The NSW rules that set your clock
Five business days, unless it's an auction
A private sale in NSW has a 5 business day cooling-off period after exchange, ending at 5pm on the fifth business day. There's no cooling-off when you buy at auction, or when you exchange on auction day after the property is passed in.
Withdrawing means a forfeit
A buyer who withdraws during the cooling-off period forfeits 0.25% of the purchase price, so it pays to have the reports early in that window.
Book a few days ahead
NSW Government advice says most consultants need at least 2 to 3 days' notice for a building inspection. Booking the pest inspection at the same time keeps both inside your deadline.
The seller's report isn't yours
A seller's pre-sale report can help, the NSW Government says, but it's no substitute for your own independent report.
Two inspections, two professions
A building inspection and a pest inspection answer different questions. NSW Government advice is to use a suitably qualified person, such as a licensed builder, surveyor or architect, for the building report, and it says that report won't show whether termites and other timber pests are still around. So get a pest inspection as well, especially where termites are a known problem.
In NSW, a timber pest inspection that uses no pesticide doesn't need an EPA licence, so ask about the inspector's training and their professional indemnity insurance, which NSW advice suggests checking.
A timeline that works
As soon as you're serious
Book the building and pest inspections together, before auction day or before you exchange on a private sale.
On inspection day
Go along if you can, and ask the inspector to show you anything they flag, from damaged timber to mud tubes.
When the report lands
Read the list of areas the inspector couldn't reach, such as a blocked subfloor or a roof space without access.
Before your deadline
Talk through anything serious with your conveyancer or solicitor while you can still act on it.
Ask the inspector
- Can you inspect before the auction, or within my cooling-off period?
- Will you get into the roof space and subfloor, and will the report list what you couldn't reach?
- Does the report cover borers and timber decay as well as termites?
- What professional indemnity insurance do you hold?
- Can I ring you to go through the report once I've read it?
Where we'd start with pre-purchase pest inspections in Sydney
We'd book the pest inspection for the same day as the building inspection, well before the auction or early in the cooling-off period. Tap Buying a home with the suburb and your deadline.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
