Dunedin's prevailing property market conditions have brought buyers more time to carry out due diligence checks on their prospective homes, a Real Estate Institute New Zealand spokeswoman says.
REINZ Otago spokeswoman Liz Nidd said a combination ofmarket factors meant prospective Dunedin homeowners werecarrying out more extensive due diligence checks on properties.
Home insurance concernsarising from the ongoing Canterbury earthquakes and a lack of market pressure has meant buyers had more opportunity to check properties for building and structural soundness, she said.
Lending agreements often contained financial clauses which necessitated more extensive due diligence and banks often required building, or engineering, inspections, alongside Lim reports, as a condition of finance.
Structural engineer andindependent consultant DaveLittleton, of Waitati, said a few more Christchurch residents wanted seismic assessments of Dunedin properties for sale.
"I wouldn't say it was a marked increase, but I have certainly been busier than in the past with requests for [seismic] assessments," he said.
The Christchurch earthquakes had raised awareness about the potential structural issues facing property owners, while insurance companies had also increased their risk profiles.
Structural assessments onresidential properties "differed for each one", while commercial properties had higher standards to meet, Mr Littleton said.
Dunedin building consultant Michael Reece said prospective house buyers, "certainly from Christchurch and increasingly in general", were asking for inspections to assess the stability of brick chimneys.
Dunedin City Council chief building control officer Neil Mcleod said no provision in the New Zealand Building Act specifically applied to domestic dwellings, although any new building had to comply with standard building codes.
Owners of commercial buildings around Dunedin would have to carry out assessments and register these with the DCC before June 2014, he said.
Ms Nidd said there was no trend indicating any surge in structural engineering reports being commissioned on Dunedin properties, to assess earthquake or seismic risks.
