We have posted about this topic before but this issue comes up every week and yourself as a potential buyer must know about it!

Basically, the ceiling board does not form part of the structure and therefore would not be covered by the standard REIWA contract that you may have already signed when purchasing a property!

As per the standard REIWA contract the seller of a property would only be required to repair any major structural defects on the main dwelling which is the roof frame, walls and floor/foundations of the main house on the property! Now if you only skim over that sentence, it is easy to assume that you are well covered, however once you have a good understanding of what it actually means you will know how exposed you really are!

This standard contract would not cover major defects on the floor covering (extensive popped tiles, etc), roof covering (deteriorated clay tiles, etc) or a sagging ceiling board. These are potential defects that an ill-informed buyer may not think of when signing the contract!

In the case of ceiling sag, if a ceiling board is significantly sagging, has large cracks or for any other reason classifies as a major defect, then we would list this as such in our inspection report. However, this is not a structural defect. As mentioned above, the ceiling board does not form part of the structure!

Unfortunately we have seen too many buyers get caught out with this exact issue and only wish that we could have spoken with them before signing the contract, although we recommend you seek legal advice from a lawyer before signing anything! It is a shame to see a buyer caught out like this as they simply were not fully aware of what they were signing and there is nothing we can do to help.

Below are some photos of ceiling sag we have come across in recent times. If you have any more questions or would like some help don’t hesitate to Call Us and have a read through our other blog posts!