Posted by
LydiaR
18 yrs ago
I'm planning to buy a property in HK and would like to organise a Building Inspection before signing the Sales and Purchase Agreement.
My agent has told me that this is an unusual request but if I sign and then pull out I loose my deposit plus commission. They don't seem to do the "offer subject to building and finance arrangement" here.
Does anyone know of a professional building inspection service in HK?
Thanks for your replies. Buying a property in Hong Kong seems to involve an element of gambling that one doesnt find in some other countries. One must be prepared to gampble 12% of the purchase price that the building will be OK. And on top of that the agent gets paid whether or not the property actually gets sold.
2006
18 yrs ago
It's hard to strike a happy medium, isn't it. The UK property market is a nightmare at the opposite extreme... people can outbid ("gazump") you after the price has been "agreed"; and prospective purchasers may lower their bid after you have "agreed" a price if a survey reveals a rusty doorknob or scratched paint on a bedroom wall. This UK system of mandatory surveys is manifestly a nonsense to benefit surveyors and the mortgagee banks who charge you a "survey fee" (way above what they actually pay the surveyors). Of course, if you're buying a five hundred year old wooden house you would want to get it surveyed. But a modern concrete high rise in HK? You know already that the windows won't be square in HK; that the walls were plastered with a scrubbing brush rather than a board; that the cooker hood from a second-tier developer will vent into the suspended ceiling rather than outside; and that water will drip from the neighbour's bathroom above. You don't need a surveyor to tell you that.
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