Home inspection across Cape Town

What inspectors actually find in Cape Town

Winter driven rain

Cape winter fronts arrive from the north-west and west. Elevations facing into them take sustained wetting that a sheltered wall never sees, and old face-brick, cracked plaster or perished sealant lets it through.Checked: North-west and west elevations, window perimeters, wall cracking

Rising damp through absent or bridged DPC

Older stock was built without a damp-proof course, or has one that later paving, a screed, a raised bed or plaster carried over it now bridges. It reads as a tide mark up to about a metre with salt bloom at the top edge.Checked: Skirting-level moisture readings, external ground levels against the wall

Ageing electrical installations

Pre-1990 installations often carry old wiring, no earth leakage protection, and boards extended piecemeal over decades. A certificate of compliance is a legal requirement on transfer and is frequently the largest unbudgeted cost in an older-suburb purchase.Checked: Distribution board, earth leakage, visible wiring, bonding

Sectional title boundary disputes

Where water enters through common property — roof, parapet, external wall or common plumbing — the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act puts the repair on the body corporate, even though the damage shows inside the section. A written report identifying the entry point is what settles the argument.Checked: Point of entry, and whether it sits on common property or in the section

Areas we cover

• GardensOriginal lime-built walls frequently sealed with modern cement plaster and plastic paint, which traps moisture rather than letting the wall breathe.
• OranjezichtSteep mountain-side sites push stormwater against upslope walls, and the older stock has little in the way of subsoil drainage.
• TamboerskloofNarrow party-wall construction means a neighbour's damp or roof defect frequently becomes yours, and access for inspection is often constrained.
• VredehoekSits directly in the south-easter funnel, so wind-driven rain reaches elevations that would be sheltered elsewhere in the Bowl.
• Bo-KaapHeritage-protected fabric where inappropriate modern repair does more harm than the original defect, and where any work may need heritage approval.
• WoodstockLargely built without a damp-proof course, and decades of re-levelled pavements and courtyards have bridged the few that existed.
• Salt RiverDense terraced stock with shared party walls and minimal subfloor ventilation, so damp in one house is rarely contained to it.

What it costs

Indicative market ranges for guidance, not quotes. Full cost breakdown →