COC for property sales

**murdock** · 16-Jun-11, 06:21 PM

here is another question...if you are instructed to issue a COC for a property for sale and you do the inspection report but have a 5 page fault list.

now the tricky part of the question...the seller tells you that the buyer will be knocking down 80 % of the building...which is 99% of your faults list...what do you do?

the lawyer requests you issue the COC regards because the building will be knocked down...the seller doesnt want to pay for the repairs.

my suggestion is cut and strip all the circuits out the DB and issue the COC for the DB and main switch only and exclude the rest of the building...the problem with this is that the purchaser moves in and ask what happened to all the plugs and lights that were working when he looked at the building...who would be liable for all the repairs you or the seller...

maybe some of our bright lawyers could answer this question.

**bergie** · 16-Jun-11, 09:27 PM

if you are instructed to disconnect and strip circuits out,its not your problem what they do with the house afterwards. they dont even have to tell you that they are selling the house.

**AndyD** · 16-Jun-11, 09:47 PM

This is the kind of rubbish I hear at least two or three times a year from people who are confronted with a list of faults. It's not your concern what their plans are for the property whatsoever. If the wrecking ball is already swinging from a crane in the front garden the failure list would still look exactly the same.

If they want to remove sections of the installation that would be fine as long as we got the request from the legal owner of the property in writing. If removing those sections then makes the installation compliant they would then get a COC for a nominal retest fee.

**murdock** · 27-Jun-11, 10:18 PM

thats what i also thought or should i say read but apprently as you can...if you read in the link i posted within 2 lines they contradict the statement...so yes you can sell a property without a COC before you put the property on the market...so dont let anyone try con you otherwise..."so long as you and the buyer have it writting"

thats why the clause that you have to have a coc before you market the property is absolute rubbish...i wish the powers that be get their sh!t in order before they make rules.

joke of the month...

i have just completed a project working on a site...with yes...wait for it...safety officers...only skilled enough to check if you are wearing safety boots and a hard hat...whooooopeeee do...clearly there is not a huge safety issue on construction sites...the fact that there are people not suitably skilled to carry out the duties they are performing...which creates an extremely dangerous enviroment for others on the site or the people who will occupy the building in the future is not as important...mmmm...looking at the positive side at least they are creating employment

its like the ad for fire equipment...only 90% + fires are caused by electrical faults in south africa...pheewwww thank goodness we dont need to improve our electrical installations...because at least 10 % are safe from a fire.

**Dave A** · 17-Jun-11, 05:30 AM

In this situation we are prepared to issue a COC for a builder's supply, only after we've obtained written confirmation from the purchaser that this is all he/she requires.

**murdock** · 17-Jun-11, 09:38 AM

anyone know of any section of the oshact which provides for this type of situation?

**Sparks** · 20-Jun-11, 07:52 AM

The seller was my client. On their instuction I removed unnecessary circuitry and issued a COC after minimal maintenance repairs. Never heard about it again. The buyer demolished the outbuildings & filled the pool.

**murdock** · 20-Jun-11, 08:04 PM

i havent read the calause but aparently there is a clause in the oshact which alows a property to be sold and the owner takes on the responsibilty and has 90 days in which to sort out the COC...this could get interesting

**Sparks** · 21-Jun-11, 03:46 PM

Yes, if the buyer undertakes in writing to do so the onus will shift to him.

**murdock** · 28-Jun-11, 07:22 AM

well you know how i feel about a buyer trusting the seller to do the coc...

looking at it from a different angle...surely any person with a little brains and staff in a building or a better example their famliy at home would want to create a safe enviroment...considering 90% of fires are caused by electrical faults (according to an ad running on east coast radio)

you would think that any man would take the responsibilty and make sure his family is safe...he would spend R100 000 putting up security fencing burglar gaurds to lock his family into the house in the case of a fire...maybe make sur ehis house is as safe as can be...then i ask myself this question...why is it that it seems like whenever a coc is done at the time of sale there are always so many repairs required....

if you maintain the electrical installtion like you service your car...when the house is sold there should be no need for a huge repair bill...every 15000 you service your car...at least every 2 year you should have your house checked and there should only be minor repairs and have them fixed...and make sure you use a legit electrical contractor...word of mouth seems to work for everything else why cant it work for your electrical contractor.

what i find is the people let the electrical installation get so bad that it is already tooo late when they start doing maintanance....some of my customers are in this position...so what we do is make a list and sort out the big problems first then tackle the other issues over a period of time...eventually its like paying off a big debt it goes away if you just keep at it...you stop you go backwards...the penalties and charges get out of hand...much like your electircal installation.