Here’s a thought – if buildings were built to the building codes and properly checked onlong the way and only signed off my councils if they actually do comply then there would be little need for lawyers. All any of us would encounter would be the occasional settling crack in the walls and a few other minor rectifications.
Instead, we have story after story of people battling to get major recitifications done. My own complex was found to not meet BCA standards when we had an insurance claim made. The insurance company inspected the complex and found numerous items that did not meet BCA. Some were fixable, others were so big it could not be rectified! Letters to the builder, drafted my an owner who was a lawyer, did little. We ended up having to raise a special levy to cover costs in a new complex to rectify what we could so our insurer would continue to insure us! We still went after the builder but to no avail. The paperword did not show who actually signed off the building. So there we were, in a new complex, and $10,000 out of pocket.
There are many stories out there. And with a two year warranty on buildings now, I would definitely not buy into a new complex, nor anything new for that matter! Even cars come with a 3 – 5 year warranty these days. But your home – apparently 2 will do. Perhaps developers who do the right thing could offer extended warranties on their new builds to get the people in?