Pre-Purchase Termite Inspection, Sydney
Before you exchange, find out whether the property has termites, has had them, or is built in a way that invites them. A written timber pest report, done to the Australian Standard, in time for your cooling-off period.
What is a pre-purchase termite inspection?
A pre-purchase termite inspection is a timber pest inspection carried out on a property you are buying, before you are locked into the contract. A licensed inspector checks the building and the site for live termites, past termite damage, borers, timber decay and the conditions that make an attack likely, and gives you a written report you can act on.
In Australia it is carried out to AS 4349.3, the standard covering timber pest inspections. That matters, because the standard sets out what has to be inspected, what has to be reported, and what the inspector is allowed to leave out. A report written to the standard is a document your conveyancer can use. A verbal "looks fine to me" is not.
A timber pest inspection is not a building inspection. They are two different standards and often two different reports. A building inspection (AS 4349.1) looks at structural condition and defects. A timber pest inspection (AS 4349.3) looks at termites, borers and timber decay. Buyers regularly assume one covers the other. It does not, and the gap is where expensive surprises live.
Do I need a pre-purchase termite inspection in Sydney?
In almost every case, yes. Sydney sits in a high termite risk area, standard home insurance in Australia does not cover termite damage, and once you have exchanged, the problem and the repair bill are yours. A few hundred dollars before exchange is the cheapest part of the entire transaction.
The insurance point is the one most buyers do not know. Termite damage is a standard exclusion on almost every home and contents policy in the country, on the reasoning that it is a preventable maintenance issue rather than a sudden event. So unlike a burst pipe or a storm, there is nobody to claim from. If the timber is eaten, you pay to replace it.
Why the Eastern Suburbs is not exempt
There is a persistent local belief that termites are a western Sydney problem. They are not. The Eastern Suburbs has exactly the housing stock termites like: Federation and Victorian homes with structural hardwood and suspended timber floors, terraces sharing walls and sub-floors with the neighbours, poorly ventilated sub-floors, and decades of renovations that have buried old timber inside new walls.
Add the things people do to nice gardens: raised garden beds against the wall, timber retaining and decking in contact with soil, mulch piled over the weep holes, and irrigation keeping the sub-floor damp. Each of those is a bridge over whatever termite protection the building has.
When should I book a pre-purchase termite inspection?
Book a pre-purchase termite inspection as early as you can, ideally before you exchange contracts. If you have already exchanged on a private treaty purchase in NSW, the standard five business day cooling-off period is your window, and it has to cover booking, inspecting and receiving the written report. There is no cooling-off period at all on an auction purchase.
The inspection is only useful while you can still act on what it says. Four scenarios, in the order you want to be in them:
Before you exchange
You have the report in hand before you are committed, so you can walk away, renegotiate on the strength of a written finding, or proceed knowing what you are buying. This is the position you want to be in.
Inside the cooling-off period
A private treaty purchase in NSW normally comes with a cooling-off period of five business days after exchange, during which you can rescind. If you do, you forfeit 0.25% of the purchase price. That window is short and it includes getting the inspection booked, done and reported, so treat it as a deadline rather than a buffer.
If you are asked to waive cooling-off
Vendors often ask for a section 66W certificate, which waives the cooling-off period entirely. Signing one before you have a timber pest report means you have no way out if termites turn up. If that is being asked of you, get the inspection done first.
Buying at auction
There is no cooling-off period on a property bought at auction. The inspection has to happen before auction day, and it is the one scenario where skipping it carries the full risk with no way to unwind the purchase.
The cooling-off information above is general information about the standard position for residential property in NSW, not legal advice, and contracts vary. Your conveyancer or solicitor is the person to confirm the dates that apply to your contract.
What does a pre-purchase termite inspection cover?
A pre-purchase termite inspection covers the accessible areas of the building and the site: interior, roof void, sub-floor, exterior, fences, outbuildings and trees within about 30 metres of the building where accessible. It reports live activity, previous damage, conditions conducive to attack, and any existing termite management system.
Just as important is what it does not cover, and any inspector who is straight with you will say so up front. The standard is an inspection of what can be reached and seen without damaging the property, which means concealed timber inside walls is out of scope.
