Property Inspection Report

A property inspection report is a documented assessment of a property's condition at a defined moment — at tenancy move-in and move-out, before a secondary-market purchase, or at developer handover (where it overlaps with snagging). For tenancies, the move-in inspection report, signed by both parties with dated photographs, is the single most effective protection for a tenant's security deposit: deposit disputes at the Rental Disputes Centre frequently turn on whether damage existed before occupancy, and the side with contemporaneous documentation usually wins. For buyers of completed resale properties, a pre-purchase inspection by a building inspection firm surfaces issues — AC plant condition, waterproofing, structural movement, unauthorised alterations — that the seller has no general duty to volunteer and that are expensive to discover after transfer. Reports should be specific (room by room, with metered readings recorded), signed or at least transmitted in writing to the other party, and stored with the contract documents.