Inspecting properties

Interior and wet areas

A room-by-room sequence — living areas, kitchen, bedrooms, wet areas and services — and the limits of a visual check in each.

Layout against your actual brief

Check room dimensions and layout against your buying brief's space requirements rather than a general impression — a property can feel spacious in photos and still not fit the furniture or use pattern your household actually needs. Check natural light, ventilation, storage and power-outlet placement, none of which usually appear in listing photos.

Signs of recent work

Fresh paint in one isolated area, new flooring that doesn't match the rest of the property, or a section of ceiling that looks different from the rest can indicate recent repair work — not necessarily a problem, but worth asking about specifically, and worth checking against the Section 32 and council records for whether a permit was obtained if the work was structural or significant.

Kitchen

Open and close cupboards and drawers to check they operate properly and check under the sink for staining, dampness or a musty smell. Turn on the stove and rangehood if it's safe and permitted, note bench and storage space against your actual cooking habits, and check that the layout genuinely works — not just that it photographs well.

Bedrooms and living areas

Check wardrobe and storage capacity against what you actually own, natural light and window placement, and noise transfer from adjoining rooms or, in an attached property, from next door. Stand in each room at different times of day if you can — morning light and evening light change how a room actually feels to live in.

Wet areas — the limits of a visual check

In bathrooms, laundries and kitchens, check sealant condition around showers and baths, grout condition on tiled surfaces separately — grout and silicone are different materials and fail differently, so one looking fine doesn't mean the other is — ventilation (an exhaust fan, or a window), any odour, staining on cabinetry below sinks, and water pressure at taps. Flush each toilet to check it operates properly and the cistern doesn't keep running afterwards. A visual check cannot detect a leak behind tiling or under flooring — that requires either invasive testing or reading a professional building inspection report, which typically also cannot detect concealed leaks without specific moisture-testing equipment.

Services and accessible roof or subfloor areas

Note the switchboard type (a modern circuit-breaker board versus older fuses can be a genuine renovation cost signal), heating and cooling systems and their apparent age, hot water system type, and the number and placement of power outlets relative to how you'd actually use each room. If a roof-space hatch or subfloor access point is safely reachable and you're invited to look, note insulation, visible wiring and any obvious moisture — but never enter an unsafe, restricted or genuinely inaccessible area yourself; that's exactly the kind of access a professional inspector is equipped and insured for.

Practical checklist

Interior and wet-area checklist

• Measure key rooms against your buying brief's space requirements
• Check natural light, ventilation, storage and power-outlet placement in each room
• Open kitchen cupboards and drawers, and check under the sink
• Look for isolated fresh paint, mismatched flooring or ceiling patching
• In wet areas, check sealant condition, ventilation, odour and cabinetry
• Note the switchboard type, and the apparent age of heating/cooling and hot water systems
• Ask about any recent work, and check whether a permit applied

Questions for a professional

• Was any renovation or repair work carried out, and was a building permit obtained if required?
• Given the switchboard and system ages you've seen, would you flag anything for a specialist to check?

Official resources

• Consumer Affairs Victoria: Inspect properties before you buy