Buying or selling a home in Canterbury

If you’re interested in purchasing a home in the Canterbury region, it’s important that you pay extra attention to the aspects of the home that may have outstanding damage from the Canterbury earthquake sequence.

An example of the type of damage you may wish to ask the seller about is damage to sewerage or stormwater drains. This can take years to appear but is a widespread issue in the Canterbury region.

Buying or selling a home with previous claims

When you’re buying a home, it’s important to do your research.

Our Buying and selling a home with previous claims page has all the information you need to consider when looking to buy or sell a home in Canterbury, including:

the information you should request
the difference between an EQC assessment and a pre-purchase inspection from a licensed building practitioner
section notices on the record of title
the process for requesting EQC claim documents for a property
the assignment or transfer of EQCover of claims process

Make sure you consider any information about the property that you receive from EQC alongside all other information.

Not all problems are due to natural disasters — a house can have problems due to its design or maintenance, and houses also suffer from wear and tear over time. You can find out more about the common maintenance items that are often mistaken for natural disaster damage in our guide to Maintaining your home.