Lower property value, costly structural damage, and health hazards to residents and tenants are all possible consequences of forgetting about pest inspections. Having your property inspected regularly for pests is crucial to your property maintenance responsibility. Your property and its occupants will suffer without regular pest inspections.
Pest Infestations: What Regular Pest Inspections Prevent
Some of the most common pests in Australia can be health hazards if you allow them to infest your property. Rodents can spread diseases such as leptospirosis and plague. Cockroach infestations can lead to typhoid fever and dysentry. Ants can contaminate food with E. coli and Salmonella.
Aside from life-threatening illnesses, pest infestations can cause serious property damage. Spiders can destroy insulation, and their thick webs may even clog drainage. Pests as tiny as mosquitoes can make infested areas uninhabitable. Termites can harm your property’s structural integrity, especially if wood is used in construction.
Without regular pest inspections, it can be easy to miss the warning signs of pest infestation. If you don’t reside in or use your property daily, you may only discover that pests live in the walls when a potential buyer points it out to you. However, you’ll have to pay for the repairs or significantly lower the property’s selling price by then.
Unless you want to risk being liable for selling a property with health hazards or not disclosing a pest infestation to the buyer, you should include pest inspections in your property maintenance plan.
How Often Should I Have My Property Inspected for Pests?
Generally, you should have your property inspected for pests at least annually. But if you think your property is especially susceptible to pest infestations, you may want to inspect it every 3 to 6 months. Certain pests also have specific times in the year when they are the most active.
Rodents are active during Australia’s winter, from June to August. Then, more spiders tend to appear in spring (September to November). In October, you’ll likely notice increased cockroach and ant activity. Termites are also expected to be more active starting from November until March. Lastly, watch out for mosquitoes in the summer.
These different pest breeding or swarming times can be another reason your property needs a pest inspection every three months. You can ask your pest inspector which pests your property will likely have and when you can expect to need an inspection for those pests.
With the help of your inspector, you’ll be able to develop a highly effective and cost-efficient property maintenance plan that includes the most optimal pest inspection times for your property.
A property inspection is an excellent step in purchasing a new property during a transaction. Most buyers don’t know what Read more
Rezoning is rezoning a parcel of property from one kind to another, such as industrial to residential. Land zones govern Read more
According to Murphy's Law, whatever may go wrong, will go wrong. Even with a well-thought-out building plan, anything can and Read more
