david ingram replies:My question is: Canadian-specific QUESTION: Hi I just had a home inspection done on a 43 year old house and they indicated to me the to replace the drain tile, to prevent the water from coming into the crawl space. The owners indicated they just had a drainage company come in and pour concrete in the crawlspace and cleaned it out? Is this enough or does more have to be completed? Does cement take a long time to dry in a crawl space under the house. -------------------------------------------------
This is still a major problem out there. Last night I did a return for a Boston owner of a Vancouver Leaky Condo. Their special assessments in the last three years have been over $52,000 - The building was nine years old when they bought it and there were numerous referenced to leaks in the Strata Council Meetings. However, the Realtor representing them did not mention the fact at all and was acting as a dual agent.
My recommendation is that if you are a buyer, you NEVER sign a dual agency agreement with your Realtor. Have your own buyer's broker when you buy. Make absolutely sure that you have charged your Realtor with the responsibility of protecting "YOUR" interests and informing you of everything that may be wrong. If the Realtor has NOT read the minutes of the strata council in the building that he or she is trying to sell you a unit, find another Realtor.
Incidentally, there is NOTHING wrong with buying a leaky unit as long as you know it and have taken that fact into account with your purchase offer.
My apologies to those conscientious Realtors who have performed well and honourably through this crisis but for every Carmen Maretic, or Ross McDonald or John Mckilligan or Christine Louw who does disclose everything for their buyers, there are a dozen who just seem to keep their mouths shut and let the buyer beware.
And one other point. I understand most building inspectors who inspect a condominium will NOT give an opinion on the building itself. For one thing, they are not qualified. If you need a building inspection, get hold of Dr Death (as the Realtors call him). Ed Witzke was the first person to expose leaky condos in Vancouver. We did it together on January 27, 19"8"7 on CKO Radio when we did a 90 minute story on it. Ed is a graduate architect from UBC but does not act as an architect. Ed did NOT blame builders particularly. He blamed the architects for designing buildings and not inspecting them as they are built.
I would point out that more than 70% of the leaky condos today were designed and built AFTER our broadcast and for the next 5 years
E was a voice in the wind until the David Barrett Commission pointed out the problems. Now what did the BC Architectural Institute do after our Broadcast. Instead of going to ED and asking "what do we do ED?", I understand that the institute fined him $10,000 for conduct unbecoming an architect. Remember, it wasn't the building code itself. If so, 100% of the buildings built would have leaked. No it was the design and the use of improper materials. It wasn't stucco by itself, it was the application of stucco without proper flashing. It was using water logged hemlock in sealed walls where it could dry-rot without any new moisture, it was installing j-tubes backwards and a dozen other things.
Was Ed's work recognized? YES!!! He was hired by the CMHC to produce a video on how to buy a condominium which you can buy from the CMHC.
A Condo Buyer's Guide - Video
Available from C.M.H.C. Call 604-731-5733
A private home inspector shows you what to look for and how to evaluate
a condominium for potential moisture problems before you buy. Produced
by Double M. Productions and sponsored by CMHC, the BC Federation of
Labour, the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs and the Real Estate
Institute of BC.
He also authored a best selling book on the same subject. You can buy the book at Amazon or Abe Books for about $30.00 at
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=ed+witzke&y=7&x=48
And if you are thinking of buying any building, there is a wealth of free information, articles and tips at his site at
http://www.witcobuildinginspection.com/
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