You've just signed your contract and you're flushed with the excitement of purchasing the home of your dreams. However, did you know that safety hazards may be lurking within your dream home?
On July 15 2015, a new Residential Building Contract will come into effect in Queensland. According to the QBCC and Master Builders Queensland, it will incorporate a number of changes:
Up until now, the quality of your build has often been negatively affected by subcontractors employed and supervised by your builder not being incentivised to deliver the quality both you and your builder require. Only the principal contractor and not their subcontractors were held to be responsible for work. Disputes involving untradesmanlike work and unmet schedules have become rife within the residential building industry .
On 1 December 2014, the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act PAMDA) was replaced by 4 new pieces of legislation, one of which was the Property Occupations Act 2014 (POA). Changes aimed at streamlining and simplifying property transactions include the following key features: The PAMDA Form 30C Warning Statement was abolished.
Understandably, many vendors are anxious to sell so that they can get on with the next phase in their lives, perhaps even on to their next home, pending the sale of their current property. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to sell, vendors may behave rashly in an attempt to present their property in its best possible light. As a buyer then, you need to be constantly on your guard for these tricks including:
Quite to the contrary, just because there is clause 4.1 under Terms of the REIQ Houses and Land Contract, doesn't necessarily mean that you are obliged to follow through or even take it up. However, you would be extremely foolish not to.
If you've just purchased a property, no doubt you're nervously awaiting the results of your building and pest inspection. But there may be yet another inspection you need to have done particularly if the property has a pool or spa, a pool safety inspection is not normally included as part of a pre-purchase building and pest inspection as it must be conducted by a specialist licensed pool safety inspector.
Many purchasers of apartments or units in Queensland are unaware that they may be vulnerable because the current statutory home warranty insurance scheme only covers the construction of, extension, addition, alteration, renovation or repair to multi-dwelling buildings only up to 3 stories.
When purchasing a property you need to be mindful that severe weather events are becoming a fact of life in Brisbane which, being built upon a flood plain is prone to flooding especially during the summer storm season from November through to March.
While you're doing your pre-purchase due diligence you might also like to consider Brisbane City Council's range of free tools and information to help you understand the property's potential flood risk.
According to the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, on "20 June 2014, the Queensland Building and Construction Board made the Rectification of Building Work Policy which replaced the 6 month building inspection report.
If your building contractor has carried out defective building work they may be required to rectify that work irrespective of whether they did or did not comply with the contracted plans and specifications for your work.
According to the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, on "20 June 2014, the Queensland Building and Construction Board made the Rectification of Building Work Policy.
For you, this means that if your building contractor has carried out defective building work they should be required to rectify that work irrespective of whether they did or did not comply with the contracted plans and specifications for your work.
Moving house can be one of the most stressing times in anyone’s life, and with a family it can mean even more stress. ABIS understands the importance of moving house so we have compiled our Top 10 Tips to minimise the stress when moving:
If you’re building a new home – keep in mind that you need a number of inspections at different stages of build to ensure that you’re happy with the way the house is being built.
Foundation Stage Inspection: immediately before the slab is poured.
A good time to have your building inspection conducted is a day or two after a storm has passed. For Brisbane property - after the recent supercell storm in November that had hail and cyclonic winds it will give you a good idea about the structure of a house. It will also allow our building inspectors to view any issues the house may have with:
Home Owners are encouraged today to improve your energy efficiency through passive design. This is possible through good ventilation in the warmer climates and insulation in the cooler climates.
To improve air flow and air quality you should consider cross ventilation by having windows strategically placed in a home, within one room and from room to room. As well, louver windows encourage ventilation by capturing any air flow around you house. If ventilation isn't possible, consider installing ceiling fans to help with the air flow.
Brisbane City Council has declared Friday 14th November a public holiday for the G20. If your work place is located in the Brisbane City Council region (similar to the Ekka), then you are requested not to go to work. The reason for this is to keep the roads clearer and help with security during the G20.
As well as the area around Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) being restricted (including the hotel and restaurants and a large part of the CBD) – the RNA showgrounds and Suncorp Stadium will be restricted in the week leading up to 14 November.
With only a few weeks left on Channel 9's The Block, we've been wondering whether the amateur renovators are worried about getting their building & pest inspections. We don't think it will be a problem as they've had qualified tradies helping them out and Keith overseeing all the structural work, but still, you'd hate to have to justify anything that's not up to scratch just before you go to Auction.
When you're looking to purchase a home in Brisbane or other Queensland areas, one of the considerations is - can I extend or build-in underneath the house? Many of the older style homes have what was originally a breeze way to allow better air ventilation for cooling as well as to keep termites away. The structures didn't take into cosideration that you'd want to enclose the area for living space and therefore more often than not it is not the legal height.
RealestateVIEW recently conducted a study of how baby boomers think about the property market. Only 34.4% of baby boomers think they can afford to stay in their own home. This will result in many larger houses coming onto the market and smaller houses / town houses and units being bought quicker, thereby increasing the prices in the lower range.
The reasons given by baby boomers to move from their family home include:
We all know that you need to have your house looking clean, spacious, uncluttered and stylish when you put it on the market but, what else will help sell your property apart from fluffy towels in the bathroom.
