PropertySafe is an Australian owned, national property inspection service. We specialise in safety inspections on residential, owner-occupied, and rented (self-managed) properties across Australia and New Zealand. Our team assesses properties on behalf of their owners, landlords, tenants and property managers to provide recommendations that maximise the safety of occupants.
PropertySafe is proud to bring you an inspection and reporting system, specifically designed to address the risks and issues associated with personal injury in and around homes. Based on our extensive research into the most common areas of personal risk and subsequent litigation within residential properties, we have identified 16 risk areas and inspect in excess of 120 individual risks that exist.
The report highlights any safety issues identified and if applicable in your state, any non-compliance resulting from a gas and/or electricity safety check. Any major or non-compliance issues would be of most concern and require immediate rectification.
Non-compliance or serious safety issues should be rectified as soon as possible so that the property meets the Residential Tenancy Act and the safety of the premises is assured. Other issues would be at the home owner’s discretion as to what, if any, rectifications are made and to what degree. Every issue eliminated or modified removes or lowers the risk of harm to the property occupants and guests. Often many rectifications can be completed at a minimal cost.
A PropertySafe Investor report detects safety risks and helps to provide the end-to-end services that remove them. This ensures your property is safe for your tenants. The report is first and foremost about alerting home owners to safety risks and providing options to mitigate those risks.
Each report identifies all recommended actions that should be undertaken to ensure a property is safe for the occupants. It includes specific property details, an executive summary with photos, and action lists.
The Victorian PropertySafe Safer Home Evaluation helps rental providers to meet their compliance needs by offering an all in one minimum standard, electrical and gas safety checks.
The New South Wales Fit for Habitation will report on the legislated seven minimum standards as well as any additional high risk safety observations.
PropertySafe Investor contains a checklist of more than 80 safety issues that include the condition of smoke alarms, as well as general health and safety concerns like slips, trips and falls, step, stair and deck safety; electrical and glass risks; and checks for the presence of moisture and pests that could cause health problems. Full scope here
PropertySafe Investor does cover basic child and elderly safety aspects, however it is primarily a general health and safety report. If your investment property hosts children, whether living in or visiting the property, we strongly recommend PropertySafe Kids. For homes where elderly people live or visit, we recommend PropertySafe Elderly. To protect a mix of residents and visitors, we advise you invest in our most popular report PropertySafe Family.
PropertySafe Safer Home Evaluation is a specialised report for VIC rentals. Full scope here
NSW Safer Home Evaluation is a specialised report for NSW investment properties. Full scope here
Each state has its own specific requirements through the respective Residential Tenancy Acts and PropertySafe can offer additional compliance components if required. You or your managing agent have a responsibility to ensure these obligations are met within the scope and authority of their managing agreement with you, however ultimately the responsibility rests with you.
The Courts have also established that as a landlord you have duty of care for your tenants and as such if a tenant or entrant was injured at the property you are likely to be exposed to a legal claim, especially if there was a defect which was either known or should have been known. Unfortunately the identification of defects may not be straightforward but as the Landlord you are expected to have taken whatever action is reasonable to ensure that the property is safe for your tenants. Even the most professional managing agents are not qualified or equipped to recognise all safety issues in your property. The PropertySafe Risk Management and Inspection System will ensure you are informed and your Property Manager has the tools at hand to protect your interests.
Yes, we do offer discounts for multiple reports as detailed below:
2 or more properties – 10% discount
Each residence requires an individually completed and insured report. If you order 2 or more residences within the same region or building e.g. both sides of a duplex, 4 units in a building or 3 homes in the same or neighbouring suburbs, a 10% discount is offered per report.
Granny Flat / Separate buildings on the same property – 50% discount
Each residence requires an individually completed and insured report. If you order for both the main house and associated granny flat or a separate building a 50% discount is offered for just the additional flat/building. It is imperative that access is supplied to both dwellings for the same day and time, otherwise the full fee will be charged.
NB: Please contact us immediately after the order has been made to receive this discount. If this contact is not made before the completion of the reports no discount will be applied inspections@propertysafe.com.au or 1300 350 000
Every PropertySafe inspector is specifically trained to undertake these essential inspections.
Fully licensed electricians conduct the electrical safety checks, and licensed gasfitter/plumbers carry out the gas safety check for VIC Safer Home Evaluation inspections who order the optional compliance reports.
Fundamentally yes, especially if you are located in a state where you need to ensure your property meets compliance as outlined in its specific legislation.
However, the key question is not when someone is injured will I be held liable, it is how to reduce the likelihood of someone being injured in the first place. The vast majority of injuries around the home are preventable, so it is essential to be proactive not reactive!
To address the insurance question specifically, it is important to know what the PDS (Product Disclosure Statement) says for your particular policy because a significant number of the available policies have very specific exemption pertaining to personal injury. For example, the current PDS of a prominent insurance company states: “We do not cover loss, damage or legal liability caused by a defect, structural fault or design fault that you knew about (or should reasonably have known about) and did not fix before the loss, damage or legal liability occurred.”
The correct answer to this question: Do not take the chance… reduce your risk with a PropertySafe Report.