What is inspected
- Interior: skirting, architraves, door frames, window reveals, wet areas
- Roof void, where there is safe access
- Sub-floor, where there is safe access and clearance
- The full building exterior, including weep holes and slab edge
- Fences, decking, retaining walls, sheds and other timber structures
- Trees and stumps within about 30 metres, on the property
- Any existing termite barrier or baiting system, and its condition
- Moisture and ventilation problems that make attack more likely
What is not
- Concealed timber inside wall cavities. Nothing is cut open or removed
- Areas with no safe access: a sealed roof void, a sub-floor with no clearance, a locked room
- Structural or building defects. That is a separate building inspection under AS 4349.1
- Anything behind stored goods, heavy furniture or fixed cabinetry
- A guarantee the property will not get termites later. No inspection can offer that
- Neighbouring properties, which is a real limitation on terraces and semis
Access matters more than most buyers realise. If the sub-floor is inaccessible or the roof void is sealed, the report will say so, and that limitation is part of the finding rather than a gap in it. A property where large areas cannot be inspected is a property where you know less, and that is worth factoring into the decision.
What does a pre-purchase termite inspection cost in Sydney?
A pre-purchase termite inspection with PestOz costs $383.90 for a townhouse, $451 for a single storey house and $515.90 for a double storey house, all including GST. That covers the inspection and your written report. Book a general pest treatment at the same time and the pest treatment drops to $110.
| Property | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Townhouse | $383.90 | Full timber pest inspection and written report |
| Single storey house | $451.00 | Full timber pest inspection and written report |
| Double storey house | $515.90 | Full timber pest inspection and written report |
| Add a pest treatment | $110.00 | General pest treatment booked at the same time as the inspection, instead of the usual rate |
| Termite treatment | Quoted | Only if termites are found. Priced after the inspection, once we know what we are dealing with |
Two things worth saying about that. The first is that the price is fixed on the property type rather than worked out on the day, so what you are quoted is what you pay. The second is that the bundle is genuinely worth taking if the place needs a general treatment anyway, because $110 for a full pest treatment is roughly a third of what it costs on its own.
The comparison worth making. Weigh the inspection fee against the cost of the repair it might find, not against another inspector's fee. Structural termite damage to a Sydney home routinely runs into tens of thousands of dollars, and no home insurance policy in Australia will cover it. The cheapest inspection is the one that misses something.
For general termite inspection pricing across Australia, see our termite inspection cost guide.
What happens if the inspection finds termites?
Finding termites does not automatically mean walking away. It means you now have written evidence, and three real options: rescind within your cooling-off period, renegotiate the price against a treatment and repair quote, or proceed with the treatment budgeted in. What you must not do is find out after settlement.
The report will distinguish between things that sound similar and are not:
- Live activity. Termites present in the building now. Most serious, and it needs a treatment plan before anything else is decided.
- Previous damage with no live activity. Common in older homes, and often already treated years ago. The question becomes whether the damage is structural and what the repair costs.
- Conducive conditions. No termites, but the property is set up to attract them: soil against the weatherboards, mulch over the weep holes, a damp sub-floor, timber to ground contact. These are fixable and worth knowing before you own them.
- No management system. Many older homes have no barrier or baiting system at all, or one that lapsed decades ago.
If treatment or protection is needed after settlement, we can handle that too: see termite control and treatment. We will always tell you plainly whether what we found is a walk-away, a renegotiate, or a manage.
What you get
A document your conveyancer can work with, not a text message.
A written report to AS 4349.3
Findings, photographs, the areas inspected, and a clear statement of anything that could not be accessed and why.
Plain-English findings
What we found, what it means for the purchase, and what it will take to fix. Not a wall of disclaimers with a conclusion buried in it.
A conversation, not just a PDF
Call us about the report. If you are deciding whether to proceed, you should be able to ask the person who was actually under the house.
No stake in the sale going through
We work for you, not the vendor
You are the client, the report is yours, and nobody else sees it. We have no relationship with the agent selling the property.
We know this housing stock
Fifteen years of Federation semis, terraces and deco blocks in the Eastern Suburbs. We know where the timber is and where the renovations hid it.
We work to your dates
Tell us your cooling-off dates or your auction date and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet them.
Licensed, insured, and named
A licensed technician does the inspection and signs the report. You will know who inspected your property.
We will tell you to walk
If the finding is bad enough, we will say so. We would rather lose the treatment job than have you buy a problem on our report.
