What due diligence do I need to do when buying a property (LIM report, meth test etc)

[M_A_M777]

Hi there,

First time buyer here ...

As the title says, what due diligence should I do on a property I'm buying to make sure there's nothing wrong with it?

This is what I know so far. LIM report, meth test, building report and a title check. Am I missing something?

Are LIM reports important? I talked to an accountant who says he doesn't even bother with them.

Also, I talked to an accountant who said there's different types of building reports.

Not quite sure what he meant by that but does that mean some are more comprehensive than others?

What type of building report would you recommend I get?

Thanks for your help.

[Angela1]

A LIM report is largely a collection of information of whichyou can gather a lot of it yourself for free. Have a look on your councils website they usually show sample of what inin the LIM. Councils that provide a GIS/geomapsyou can put layers on to find out where the flood plain, flood prone areas are,look at the zoning around where you want to buy for any surprises. If you are near the bottom of a hill put thecontours on to see how big the catchment is (ie how much water you havepotentially passing through your place in the winter. Put the layers on for where the underground services are, stormwater, wastewater, etc

In addition to the above I would recommend as a minimum buying aproperty bag cost around $60 (instead of the LIM) you get thebuilding plans for this. But if you goup to your councils office they can print out for free the digitised buildingconsents they have, its the older plans is where you have to buy the property bag.

Building Inspection Report is supposedly done by a certifiedbuilding inspector, these can cost around $500. They check things like the roof, cladding type (google building inspectionreport nz’ for a full list) etc. HoweverI have had a bad experience with building inspectors when a selling a housethey incorrectly identified a cladding product as something taken off themarket due to it failing when it wasn’t that product used. A buildinginspection report is not an inspection to determine if compliance with the NZBuilding Code and associated documents has been achieved.

At the very least find out how old the roof is, that can bean expensive surprise in the first few years of purchase.

Talk to your preferred insurance people before purchasing. They might require you have to have buildinginspection report done prior to purchase or they might not insure you.

On the real estate agents Sale and Purchase Agreement lookat the fine print in section 6 Vendors Warranties and Undertakings, take noteof what has been crossed out.
Good luck