Inspection scope for a unit / apartment includes the interior of the unit and associated balconies, the main public entry door and foyer, the immediately adjacent external area (within 2 metres) of the main public entry door, walkways to and from the unit door between the main public entry, stairwell and elevator (if present), the main stairwell up to 3 levels (when no elevator present) and the parking space or garage associated with the unit if accessible. When an elevator is used, we inspect and report on the interior of the elevator. Inspection specifically excludes all stairwells (when an elevator is present) and all remaining common internal or external areas, grounds, steps, stairs, balconies, walkways, structures and buildings. Any obvious safety risks noticed at any time during our movement to and from the building will be noted in “Inspector Observations”.
Our inspection scope explained above may include areas or sections that are managed by a Strata and/or the Body Corporate entity. In these instances any safety issue discovered during the inspection in those areas can be referred to those services via your Property Manager. In most instances the interior of the residence is the responsibility of the owner. To obtain a detailed understanding of what sections, areas and locations are the responsibility of the strata/body corporate service please refer to your strata/body corporate contract or property manager.
No and yes… let’s explain
PropertySafe Investor – no. The standard PropertySafe report is not a pre-purchase, compliance or building certification report. The premise for the report is first and foremost regarding safety by alerting home owners to safety risks and providing options to mitigate those risks.
The Safer Home Evaluation offered to VIC rental providers – partially, yes. The optional gas and/or electrical safety checks are compliant components and the other checks for the minimum standard requirements.
Please Note: Acting on ‘Major’ imminently life threatening issues discovered is strongly recommended, and as per The Inspectors Code of Conduct will be conveyed to the home occupants if present and/or property manager as soon as practicable after the inspection.
No, a property condition report or routine inspection, is not designed to be a Risk Management Inspection. There certainly are some minor aspects of it that do address safety but it does not deal with any substantial safety aspects. Property Managers are not building inspectors and as such, they simply do not have the building and safety expertise required to identify the myriad of potential safety hazards.
No, pre-purchase building reports are completed to advise you of the structural integrity of the building at the time of inspection. Often they will partially cover some safety issues, however the inspectors are not trained safety experts and, as such, do not seek to identify safety issues. A safety report is designed to ensure the home environment is safe to live in, and takes into account current recommendations from Coroners and Courts to help you mitigate your risk.
From time to time, repairs, maintenance and possibly improvements are undertaken on a property. Any certification, documentation and insurance cover for work done will only apply to a specific job done by a specific trade. A trade installer/repairer will not consider the whole of the property for safety hazards outside their scope after they have completed a job. It’s highly unlikely a trade repairer could even examine a property for safety hazards not in their specific trade because they:
- don’t get paid to perform the additional work nor accept the additional professional risk;
- will not have the training, certification or equipment required;
- will not have the Public Liability insurance to operate outside their own trade qualification; and
- will not have any Professional Indemnity insurance needed to assess safety and provide a safety report.
PropertySafe inspectors are trained, certified, equipped and insured to assess the safety of residential properties.
The time taken on the property will vary depending upon the size of the property, number and seriousness of hazards identified and if gas and electrical safety checks have been added. The inspector/s is usually on-site for between 45 minutes and 2 hours.
No. The Courts have established that as a landlord you have duty of care for your tenants and as such, if a tenant or entrant was injured at the property you are likely to be exposed to a legal claim, especially if there was a defect which was either known or should have been known. Ignorance is not an excuse and non-action is a form of negligence.
It is similar to renting a car, if there was an accident due to the poor maintenance of the vehicle, the Rental Company could not argue that they did not know about the defect especially if they elected not to have a mechanic check the car.
The current recommendation regarding the frequency of a PropertySafe residential safety inspection is every two years. Properties that are deemed to be above average with a low level of issues may be extended to 2-3 years whereas properties in poor condition with a significant number of issues should be checked every year.
For rental properties in VIC, gas and electrical safety checks are required, in order to comply with legislation, every two years.
It would be reasonable to assume that newer homes would have less safety risks associated with them. This is considering that they should have been constructed compliantly but there is often a lack of correlation between what the building standards require and “best practice” in terms of safety, especially when it comes to the most common type of injuries being trip, slip and fall injuries.
Many property owners find that a PropertySafe inspection carried out before the property is 5 years old will provide them a useful list of issues that their builder needs to address before the new building warranty period expires.
You can view our COVID Safe Work Practice here.
Recommended actions will be noted in the report and available through a web link to a portal where you can review your report and will be able to action individual items directly.
After you order the report, it will be allocated to an inspector in your area to arrange for it to be carried out. The Inspector will in turn contact the tenant/renter to arrange access in line with the State based legislation. Depending upon the access availability the inspector will lock in a scheduled date with our systems keeping you informed as to progress. Generally, it may take up to a couple of weeks to lock down a mutually agreeable date. In most cases, the inspection will be completed within 1-2 weeks after the inspector has made contact and agreed a suitable time and date with the tenant.
As soon as the inspector completes the on-site inspection and reviews the report it is then produced and sent to you via email. In most instances this will be within 48 hours of the inspection being completed.