Ask Margaret: do I need annual pest inspections on my investment properties?

Hi Margaret,

I have a number of properties in my portfolio and I know that you do too.  Can I ask – do you have yearly pest inspections done on each property?  My agent says I need to do this, but this is quite costly and usually it doesn’t turn up anything.  Are they required, or is the property manager on a commission with the pest inspection companies?

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Mostly we need to be able to trust our property managers to advise us on what we need to do with our properties, and when, but you don’t have to take all of their suggestions on board and carry them out.  In the end you are the owner and common sense should always prevail.  Whether you get yearly inspections done, or not, is up to you and will depend upon many things including the age of the property and its history of pest activity.

My suggestions are:

• Ensure that, before buying, you get a pest inspection done.  Your legal person or real estate agent should be able to point you to a qualified professional
• Read and be familiar with it – it will outline the risks for the future.  You might even use this as a negotiating tool
• Some properties at higher risk may need regular inspections and I highly recommend yearly in this case
• Others, and depending upon your report, you can probably do every 2 or 3 years, but always read the reports thoroughly.

Some property managers will automatically suggest pest inspections be done yearly, and while I don’t think they are on any commissions for this, they may not always be necessary.  I always tell all of my property managers not to arrange anything without my prior approval, and I treat each property differently, according to its age, the level of risk it has and the findings in that original pest report.

Margaret Lomas is a best-selling author and writes and hosts the popularProperty Success With Margaret Lomas and heads up the panel onYour Money, Your Call, both on Sky News. She is the founder of Destiny.

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