Should you inspect an apartment before handover

New apartments:

Apartments before handover

The contractor usually invites owners of new apartments to an initial protocol, where the resident points out the defects they see and signs off on them. A week or two later, the resident returns for a second, final protocol confirming the defects have indeed been fixed.

• What can go wrong with this process?
  The process itself works for both the contractor and the resident, but only if you approach it the right way. Without a professional home inspection (bedek bayit) carried out to the relevant standards, regulations and execution rules, a contractor may try to use the protocol to avoid liability for anything that was not flagged at the time.
  An ordinary resident, unfamiliar with the standards and unsure of what the contractor is actually required to do, will typically flag only the aesthetic defects, and the contractor may still reject some of those as "not a real defect." The resident can then end up with only a small fraction of the repairs they are actually entitled to under the Sale (Apartments) Law.
• Here are the advantages and disadvantages of an inspection before handover carried out by a professional home inspection engineer:

Advantages for the contractor:

1. It mainly protects the contractor from future claims over construction defects that would be obvious even to an ordinary person, not just a building inspection engineer.
2. The work crews and subcontractors are still on hand and have not yet been paid in full, so they can easily be put back to work.
3. The apartment is empty and free for work.

Advantages for the resident:

1. The apartment is empty, so the resident does not have to take time off work to stay with the crew, and no damage or distress is caused to the family.
2. The resident moves into an already-repaired apartment and can start furnishing it, or making changes, without risking the contractor's liability.
3. Every defect that can be found at this stage is documented in a professional opinion, so the contractor cannot later claim the resident caused it.

Disadvantages for the resident:

1. The drainage system is not yet in use, so its performance can only really be judged after a few weeks of actual use, once blockages and the like would show up. Water pressure is present in the supply system, though, so any leaks will still turn up during the inspection.
2. The power has not yet been connected, so there is no way to know how the system performs over time either, though it is still checked visually, including the electrical panel.

How do you overcome the disadvantages and keep the advantages?
We offer clients a repeat inspection at a 50% discount any time within a year of the original one. It checks that the repairs were actually made, and adds any defects that could not be caught the first time, such as drainage problems, short circuits in the electrical system, and cracks that appear during the first year as the building settles.