchen works.

In Victoria and Australia, electrical and plumbing works must be carried out by appropriately licensed tradespeople, and relevant compliance certificates must be issued. If something later goes wrong, particularly where fire, water damage or an insurance claim is involved, unapproved / uncertified work can become a much bigger problem than an outdoor kitchen ever seemed to be.

We asked for the plumbing and electrical certificates, but instead of receiving them, we were simply referred back to the building inspection report. That did not answer our question.

Next, the outdoor kitchen cabinets had also appeared to be attached onto the external Hebel panels. Given the earlier omissions, we felt we could not trust the report 100%. If this was not done properly by a qualified builder, Hebel panels would not last too long.

And there was yet another practical issue.

Getting retrospective certification is not always simple. Many licensed tradespeople are understandably reluctant to certify work carried out by somebody else when they cannot see exactly how that work was originally completed.

Could the issue potentially have been resolved?

Possibly, but buying property is not about finding reasons to ignore uncertainty, and resolving these uncertainties on our own. Some uncertainties may never be resolved. It is about identifying risks before they become your risks.

We recommended that our client not proceed with the property.

They were understandably reluctant. The property looked good, fitted the brief and appeared to represent excellent value. But they trusted our judgement and agreed.

Back to the search. 😁

Sometimes the most important part of an inspection isn't what you find.

It's what should be there, but isn't.