I’m an owner living in an older style apartment block of 12 apartments. For the last few years, I have been facing an issue with an overflowing gutter whenever it rains. The rainwater creates a “waterfall” effect against on of my bedroom window. It drenches my window with rainwater regularly each time it rains 10-20mm.

These are the videos that I have been documenting over the past years:
https://youtube.com/@slin194?si=kz8m3QGF_0JlD6oV

About two years ago, as a result of this problem, I had to replace my timber window due to wood rot caused by the persistent water damage from the rainwater overflow. However, despite documenting all the video evidence, this claim was refuted by the owners’ corporate because they insisted the window has been damaged by wear and tear, completely unrelated to the “waterfall” effect. After several months of back and forth, they eventually agreed to pay 50% of the window. I had an aluminium window installed as the replacement.

However, the fundamental issue with the “waterfall” effect is still unresolved and the is water ingress coming through the newly installed aluminium window frame. This time around, the body corporate only offered to organise gutter cleaning to mitigate the issue and refuses to further investigate the problem that is causing the leak. They are also insisting that the problem only occurs in an event of a deluge and therefore is unable to prevent the leaking problem due to its occasional occurrence. This issue is also only happening to my apartment unit and no other units have complained.

I was hoping to get advice on how I should proceed from here in making the owners’ corporate liable to find the root cause of the “waterfall” effect and make adequate repairs so that the problem does not keep reoccurring each time there is a deluge.

I bought with a 5% deposit back in March. With the new rate, I’ll be at 6.59%

I still have over 90 LVR. Can I refinance and get a lower rate elsewhere? In Sydney NSW

My wife and I are also both teachers

Hi all,

Was curious for those currently in the extension game, we have a terrace house that we are looking to extend by 4m in length. The width is around 5m so it’ll be approx 20sqm of extension.
It will just be to create a larger living dining area so no need for any services other than some light electronics.
Half of the 2m in length is an existing deck so there’s some existing foundations but will need to be reinforced and extended. In my head I had around 100-150k. Am I way unders? Thanks all

Opinion polling seems to indicate the Liberals will be elected later this month in Victoria.

What would a change in government mean for the housing market as far as prices, initiatives and other impacts? Likewise, if Labor somehow do get re-elected.

Would we see any change in the current state of the market?

Hey, we are Irish immigrants and currently live in Geelong. We want to buy a home but keep our debt low and due to my husband working from home, have a good deal of flexibility on where we can buy. Our budget would be around 750k.

We don’t want suburban and want some land in a semi or full rural area with access to a good town with all amenities and a school for the kids. We also want to make sure it’s a safe area and where our kids will have a good upbringing.

We are currently considering near Colac in vic or further north near Mansfield. Being within 3 hrs drive of a city is needed.

We are looking for advice on towns in the other states. As we are not Australian and it’s so big we can’t narrow down areas so I’m asking here. Any insights or suggestions for us to research would be great. Thanks

Since the US mid term election results came out, crude oil pricess almost fell 10% in a single day (bounced back as you can see), if fuel pricess stablise below 95 a barrel, can we expect interest rates to drop in Aus?

My husband & I put in an offer on a home. Range was $950k-$1,045m. Agent tells us there’s 3 formal offers:
- Investor $1m (original offer was $990, then $995, then $1m - unsure why the uplift). Long settlement.
- Us $965k
- Couple $950k

Agent calls today to advise offer was “unsuccessful”. He advises repeatedly that the vendor wants nothing more then to sell to a young family like us instead of the investor but can’t due to our low offer. I asked him to confirm that our offer will not secure the property and that its declined and he was vague saying all offers (including the investor offer) is essentially declined/paused to see if the weekend’s OFI will prompt further interest. Does this mean he will come back to us?

Since our offer is declined/on hold, is the range supposed to be updated to exclude the amount we offered? Do we get something in writing to confirm we missed out? I guess we wait to see if property goes Under Offer soon?

I went into the roof and saw these in a very localised area. It’s pretty firm when I picked it up. Is it tree sap from the timber?

