Dilapidation reports: our guinea pig’s exposé.

Many of you have questions about Dilapidation Reports for homes affected by the campus redevelopment project. Questions such as ‘why are they doing to this us?’, ‘who are these people?’, and ‘why are they such schmucks?’.

We can’t answer those questions, but we can tell you a little about what to expect from the dilapidation inspections themselves.

One of our number has kindly written in with this first hand account.

I have the dubious honour of being the first householder to have had an inspection for the preparation of a dilapidation report.

As the guinea pig, I had three structural engineers from Enstruct, the company contracted to prepare the reports, arrive on Monday morning. They advised me that the remaining reports on the 39 other houses will be done by only one engineer attending each property.

The process is pretty simple. The engineer walked through each room in my (very small) house, as well as the outside verandah and courtyard. He noted any pre-existing damage, such as cracks, damage to plaster etc. The engineer also completed a small diagram of the house and then took numerous pictures showing the condition of each of the rooms/ceilings etc. The engineer noted on the diagram where each photograph was taken.

The whole process took about two hours, although they assured me that the process would speed up once they had conducted a few inspections.

A copy of the report will be provided to the property owner and also to Council.

I have previously had experience with this type of report, as my former apartment was in the area affected by the construction of the Cross City Tunnel.

In that case, I was given a copy of the report prepared and was able to refer to it when my apartment developed cracks after the drilling commenced. It made my claim for compensation far easier, as we all had a record of the condition prior to the commencement of work.

That report, and the attached photographs, provided the evidence which ensured my claim was successful.