Almost everyone understands the perennial appeal of buying a heritage home. In fact, these happen to be highly sought-after homes in Melbourne.
Melbourne has homes that represent different eras of the city’s history, from Queen Anne buildings to Georgian Victorian and Federation homes. American influence can be seen in bungalows through Art Nouveau and post-war designs.
Even homes from the 70s are widely considered to have heritage value, especially since many of these homes have been demolished, making way for modern development projects. If you are thinking of buying a heritage home, be aware that there is great responsibility and cost involved with owning it. Below we’ll go over a few things you might want to consider before purchasing a heritage home.
What is a heritage home?
Just about any old home isn’t necessarily a heritage home. The home needs to have so-called heritage features and be included in the Victorian Heritage Register. It should meet one of the eight Heritage Council of Victoria criteria and thus be of significant cultural, social, and aesthetic value.
When buying a property on the Victorian Heritage Register, bear in mind that you will be more restricted in the changes you may want to make to the home. Also, the changes you propose will need to be approved by Heritage Victoria. Furthermore, you will need to notify Heritage Victoria of becoming the home’s new owner, even if you intend to sell it.
All heritage homeowners must maintain the property, which means not allowing it to look shabby.
What will an inspection of a heritage home uncover?
If you are thinking of buying one of the many heritage homes across Melbourne, or maybe just an old home, these will undoubtedly be age-related issues. However, most of these issues can be uncovered by a professional building inspection service like ours.
Landmark Inspection has years of experience inspecting older homes, and we go through a checklist of exterior and interior elements which may present issues in an old home.
Potential issues
Sagging Roof lines – Consider that engineered roofing beams and trusses weren’t being used in the 1980s. So, many of the roofing materials used back then weren’t UV stabilised like much of what is used today, so there will be rusting, weathering, and aging.
Chimney structural integrity – We will often look for signs of weathering and dilapidation of the brickwork. After all, mortar has a service life. The plasticisers and damp proof materials we use today weren’t available back then, so deterioration can be expected.
Call landmark inspections
At Landmark Inspections in Melbourne, Victoria, we provide professional residential inspection services. We can uncover issues like sagging rooflines, rot, pest problems, and others. Today, with hundreds of inspections under our belt, there is no problem we can’t uncover, saving you potentially thousands of dollars in repairs by avoiding homes that may cost a fortune to fix.
We provide an easy-to-read report highlighting our findings that you can use to determine if the heritage home in question is worth purchasing.