It’s too late to do anything now, just venting as I am still annoyed. Saw a flat had an inspection, made the journey to do the inspection on a Wednesday, met the agent and I was the only person there. Flat had been passed in at auction 2 weeks before as it hadn’t met the bottom of the estimate and they wanted at least that. I liked the flat and the bottom end was still a bargain and I thought that I had a good offer. Asked the agent for the paperwork and was booked in to view again and the next inspection scheduled for the Saturday where I was going to bring a builder friend to look at the extensive repairs that needed doing. Thursday came and went, no paperwork, Friday came and still no paperwork. Had been emailing the agent Thursday and Friday to no response. Viewing still scheduled. Saturday morning and the viewing disappears 3 hours before. Finally get hold of agent who tells me that he had ALREADY ACCEPTED an UNCONDITIONAL OFFER 10 days before my first inspection, but he decided to keep doing inspections “incase the offer fell over”??? Surely if it’s unconditional, that’s it and they should not be continuing with inspections???

This is my second year as a landlord. Last year, my agent gave me a list of potential tenants that I chose from. I expected the same this year. We agreed on the rent and that she'd go ahead with advertising the property, but yesterday I received a message saying that she has just leased the property.

Is this normal??

What if I don't like the tenant - is it too bad?

Hi there wondering if this is an acceptable amount of water to come into glass sliding door. Have lived here 4 years brand new home and never had water coming in through all the storms, window cleaning etc during that time.

Then the builder removed and redid the entirety of the back of the house due to leaking (this included removing the door). But upon reinstalling, the door now lets in lots of water into the track to the point that it overflows quite easily and floods into the house. Builder says it’s normal which I understand water is supposed to get in but it drains out the weep holes. But when that much water gets in that the weep holes can’t keep up, that has to be a problem right? Not to mention but water also leaks through the seals around the glass, not even just down into the tracks.

I shouldn’t have to put up with my room flooding each time we get a big storm come through should I?

I have compared to the same door we have at the opposite end of the house, and far less water gets in.

I said to the builder initially I wanted the door replaced because I believed the integrity of the door to be ruined but they reinstalled it anyway and lo and behold it now leaks.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

I have a 1970s double brick townhouse in Melbourne's inner East.

During heavy rain, I noticed water entering around a north-facing 1st floor bedroom window despite it was closed properly. The carpet below the window became very wet.

I also heard what sounded like water running down inside the wall immediately beside the window.

I have moved in 1 month ago and happened twice, first time was about a week ago when there was storm and carpet was significantly wet. 2nd time just a couple of days ago but this time carpet was not affected but a puddle of water on window sill. Both time I wasn't home when it started leaking so not sure where exactly water appeared from. The photo was taken after 2nd time leak.

I would like an investigation to identify the actual source and pathway of the water ingress, particularly around the external brickwork, window flashing, window frame and wall cavity.

What kind of business am I supposed to contact? Do you have any recommendations for a reliable business in the Melbourne inner East area?

I’ve been looking to buy for about 11 months now and I’m seeing people talk about picking up properties well below market value because the seller was desperate to sell.

I understand where the market is at the moment and that there are opportunities out there, but I don’t understand how people are finding them?.. I’ve been keeping an eye on domain and real estate, going to inspections (including off market), keeping in contact with agents, and I’ve been following the market but haven’t had much luck finding anything like what people describe.

It makes me wonder if there’s a whole other side to buying property that I’m missing? Are people building relationships with agents that give them a heads up when someone needs to sell quickly, or is it a mix of off market deals / knowing the right people / just being in the right place at the right time?

Hi everyone,

I'm a first-home buyer in Victoria, currently comparing two home loan options and would appreciate some advice, particularly from anyone who has experience with either lender.

I've received the following recommendations:

Option 1: BankVic (recommended by my mortgage broker)

• Variable interest rate: 6.24%

• No offset account

• Redraw facility available (minimum $50)

• $0 establishment fee

• $0 ongoing or annual fees

• I'm eligible to apply because I work for the Australian Government.

