NSW 2009, Australia
100 Harris St, Pyrmont
02 8096 8576
24/7 Customer Support
Mon - Fri: 8:00 - 18:00
You can call us 24/7 for urgent matters
Construction Lawyer & Building Solicitors Sydney | Contracts Specialist Law Firm
Construction Lawyer & Building Solicitors Sydney | Contracts Specialist Law Firm
100 Harris St, Pyrmont
24/7 Customer Support
You can call us 24/7 for urgent matters
Building defects can result from different types of situations. It can be caused by the contractor’s work, builder’s carelessness or due to natural degradation.
Once finding a defect during our after construction, contact your builder. Your house should be covered by insurances and warranties through the Home Building Act.
You can find a building defect easily. These can be in the form of leaks, cracks, or any misplaced installations present in your house. Here are the most common ones:
These are the defects that you can find on the foundations of the house such as wall cracks and misplaced wall posts.
These are mostly considered as major defects since it may highly threaten your living safety in the house. You have within six years after construction to get your builder to fix it or pay for damages.
These are defects related to poor drainage and leaking roofs or any problems related to waterproofing. For these problems, you may need to go back to your contractors responsible for the plumbing or for the roofing. These are also major defects.
These are the defects that can happen with a house’s exterior such as brick cracks or concrete spalling. These could happen due to natural events such as cold climate conditions or through man made events like carelessness.
These are any other defects that happens on non major parts of the house. If these defects are not a direct threat to your safety, then you have two years after construction for it.
All of these defects can be spotted and verified through a building defects inspection.
In a building defects inspection, a government-appointed inspector checks the status of the house if it is safe to live in.
Being an inspector requires a license, so you are sure to be in good hands. They are trained to look for defects in different parts of the house, including with the plumbing and electricals.
Doing a building defects inspection can help in lots of ways. It is a legal and transparent proof that the house is safe or there is a defect. So, if someone contests if there’s a defect or not, you can just show them the building defects report.
Finding a building defect can be hard to take in, but there are lots of things that you can do to solve it. Here are some things that you can do:
First, know how you can avail your home building insurance and warranties. These can be indicated in certain terms in your contract, including specific amounts and dates. You just have to talk back to your builder about it.
There can be a time that you would need to enforce your rights. You can only do this when communicating effectively with your builder. Try to talk about it before filing for a dispute. Remember to communicate with empathy, while being mindful of your rights. Doing so would prevent your dispute from escalating to a tribunal or court.
If communication is not enough to make them do work, then it’s the time to seek the help of Fair Trading. This is the tribunal responsible for concerns on building dispute resolution.
But, if the dispute is unsolved even after Fair Trading’s mediation, then you can take it to NCAT. Known as the New South Wales Civil & Administrative Tribunal, they handle various cases such as building disputes through the Consumer and Commercial Division.
Contracts Specialist can help you connect with a building defects inspector, but we can mostly help you with building disputes.
We can help you resolve any of these common defects and guide you through the legal processes involved. Whatever defect that your house has, we surely have helped solve it in our 10+ years of construction law.
Call now and get your first free consult now.
Contracts Specialist is a Sydney-based construction law firm that deals with Building Disputes, Construction Contracts, Debt Recovery, and Security of Payment. With Contracts Specialist, you are ensured that you are in good hands.
