What happens if the seller decides to be sneaky and swap out, say, the expensive Miele dishwasher and substitute it for a bargain basement model on your unconditional contract?

Where does this leave you, as the buyer?

First step is to check over your contract, as most contracts say that the property is sold with the inclusions as inspected and as noted. If there is no specific notation in the contract that the sale e.g. includes a Miele dishwasher, then it is a matter of proving what was in the property at that time.

This might be tricky unless you happened to take some photos or video the property whilst you inspected it.

Therefore, from a practical perspective, if a property includes items of special value or expensive appliances then they should be specifically noted in the contract of sale as an inclusion so there can be no argument later.

A savy investor will always tell the agent ten days out from settlement that you want to inspect the property the day before settlement. This has the sneaky psychological effect of keeping the seller honest.

If they know you are coming the day before settlement to check the property, they will really have second thoughts about substituting quality or expensive items in the home for cheap items.

Appliances to be in “good working order”

All too often the buyer arrives on settlement date and after settling in finds that when they go to cook their first meal, not all of the appliances are working.

Yet when they inspected the property, everything seemed to be sparkling and had the appearance that it was all in good working order. 

Unfortunately, this is another case of “Buyer Beware”.  

There is no standard provision in contracts for the sale of residential property that says all appliances and equipment have to be in good working order.

It is therefore important to have your building inspector during the period of the building inspection to check that all appliances and equipment are in good working order and raise any defects with you before you sign off on the building inspection clause.

Alternatively, you could add a clause to the contract that provides that the seller guarantees that all appliances and equipment will be in good working order on settlement and grants you the right to check their operation before settlement to ensure that this is the case. 

And whilst you are at it, make sure you get your inspector to check that all taps and plumbing are operational and in particular the shower and the bath are working.

It is very easy to cover up a bathroom with a serious water leaking problem by simply re-grouting all of the tiles, changing say any water damaged carpet leading into the bathroom from the entrance hall, then repainting any affected areas.

Once you have done that, all you need do is turn the taps off and not use the shower for a few months and everything appears to be ship shape.

Make sure that your building inspector runs a simple test by turning on the bath and shower taps.

For more property tips visit the blog section of the Naked Edge Real Estate website.