Buying a home? Have it checked
Posted by propertysouthafrica on December 26, 2007
When buying a second-hand car, most people will have it checked by the AA or a mechanic to make sure it is in good working order. So why then, when a property is one of the most expensive purchases a person can make, do purchasers not get their homes checked out properly before they commit to buying?The most common defects in residential homes are found in the roof structure and the foundations. Eric Bell of Inspect-a-Home says many of these are structural defects are severe, but are patched cosmetically and don’t look serious to the untrained eye.
“I recently inspected a 35-year old home where there were serious roof problems. The owner had put a layer of sawdust in the ceiling to prevent leaking when it rained and of course when the sun came out, the sawdust dried up, and no one would be the wiser.”
In many cases the structural beams in roofs are rotten and need extensive repairs but this is a problem that will be discovered only if the roof is properly inspected.
Bell explains that cracks in walls are also a common problem and it is often caused by blocked drainage which affects the foundations. Many sellers then simply use polyfiller to cosmetically repair these cracks, when in actual fact the foundations need to be underpinned.
Underpinning a home is a fairly expensive process where the weight of the building on the foundations needs to be transferred to special pads to stabilise the crack. The plaster then needs to be taken off the walls so that 90° grooves can be cut across the crack. The cracks are further stabilised by metal stitching. The crack is then filled with epoxy and mortar, further strengthened with chicken mesh before it can be replastered and painted.
In one case Inspect-a-Home supervised a repair job on a house that cost the owner in excess of R50k to metal-stitch and repair the cracks in the walls.
Bell talks about a variety of horror stories and although he has been in the business for nearly 20 years, he is still shocked at how trusting people are when buying a home.
“Buyers should not take what the seller says about the condition of the house at face value. They should always have the home inspected by a professional before committing to purchase.”
There was a recent case in which a house in Pietermaritzburg had a huge problem with cracks and the whole kitchen had shifted by 45mm. The engineering report had found nothing wrong with this home before the owner purchased, but now he is stuck with about R373k worth of damages that he has to repair.
The swimming pool area was of concern as no expansive joints around the pool edge or between the pool and the house were installed during construction. Due to normal expansion and contraction, the ceramic tiles laid were guaranteed to crack and de-bond without any expansion joints being installed.
Bell warns that the “voetstoets” clause in many sales agreements protects the seller exclusively and that often, whether maliciously or unintentionally, the seller and/or the agent do not disclose the defects.
Bell says if the buyer can prove latent defects, then the seller could still be held liable for any damages or cost of repairs.
“All those who are looking to buy a property should ensure that the offer to purchase is subject to a favourable report by a qualified inspector. Once any defects have been disclosed to the owner/seller, it is fraud if it is not disclosed to the buyer,” says Bell.
