28/05/2026
I sat down with the Daily Mail and ran through the 7 things I check before anyone buys a new build.
With negative gearing set to apply only to new builds from July 2027, a lot more buyers are about to be looking at new property. My take hasn’t changed — a new build is a good buy, because you get a warranty and the builder carries liability. But which builder, and which property, is everything.
Buying is investigative work, and the question I’m always asking on a job is simple: is someone trying to hide something?
Here’s the full list:
1. Who built it? — If it’s an owner-builder, be extra careful: they’re their own client, there’s often no company to chase, and that becomes your headache. A registered builder carries real liability.
2. Check their history — Ask the buyer’s agent who the builder is, then look them up yourself on the Building and Plumbing Commission and the court lists. Past disciplinary action tells you whether they come back and fix things — or don’t.
3. Read the paperwork — Building permit, occupancy permit, insurance. Contracts of sale are missing these more often than people realise — sometimes an honest mistake, sometimes not.
4. Get a get-out clause — Make sure the contract defines what a defect actually is, so you can walk away if an inspection turns one up. Skip it and you’re in a dispute later.
5. Run the shower — Send water into the corners and the junctions where a wall meets the floor. A dry, never-used bathroom is a red flag — I once found a leak because there was a spider’s web sitting inside the drain. Get the waterproofing wrong and you’re looking at $30,000 to redo one bathroom.
6. Lift the carpet — Check window and door seals for swelling, and look under carpet edges, especially near balconies and sliding doors, for mould and rusted nails. Water ingress is a major, expensive defect.
7. Torch the benchtop — Bring a torch and shine it on an angle across the stone near the sink and cooktop. Patched-up cracks show right up. You’re spending hundreds of thousands — you shouldn’t be buying a patched bench.
A new home will almost always have something wrong with it. The difference is whether you bought from someone who’ll come back and fix it.
Full piece — including the inspections behind these — is in the Daily Mail. Link in the comments.
General information, not legal advice — get advice for your own situation. This is based on what we see across inspections; it’s not a substitute for having your own property checked.
Sources: Daily Mail feature, 23 May 2026 (link in comments) · Negative gearing change to new builds from 1 July 2027 — Federal Budget 2026–27.
