A pre-purchase building inspection is a visual, non-invasive inspection of a property. A building inspection is also known as:

• A house inspection
• A building survey

The inspection attempts to identify significant defects, overdue maintenance, future maintenance issues, gradual deterioration, inferior building work, and/or other areas of concern. The building inspection takes into account that you are doing the inspection with the intention of buying the house, and the inspection focuses on details relevant to this decision.

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If you are putting in an offer on a property, you should make a satisfactory LIM report a condition of the sale. A LIM is very useful in helping you decide whether the land is worth purchasing. From a LIM you can determine whether the property has permits for all its building work, what zoning it has, whether it is free from any restrictions, what proposed local developments may affect the property, and whether the intended use of the land is feasible.

A LIM may contain all sorts of information that can impact significantly on your perception of a house's value. For example, resource consent may have just been issued for a building that will block your view, there may have been a history of flooding or subsidence, the land was previously a landfill site, or alterations to the house may not have a building consent.

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