Site Visit & Society Inspection Checklist (Word)

Print this and carry it. A buyer walking a flat with a checklist inspects; a buyer without one admires, and then remembers three questions on the drive home.

It covers the flat itself, then the building, then the money — maintenance, sinking fund, pending assessments — and finally the things that can only be learned by standing there at the right time of day.

For an agent, doing this walk yourself before you show the property is what lets you answer instead of saying you will check. It is also how you avoid selling someone into a building you would not live in.

What is in the file

• The flat: room by room, taps, sockets, seepage, storage, light at the actual time of day
• The building: water hours and source, power backup, lifts, stilt and basement, common areas
• The money: maintenance, sinking fund, pending special assessments, dues on the specific flat
• Governance: committee, registration, litigation, redevelopment status
• The resident conversation — the one question that gets an honest answer
• Space for photographs to take and questions still open

Go twice, at different times

Noise, parking, water pressure and mobile signal at 8pm on a weekday are different from 11am on a Sunday. Some of what matters most about a building simply cannot be inspected in daylight on a weekend.

Talk to a resident, not the secretary

Ten minutes in the lift or at the gate produces more honest information than any document. Ask: "If you were buying here again, would you?" and then wait.

Photograph anything that is not right

With the seller or their representative present, before anyone leaves. A problem documented on the visit is a negotiating point. The same problem discovered later is an argument.

Questions

This is a working template, not legal, tax or financial advice. Requirements differ by state and by transaction — have a lawyer and a chartered accountant confirm anything that matters before you or a client rely on it.