Real Estate Agents and Prepurchase Reports
Pre-purchase property inspection report
Conducting a thorough building inspection before purchasing a property is essential. This inspection provides a detailed assessment of the property’s condition, identifying building defects, issues like rising dampness or wall movement, safety hazards, and faulty roofing. Obtaining this report before exchanging sale contracts helps identify potential problems that could lead to expensive repairs in the future.
Recording and disclosure requirements
When selling a residential property, real estate agents have obligations regarding record-keeping and disclosure. They must maintain written documentation of any pre-purchase property inspection reports they know, including building and pest inspections, examination of the property’s documents as described in relevant acts, certificates concerning financial matters, and evaluation of relevant documents based on set guidelines. When prospective buyers request a copy of the sale contract for the property, agents are obligated to disclose the records of pre-purchase inspection reports according to specified regulations.
Reporting information
Agents must document the following for each report:
- Inspection date
- Requester’s identity
- Contact details and professional affiliation of the report preparer
- Confirmation of professional indemnity insurance coverage for the author of the report
- Availability status (repurchase option)
Agents can determine if a report has been prepared through various means. The vendor may inform them about the existence of reports, or they can proactively inquire with vendors regarding any existing reports. Vendors might request agents to arrange different types of inspections and access property for prospective buyers’ records.