Effective Building and Consultancy offer a range of services to ease your mind when purchasing a property, including Strata Inspection Reports, which we consider essential for property purchases. Discuss your needs with our team today or book a strata building inspection online.

What is Strata Inspection Report, and Why is It Important?

A strata inspection report is a vital report that a buyer should obtain before bidding on or purchasing a strata-titled, company titled, or community title. A strata report contains all of the information about the owners corporation relating to your proposed property purchase. It would be just as important as getting a report for a strata building you are considering buying.

Strata reports have a range of benefits. First, our inspections will determine the sufficiency of funds in the Administration and Capital Works, given the complex size and the facilities. This should be based on judgment, but if there are lifts and other complex components, the funds need to be adequate to enable these facilities to operate.

Another is to determine the relevant amount of insurance required, current or proposed special levies, any major upcoming work, history of special levies, and any ongoing building problems or quotes that have been given for major work but were never actioned or to be actioned in the future.

It will also help you prepare a 10-year Capital Works Fund Plan. This plan must be reviewed at least every five years together with other strata records and shows the detail of the proposed works, a funding source for the proposed works, capital fund levies, resources from common property leases or licenses, and other matters dealt with by the Owners Corporation and prescribed by legislation. Special levies should be anticipated if the annual expenses combined with the large works detailed in the Capital Works fund plan exceeded the Owners Corporation’s amount at the bank.

A strata report can also make you aware of any current or pending litigation, disharmony, or apparent problems with building’s defects. Another is the consistent pattern of non-compliance with the requirements of being a strata scheme, such as failure to implement window lock reviews or update insurance valuations. If you have concerns about pets, renovations, and other topical issues, this will add relevance to you.

What Does a Strata Building Inspection Include?

EBC’s strata report may cover many areas including:

History of the building
Pending works
Special levies payable
Budget
Recent repairs undertaken
Any known defects
Monies in the bank to cover repairs and maintenance
SSM Act compliance issues, including general information on insurances, by-laws, any disputes or areas under investigation and harmony

Our strata inspectors are qualified and experienced in all construction disciplines, including:

General defect inspections
Pest & termites
Structural reports
Hydraulic reports
Electrical
Mechanical
Fire compliance
Roofing
Painting
Plumbing and draining
Waterproofing
WH&S Reports

What are the Benefits of a Strata Report?

Strata reports or pre purchase commercial reports are an additional cost on top of purchasing properties. They cost more than a standard inspection and aren’t an investment people usually make, despite the benefits. Still, it’s a small price to pay compared to the value of commercial property. Strata reports are guides that will give you the information that financial advisors or brokers refuse to tell you. It will help you make an informed decision and ensure you’re getting a fair deal. Here are some of the benefits of having a strata inspection report.

Helps to See the Financial Standing of Strata Schemes

It’s easy to get talked into buying a property by a broker. But do you really know the building’s financial position and history? This is what our reports can help you with. For any owned property, your decision to buy may not just be because you want a home to live in but also one you would consider selling.

A strata inspection report provides an overview of how well premises are managed. If owners don’t check out the financial aspects before they buy, they can end up paying too much for a house and not making any future sale profit or saving money on rent because of mismanagement.

Allows You to See if They Comply with Safety Laws

The strata report is useful because it offers comprehensive information about the unit you want to purchase as well as the building in full.

A comprehensive strata report can give you details about the safety of fire exits, functionality and presence of carbon monoxide detectors in smoke alarms, old wirings that need replacement, and much more.

Enables You to Study Corporate Meetings, By-Laws, and Other Matters Relevant to Properties

Each strata scheme differs from property to property. A strata inspection can show you the owner’s voting rights, the meetings they go over, the concerns that need focus and how they administer the property you would be buying. The by-laws also discuss owners’ rights and responsibilities, including complaints and garbage disposal.

It will reveal parts of the property you aren’t ok with, allowing you to have a say in changing them if you haven’t bought the property yet. Your report will provide you with a wealth of knowledge that your broker may not give you, enabling you to make an informed decision.