And we can protect it afterwards
If you proceed, we can put a management system in place, or service the one that is already there.
Pre-purchase termite inspections, answered
What does a pre-purchase termite inspection cost in Sydney?
A pre-purchase termite inspection with PestOz costs $383.90 for a townhouse, $451 for a single storey house and $515.90 for a double storey house, all including GST. That covers the inspection and your written report. Book a general pest treatment at the same time and the pest treatment drops to $110.
How long does a pre-purchase termite inspection take?
A pre-purchase termite inspection on a standard house usually takes between one and two hours on site, depending on size and how accessible the sub-floor and roof void are. An apartment is quicker. A large freestanding home with a full sub-floor, outbuildings and mature trees takes longer. Rushing it is how things get missed, so treat a quoted 20-minute inspection as a warning sign.
Is a timber pest inspection the same as a building inspection?
No. They are two different inspections under two different Australian Standards. A timber pest inspection (AS 4349.3) covers termites, borers and timber decay. A building inspection (AS 4349.1) covers structural condition and building defects. Many buyers assume one includes the other and end up covered for neither. If you want both, arrange both and check in writing what each report includes.
Does home insurance cover termite damage in Australia?
No. Termite damage is a standard exclusion on effectively every home and contents policy in Australia, because insurers treat it as a preventable maintenance issue rather than a sudden accidental event. That is precisely why a pre-purchase inspection matters: unlike storm or fire damage, there is nobody to claim from, so the cost of repairing termite damage falls entirely on the owner.
Can I get a termite inspection during the cooling-off period?
Yes, and many buyers do, but the window is tight. A private treaty purchase in NSW normally has a cooling-off period of five business days after exchange, and rescinding within it costs you 0.25% of the purchase price. Booking the inspection, having it done and receiving the written report all has to happen inside that period, so contact an inspector as soon as you exchange rather than midway through. There is no cooling-off period at all on an auction purchase.
Do I still need an inspection if I am buying an apartment?
It depends on the building. A modern concrete-and-steel apartment on an upper floor carries very little termite risk and often does not warrant a timber pest inspection. A ground-floor or garden apartment, a converted terrace, or an older walk-up block with timber framing and a sub-floor is a different proposition and is worth inspecting. If you are unsure, tell us the building type and we will tell you honestly whether you need one.
What if the vendor already has a termite report?
Treat a vendor-supplied report as useful background rather than as your own due diligence. It was commissioned by the person selling the property, you are not the client, and you generally have no recourse against the inspector who wrote it. Check the date as well, because conditions change and a report from six months ago does not describe the property today. If you are relying on a report, it should be one you commissioned.
Can you inspect before auction?
Yes, and for an auction purchase it is the only option, because there is no cooling-off period once the hammer falls. We work in with the open home and inspection times the agent has scheduled. Book as early in the campaign as you can, because the last few days before an auction are when every other buyer is trying to arrange the same thing.
Are termites really a risk in the Eastern Suburbs?
Yes. There is a common belief that termites are a western Sydney problem, and it is wrong. The Eastern Suburbs has the housing stock termites do well in: Federation and Victorian homes with structural hardwood and suspended timber floors, terraces and semis sharing sub-floors, poorly ventilated sub-floors, and decades of renovation that buried old timber inside newer walls. Garden beds against walls, mulch over weep holes and irrigation near the footings then bridge whatever protection exists.
Last reviewed 8 September 2026 by Dave Spero, licensed pest technician (licence no. 5074721) and founder of PestOz Pest Control. Inspection scope described on this page follows AS 4349.3. Information about NSW cooling-off periods is general information, not legal advice, and your conveyancer or solicitor should confirm the dates and terms that apply to your contract.
Sources
- AS 4349.3, "Inspection of buildings, Part 3: Timber pest inspections" (Standards Australia). The standard PestOz pre-purchase timber pest inspections are carried out to.
- AS 4349.1, "Inspection of buildings, Part 1: Pre-purchase inspections, Residential buildings" (Standards Australia). The separate building inspection standard referenced above.
- NSW Government, buying and selling property: cooling-off periods for residential property. nsw.gov.au
Know what you are buying
Tell us the address and your cooling-off or auction date, and we will tell you straight away whether we can get it done in time.