Horror stories when building Commercial properties
Building or renovating a property for your business can be a very exciting and rewarding experience.
There can be many perks of building the site where your commercial business will reside, such as saving in monthly rent, not having to depend on landlord communication to fix maintenance issues and being able to design the building to suit your exact needs. On the other hand, being the owner of the building also means you are liable for all works completed, including its effects on surrounding neighbours.
When building a commercial property, many owners have had the unfortunate luck of ‘building horror stories’. These horror stories include receiving letters from surrounding neighbours with complaints of works interfering with their own properties. These letters can be a costly surprise that as an owner, you would understandably never want to receive.
When you are carrying out construction or building work near other properties, there is always a chance that issues might arise, such as cracking, leaking or deterioration in the adjoining properties. If these issues are left unresolved or simply never checked, the situations can quickly turn into tiring disputes, often being directed to situations such as VCAT.
What can you do?
To protect yourself against possible disputes or claims from your neighbours and to avoid any escalating horror stories, you should consider an Existing Conditions inspection – also known as a Dilapidation Report. In this building inspection, the condition of each of the adjoining properties is documented before you begin the building works. This can act as a reference in case neighbouring properties attempt to demand compensation for defects that you haven’t caused, acting as a great peace of mind tool for the owner.
