Apartment Buyers Beware – Especially Of Cracks In The Brickwork

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au

When buying a unit or apartment it is vital to inspect the body corporate records. These can sometimes reveal disturbing details about the state of the building, its finances and its management which sellers and agents won’t willingly disclose to starry-eyed buyers. If you are not happy with what you find, there is not always an easy way out of the contract – unless your solicitor added a “satisfactory body corporate records inspection” clause before you signed.

Occasionally it turns out that a body corporate is poorly managed, there are on-going and disruptive disputes (between owners and management, management and tenants, and/or between the body corporate and the original builder/developer), levies haven’t been paid, finances are in disarray or – worst of all – the building has structural problems.

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