Apartment and Strata Inspections in Box Hill

Inside the lot we look at linings, floors, wet areas, windows and doors, plus any balcony, courtyard or garage that comes with it. Outside, we look at the common property we can safely see from the lot and the shared areas: roof edges and gutters, external walls, driveways, fences and drainage. Which parts are common property differs from one scheme to the next, so the strata plan is the document that settles it.

It is not an audit of the whole scheme. Other lots, locked plant and service rooms, lifts, fire safety systems, roofs that cannot be safely reached, concealed framing, and electrical, gas and plumbing testing are outside it, as are timber pests, asbestos and mould testing unless arranged separately. Anything we cannot reach on the day is listed as not inspected.

No. A strata report, often called a strata search, is drawn from the strata records and covers the scheme's finances, insurance, known building defects and planned works, legal matters and meeting minutes. Our inspection is a physical look at the building, and the two are best read together: a crack we photograph means more if the minutes show the committee has been chasing it for a year.

It comes from the owners corporation and sets out the levies for the lot, any levies still owing, the funding proposals in the 10-year capital works plan and where the records and financial statements can be viewed. It also names the strata committee, the strata managing agent and any building manager. A fee is payable, and if a levy owing before the certificate was given is not shown on it, the purchaser is not responsible for paying it.

No. The strata building bond and inspections scheme applies to residential or mixed use strata buildings of four or more storeys, built under contracts entered into from 1 January 2018. A townhouse or low rise scheme of three storeys or fewer, where home building compensation cover was required, falls outside it. Ask the strata manager whether a bond was lodged for your building.

The developer lodges a bond worth 2% of the contract price before the occupation certificate is issued, and must appoint a building inspector, approved by the owners corporation, within 12 months of completion. That inspector carries out an interim inspection between 15 and 18 months after completion and a final inspection between 21 and 24 months after. If defects from the interim report are still there at the final inspection, the bond can be used to pay for fixing them.

The bond inspector is appointed by the developer and reports on defective building work for the scheme as a whole. An independent inspection of your own lot, done before the interim inspection, gives you a dated list to hand to the strata committee while there is time to raise it. It also covers you where the building sits outside the bond scheme altogether.

Under the Home Building Act 1989, statutory warranties run six years from completion for major defects and two years for all other defects, with an extra six months if a breach is found in the last six months of the period. Defects in the common property are best taken up by the owners corporation. A lot owner can complain directly when a defect affects only their lot, or when the owners corporation or strata manager does not respond.

If you are buying, before exchange or within the cooling off period. If you already own, book well before the warranty deadline: other defects generally have two years from completion (with up to six months more for some found late), major defects six years, and claims have to be started in time. In a building with a bond, book before the interim inspection so your items are raised early.

Yes, including Gables, Rouse Hill, Nelson, Annangrove, Riverstone and Kellyville Ridge. Part of what was once marketed as Box Hill has been Gables since July 2020, so the report uses the address on your contract or strata plan rather than the estate name.

The fee depends on the type and size of the lot and how much of the common property you want looked at, so we confirm it once we know the property. The report arrives within 24 hours of the inspection, with photographs, and shows which items appear to be in the lot or the common property, checked against the strata plan where you supply it. You can then call the inspector to go through it.