Sam Saad

It's something where a lot of people get caught out, but a lawyer with experience who can look at these things carefully and make sure that every T is crossed and I is dotted will make a huge difference to your purchase and make sure that you're not out of pocket when you come to buy a property.

Morning, Craig.

Thanks for having me back on the podcast again.

Yeah, that's correct, Craig.

Let me explain to you first what the strata report is, and then we can delve into further issues and questions around strata reports.

A strata inspection report only applies if you're buying a strata type of property, such as a commercial or residential unit or a townhouse within a complex.

If you're buying a house or a freehold land, then you need a building inspection report and a strata report won't apply.

Strata schemes allow individuals to become the shared owners of a property.

When you buy a strata-tiled unit or townhouse, you also become a part owner of not only the property itself, but also the common property around it.

So the pool, laundry, lift, anything that's in that social space.

When you buy into something like that, you'll also be joining the building problems that come up with it.

This is also the same for any large commercial buildings that you may buy as well.

These strata obligations are managed through a legal entity called the body corporate or sometimes known as the owner's corporation.

And basically a strata inspection report is a full review of the owner's corporation records to understand how much money you're going to be spending in the future, what sort of scheme you're going into and the financial and emotional stress that may come ahead if you are buying a property.

Yeah, that's a good question, Craig.

Strata reports may cost you a few hundred dollars each time you have to do it.

And it gets frustrating for buyers sometimes when they're going to a number of auctions and falling through.

But if you're looking at it in a holistic picture, it's a negligible amount in comparison to the purchase price of your property.

and sometimes unfortunate expenses you can incur in the future if they're not picked up early will be a lot more than that cost of that strata report it's extremely important that you obtain one of these reports before you buy a property it's like a relationship before you go into a relationship you want to get to know someone and it's the same with the strata complex before you buy in you want to get to know what your neighbors are about whether you can get along with everyone in the future are there any issues with the building

because you're going to be seeing these people every day.