Accepting a new apartment is the last moment when fixing a defect is clearly the developer’s job. After you sign the handover act, it gets slower and harder. Here’s how to use that moment well.
1. When the developer sets a date
As soon as you have a handover date, book the inspection for a few days before it. That leaves time to send the developer a list of defects and get an answer before you sign.
Ask the developer:
- for the date and time of the handover visit;
- for a draft of the handover act, so you can read it in advance;
- whether electricity and water will be connected. Without them, sockets and water pressure can’t be tested.
2. Gather your documents
Bring, or have on your phone:
- the contract, with the stated area and the floor plan;
- the specification: white frame or green frame, and what each includes in your contract;
- any letters or messages in which the developer promised something extra.
3. Check the area first
The area is money. Measure each room wall to wall and compare it with the plan. A laser distance meter is quicker and more accurate than a tape. If the total is smaller than the contract says, write the difference down with the measurements.
4. Walk the apartment in order
Go room by room, and in each room check, in the same order:
- Walls and ceiling: cracks, damp patches, walls that aren’t plumb.
- Floor: cracks in the screed, slopes you can see or feel.
- Windows and doors: open, close and lock each one; look for gaps in the seals.
- Electrics: test every socket.
- Plumbing: run the water, check the pressure and look under the connections.
- Ventilation: hold a sheet of paper to the kitchen and bathroom vents.
Take a photo of every defect, with something in the shot for scale.
5. Batumi-specific: damp and windows
By the sea, damp and failed window seals show up quickly. Look closely at corners, at walls under windows and around the balcony door. A moisture meter finds damp that you can’t see yet.
6. Put it in writing
Send the developer a list of the defects, with photos and locations, and ask for a repair date. Don’t sign the handover act until either the defects are fixed, or the act itself lists them as defects to fix.
7. Check the repairs
When the developer says the work is done, check each item again before you sign.
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