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How a home inspection protects your peace of mind
A home inspection (bedek bayit) carried out before buying an apartment can be the difference between a life full of tension, anger and expense, and one that is calm, secure and at peace. When you are about to move and want to be sure you are not buying blind, a home inspection is the answer: it tells you whether the apartment is free of construction defects and whether it will hold up in an earthquake under TAMA 38, the current standard for protecting homes against earthquakes.
A TAMA 38 review by a lawyer, combined with an apartment inspection by a home inspection engineer, gets you a safer purchase and real peace of mind.
What a home inspection sets out to find
A home inspection aims to find construction defects in a building, apartment or business, and it matters most when you are moving into a new apartment or buying a new property. For a young couple facing this major financial and personal step, it is one way to protect their future and avoid pouring money into a property that turns out to have defects or fails to meet TAMA 38 standards.
A thorough inspection produces a full assessment: the scope of repairs needed, where the faults come from, a cost estimate for the work, and an honest picture of the property's condition before you commit to buying it. It locates every kind of defect, from leaks, dampness, waterproofing and plaster problems, crooked foundations, negligent construction and unsuitable or expired materials, to cracks in walls and issues in the electrical, plumbing, aluminum and sewage systems, as well as purely aesthetic defects that can still lower the property's value.
The defects it turns up range from life-threatening ones that need urgent repair to minor ones that are not urgent at all.
Once the couple has the report and understands the scope and severity of the defects, they can gauge how much renovation is needed and use that knowledge to negotiate with the contractor or seller for a discount, compensation, or an agreement on who is responsible for the repairs, and in serious cases even to cancel the deal altogether.
If the dispute between buyer and seller escalates into a lawsuit, the report stands as a clear, legally binding document on the buyer's side.
Who is qualified to carry out a home inspection?
Make no mistake: not everyone can carry out a home inspection. It takes specific training and expertise, so use only an engineer who specializes in building inspection, whose skill, knowledge, equipment and experience make for a fast, accurate diagnosis of a building's construction defects.
Such an engineer has no trouble spotting old and new defects, hidden or visible, and can even catch attempts to cover them up. With that kind of inspection, anyone buying an apartment gets objective, reliable information about its condition and can take this major step with their eyes open, with peace of mind, and start their new life on the right foot.
The engineers of Arad Bedek Bayit, led by building engineer Ron Arad, whom courts appoint as their own expert on construction defects. The company has been inspecting apartments and buildings since 2001. Engineer Ron Arad · More about the company