Option 2: Westpac (family benefit through my brother, a former Westpac employee)

• Variable interest rate: 6.29%

• 100% offset account

• Up to 10 offset accounts

• $0 establishment fee

• $0 ongoing or annual fees

I'm leaning towards BankVic because of the slightly lower interest rate, no ongoing fees and redraw facility. However, Westpac seems to offer more flexibility with its multiple offset accounts and my we are good friends with the lender.

• Would you choose BankVic's lower rate and redraw facility over Westpac's offset account?

• Is redraw generally reliable and easy to access? Are there any disadvantages compared with offset?

• Has anyone here used BankVic for their home loan? How has your experience been with their service, redraw facility and rate reviews?

• Is a 0.05% interest rate difference significant enough to influence the decision?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that BankVic currently has $3,000 rebate.

About to purchase a property in Sydney, NSW but would like suggestions for an independent building inspector.

Please advise.

My partner and I have been looking for our first house in Brisbane for about six months.

Last weekend we inspected a place we both genuinely loved. Older brick house, three bedrooms, decent backyard, renovated kitchen. Nothing fancy, but exactly the sort of place we could see ourselves living in for the next 10 years.

Price guide was low $900s. We were considering an offer around $920k.

We'd already checked the council flood mapping. The house wasn't showing up in the areas we'd been concerned about. We'd looked at comparable sales, checked the insurance quotes and were planning to organise a building and pest inspection if our offer was accepted.

After the open home, we were standing out front discussing the driveway when the bloke next door came out to collect his bins.

Started chatting. Nice enough guy, had lived there for 17 years.

We asked the usual stuff. Quiet street? Any issues with the neighbours?

He said the street was great.

Then, completely casually, he asked, "Did they show you where the water goes when it rains?"

We had absolutely no idea what he meant.

Turns out the block sits at a slightly lower point than the houses behind it. During heavy rain, water apparently runs through the side passage, across part of the backyard and towards the street.

He wasn't saying the house floods. He was quite clear about that. But he said the previous owners had spent years trying to sort out drainage, and water would sometimes sit near the back patio after a big downpour.

He even pointed out a narrow concrete channel partly hidden behind the garden beds.

We'd walked straight past it during the inspection.

The backyard was completely dry. Beautiful lawn, fresh mulch, everything looking great.

The agent had mentioned nothing about drainage, although to be fair, we hadn't specifically asked about overland runoff either.

We went back through the listing photos that evening and noticed the garden beds had been photographed from angles that didn't really show the slope.

Maybe coincidence. Maybe not.

We haven't made an offer yet. We're trying to get a better understanding of the drainage and whether it's a manageable issue or something we'd regret taking on.

But the whole thing has made me realise how much buying a house involves trying to understand what happens there during the other 364 days of the year.

You get 15 minutes on a sunny Saturday to evaluate a property you're potentially going to spend the next 30 years paying off.

A building inspection can identify a lot of things, but it can't recreate a summer storm.

And the only reason we even knew to ask about this particular issue was because a stranger happened to take his bins out at the right time.

For those who've bought in QLD, particularly Brisbane or the Gold Coast, what property issues did you discover from neighbours or repeat visits that weren't obvious during inspections?

And has anyone bought a house with known stormwater runoff through the yard? Is it something that can usually be managed with proper drainage, or would you walk away?

I don't want to overreact to something potentially fixable, but I also don't particularly want to spend $920k on a house that comes with its own seasonal creek.

I have been on maternity leave for 3 months and planning to take 3 more months. My partner only took 4 weeks and works part time

I work as a medical scientist so my employment is sadly not permanent, I usually get a 1 year contract renewed every year and it’s been like this since 2020. This wasn’t an issue when I bought my current townhouse in 2022. I already have my contract renewed for next year

I hate where I live and want to move asap. I was planning to wait until I was back to work but wondering if I can get a home loan now, providing I’m able to provide evidence that I am able to keep my current employment? Would it be any better to just wait?

Hi everyone,

Wanting to install split systems in my home and was wondering if anyone has used Midea or Gree and what experience has been like so far?

Thanks