I am selling a two storey terrace house in Lightsview in South Australia.
The house build was completed on February 22, 2013 (eight years ago to the day, coincidentally). My husband and I are the original owners.
We have a keen buyer but a building inspection undertaken today identified that there is no drainage to the balcony (which has an enclosed balustrade, so water doesn't just drain off). The inspector says this means that the balcony is not up to building code. The buyer wants this addressed before settlement, which I think is reasonable, though they have conceded that if the code did not apply in 2013 then we shouldn't be held accountable. I'm keen to rectify rather than lose the buyer and potentially come up against this again.
For the record, we've never noticed any issue with water on the balcony… but I suppose that's beside the point.
So, we are planning to insert an addendum into the purchase contract, adding a condition that roughly states the following (wording not yet finalised):
- Contract is subject to the investigation, and if needed, correction of the lack of balcony drainage.
- The vendor and purchaser will each obtain a quote to correct this defect, and the average of the two quoted amounts will become an adjustment to the purchase price to compensate the buyer.
- If it is confirmed that the balcony was in fact finished to code as it applied at the time of construction, this condition does not apply.
I am having trouble figuring out what would have applied at the time of building (I suppose up to the date of Feb 22 2013). I believe the Australian Standard in question is AS4654-2, though I also understand that an Australian Standard is not necessarily the same as a legally-binding building code.
I'm also not clear on what degree of correction would be needed to bring it up to code. Is it as simple as drilling a hole in the bottom of the wall and chucking in a spitter pipe? Or would it need to be a fully laid drain with grate plumbed into a downpipe with the fall of the floor carefully calculated… etc. Without asking the length of a piece of string, what range of costs might we be looking at? Looking at old photos I believe the balustrade is just rendered blueboard. Floor is tiled. Balcony overhangs the portico - no house underneath. I'll add photos below.
Finally, I am also trying to work out that if in fact the balcony was never up to code, does something like this fall under the builder's warranty - only 5 years in SA - or would it be an indicator of defective work which would come under the Development Act 1993 and would cover us for 10 years? In which I should be able to have the builder correct the issue for free?
If anyone here is able to provide me with any clues or advice on any of the above, I would be most appreciative.
TL;DR
1. How to verify if building code applicable to South Australia as at 22 Feb 2013 required drainage to a balcony?
2. Potential cost to add drainage to a balcony that looks like this (see below)? $200? $1000? $10000?
3. Assuming balcony drainage was part of building code, can we pursue builder under Development Act (building completed 8 years ago)?