Tasmania housing: Calls for mandatory disclosure of building defects as homeowner describes nightmare purchase

When single mum Denise purchased her Lindisfarne home, what should have been one of the most exciting times in her life quickly became a nightmare. Now she has a warning for other buyers >>

Denise (surname withheld) and Labor consumer affairs spokeswoman Jen Butler. Picture: Supplied

When single mum, Denise, purchased her Lindisfarne home, what should have been one of the most exciting times in her life quickly became a nightmare.

Denise, who asked that her surname be withheld, said she settled on the property in June last year and soon learned that there were a range of issues with the place.

“Eight weeks after moving in, Hobart had quite a heavy downpour and my son came up from downstairs and said, ‘Mum, my feet are all wet’, and I went down to investigate and two areas of the house at diagonally opposite ends were seeping water at ground level,” she said.

“I called the insurance [company] and a couple of days later the insurance restorer turned up and he looked quite ill. And he said to me, ‘I’ve got a confession to make – I was here only three months ago and the entire downstairs of this property was flooded’.

“That was during May in another heavy downpour but it was while the house was under contract and I was waiting for my finances to go through.”

Denise (surname withheld) and Labor consumer affairs spokeswoman Jen Butler. Picture: Supplied

Denise said she would need to spend about $100,000 to fix her leaky home and is calling on the state government to mandate the disclosure of building defects, faults, and plumbing issues when prospective homeowners are entering negotiations to purchase a property.

Currently, such information can be accessed by obtaining a 337 certificate from one’s local council for a fee – but it is not a requirement.

Labor consumer affairs spokeswoman Jen Butler said Tasmania was the only state that didn’t mandate the disclosure of these details and it needed to be fixed.

“It’s about time that the Tasmanian government listened to the consumer and really made these changes,” she said.

The Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) agreed that the disclosure of 337 certificates should be mandatory.

“There are certainly instances … in the north of the state where people have properties that are ultimately uninhabitable due to landslip issues because they hadn’t secured a 337,” LGAT CEO Dion Lester said.

Madeleine Ogilvie MP. Picture: Linda Higginson

“So the consequences of not doing it and then there being an issue are very significant.”

Government minister Madeleine Ogilvie said there were laws in place to protect consumers when they were purchasing a home but “a key thing is to do your due diligence”.

“From a personal perspective, as a homeowner, I would like to think that the government are always open to making sure we’ve got … the most contemporary laws,” she said.