OK, by ‘forensic’ I meant getting a specialist strata search company to read all the minutes, letters and emails to see if there are problems brewing or others that have been kept under wraps. Experienced strata search firms will do this – those who mainly do house conveyancing wouldn’t even know what to look for. But your solicitor should know who to ask.
A good example of what happens when this isn’t done was in these pages about a year ago when a woman bought an apartment in a per-friendly building and a very cursory search of EC minutes didn’t reveal that there were plans afoot to change the by-laws to ban pets (which happened between exchange and settlement). I have no idea how much this level of search would cost but I reckon unless it’s astronomical, it’s worth it.