Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 22, 2008 12:39 pm Hi,
We bought a four bedroom house in March 2006 on Sydney's Northern Beaches. It was our first house and as any prospective buyer we decided to get archicentre out to give the house a once over before purchase. The report came back with nothing major. 2.5 years on we have run across quite a few problems with the house: 1. The front right corner of the house has a crack that starts from the bottom and goes up 6 bricks - the bricks have vertical cracks. 2. The paving that was laid in the back garden and side has completely subsided 3. The bathroom ensuite shower is now leaking and as a result caused the bathroom floor tiles to crack 4. Both the ensuite, and main bathroom walls now have a crack running across the walls horizontally. 5. The house is 2 storey and has a raised deck at the front. Where the deck attaches to the house the front right join, where the deck is bolted to the house - the brickwork it has been attached to has cracked. Now that we have been there the house has obviously been very poorly built. It is upsetting that we have spent so much money and the house so much wrong with it. The house was built by the previous owners. When we bought the house we were told it was just out of home warranty. With Archicentre giving it the OK, we thought all was good. When the owners left, they left the house plans also and I noticed the dates on them were around 1998. Based on this, I thought the house may still be in warranty. After reading up about home warranty I was told that it starts when the certificate of occupancy is issued. I went to Warringah council to track down the COO. After going through all the files it was not there. The council looked a little bemused as to why there was not any COO and in the end came up with the excuse that they didnt need to issue a COO back then. I am a little stumped as to how proceed forward, or if there is anything else I can do next? Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Robert & Ella Re: Home Warranty Insurance Help??? 2Sep 22, 2008 1:17 pm Well home warranty insurance provides cover for structural defects for a period of six years from completion of the work and two years for non structural defects.
Lets just say for arguments sake the certificate of occupancy was issued in 2000, the home warranty insurance for structural issues would be valid until 2006 and for non structural issues until 2002. I should also add that normal wear and tear of Domestic Building Work including but not limited to normal shrinkage of materials or foundations, heave or any movement of earth, rust, corrosion, gradual deterioration, depreciation and/or normal drying out of materials. Cracks in the brickwork sound like a result of above, especially with the drought, this is bringing out more cases of the above. So basically warranty is for 6 years only Hope that helped BTW the above is Vic requirement, most likely the same all over... Hi Suku18 In NSW the statutory required insurances are: 1. HBCF ( Home Building Compensation Fund) - This is if the builder dies or goes broke. But this only covers 20%… 1 2712 Hi there, long-time lurker but first time posting. I've bought a house 2 and a bit years ago and last year we had some major water damage on a converted pergola area… 0 7931 I apologise for any confusion, but your understanding is correct. We approached our situation differently based on advice from… 11 53212 |