How Can EBC Help?

EBC offers a range of strata inspection services. Our reports can be used for myriad reasons, including purchasing a property, home loans and strata agreements. Our team is experienced in conducting Sydney strata inspections, assessing properties of all kinds. Whether you’re purchasing a group of small units such as apartments or townhouses where there are communal areas, we can provide a comprehensive strata building report and strata title reports. Below are some of the things we can help with.

For An Owners Corporation

We specialise in strata work and work closely with strata managers and owners corporations to carry out defect inspections and prepare reports.

Once we are asked to conduct a defect inspection, our expert team liaise with the owners corporation to lessen the inconvenience when carrying out the inspections.

Our team will prepare and issue a comprehensive report which notes each defect with a photograph, identifies the Australian Standard or National Construction Code that is in breach and includes a brief scope of recommendation to rectify the defect.

We work hard to ensure our reports are easy to read for an owners corporation. However, if there are still questions after reading our report, we are always willing to provide more information. Our form of reports is standard so they can be completed with ease for legal purposes.

Purchasing a new property, such as a unit covered by a strata scheme, is covered under warranty for the first two years for defects and the first six years for a major defect.

For the first six years of ownership, the owner’s corporation must include on the agenda of each annual general meetings or AGM to consider whether or not to commission a defect inspection of common areas and common property.

Liaising through us, EBC will provide a fee proposal to carry out a defect inspection of the building’s common areas. A short notice of inspection dates is given so that inconveniences to residents are kept to a minimum as access to every unit is required.

For Builders and Developers

We work with builders and developers who have received a defect report from lawyers representing an owner’s corporation.

EBC’s evaluation program involves a high-level review of the report and then a one-hour meeting in our offices to discuss the most appropriate strategy.

If necessary, EBC will carry out a site inspection along with a specialist consultant. After, we will prepare a full formatted report that can be lodged with the courts. EBC can also provide a mediation process to prevent the matter from escalating into the legal system and incurring high legal costs.

Builders

The defects rectification can be a tedious task having to work with residents’ availability, etc. EBC offers a defect inspection for builders at the time of completion, before any occupancy. By identifying defects before occupation, we can save our clients huge amounts of time and money.

Developers

Under the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme, the developer is responsible for the building bond with Fair Trading before any issuance of occupation certificate in the strata scheme. 2% of the contract price is the amount to be secured by a building bond for the building work.

This is the total price paid under all applicable work contracts before the developer makes an application for any occupation certificate (whether interim or conditional). It has to be calculated on the price at practical completion, not prior to it or at the start of construction and includes all additions, variations, and price fluctuations.

Within a year of OC issuance, an independent inspector will be hired to inspect the building at the developer’s expense. In the last two years, any person who has been connected with the developer cannot be appointed as a building inspector.

Moreover, the inspector must generate an interim defects report within 15 or 18 months. If the interim report does not identify any defects, the bond is released to the developer after two years of the completion of construction. However, if defects are noted in the report, these defects are the developer’s responsibility to rectify.

The inspector must generate a further and final report within 21/24 months to confirm that all defects originally identified are repaired. If the final inspection report does not identify any defects, the bond will be released to the developer. If defects are identified in the final report, the bond will be released to the owner’s corporation to rectify any defects identified in the report. After the defects are fixed, any money left over must be returned to the developer.

Lawyers

If you’re a lawyer, EBC can inspect and prepare initial defect reports for your clients. We can also prepare reports in response to all defect inspection reports served on a builder or developer.

Legal Professional Report

Our reports for our legal clients include all aspects of our general strata building reports. We liaise with the contact of choice to review any supplied documents, carry out the necessary site inspections and then prepare full reports.

EBC can supply the reports you may require for submission to the court, including expert witnesses’ appearances, without having to brief several individual specialist consultants.

EBC Sydney Strata Inspections

For your strata inspection report and inspection needs, choose EBC.

We’ve helped many individuals see the problems in properties. Rest assured, our team can provide you with premium and practical solutions for your inspection needs. Contact Effective Building & Consultancy today for more information.