A townhouse or duplex sits in between a standalone house and a unit, and the inspection reflects that. Your report still covers the property you're buying — the dwelling itself, its own roof, subfloor, wet areas and grounds — but a shared or dividing wall means part of what affects your half can originate on the other side of it. The inspection can only assess what's observable within your property; it cannot enter or assess the neighbouring dwelling. What changes is what's worth asking about before you commit, and what a finding like cracking or an accessible party-wall roof space actually tells you.

Where the inspection stops

A pre-purchase inspection to AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3 covers the nominated property — the dwelling you're buying and its own grounds — in the areas that are reasonably accessible at the time of inspection. For an attached townhouse or duplex on its own title, that generally means the whole of your dwelling, unlike a strata unit where the inspection is limited to the lot and its immediate exterior with common property excluded. But the neighbouring half of the building is a different property, under a different owner, and it isn't entered or assessed — so anything only visible or accessible from that side stays outside the report, the same way it would for any adjoining property.

Unit buyers face a related version of this — see our guide on unit and apartment inspections for how lot-versus-common-property scope works in a strata building.

Why cracking gets a closer look in an attached home

Two attached dwellings often share a footing system, a dividing wall, or both. That means ground movement, a plumbing leak or a structural issue on one side can show up as cracking, doors that stick, or an uneven floor on the other — even though the cause sits outside the property being inspected. It works the other way too: what looks like a problem confined to your side may actually be shared movement across the whole structure. Cracking consistent with structural movement is one of the more common findings in older attached housing stock on the Gold Coast, and it's treated the same way regardless of the cause: the report records what was observed, and further assessment by a suitably licensed and insured Structural Engineer is recommended before you rely on any explanation of what's causing it.

A laser level is one of the more useful tools here. Checking floor levels across every room picks up a few millimetres of difference between rooms — or between one half of an attached pair and what can be inferred about the other — well before it's visible to the eye. It doesn't diagnose the cause, but it's often the first hard evidence that something is worth a structural engineer's opinion rather than a guess.

For more on how findings like this are classified, read our guide on identifying minor and major structural defects.

Roof space and subfloor: divided, or shared?

This is the detail buyers almost never think to ask about, and it's worth confirming for the specific property rather than assuming either way. Many attached homes are built with the dividing wall continuing up through the roof space and down through the subfloor, separating each half into its own self-contained cavity. Older attached stock, and some renovated or extended dwellings, don't always follow that pattern — a continuous roof space or subfloor across the party wall is not unusual, particularly on 1970s-90s villa and townhouse blocks common across the Coast. Where the roof space or subfloor on the inspected side is accessible, the report records what was observed there. Whether the dividing wall fully separates the two cavities is a reasonable question to put to the agent or seller before you buy, because it changes how moisture, ventilation and timber pest conditions on one side can relate to the other.

Termite conducive conditions don't stop at a shared wall

Subterranean termites travel through concealed gaps and cavities, not through open walls — so a continuous subfloor or roof space across two attached dwellings is a path, not a barrier. Elevated moisture, timber-to-soil contact or a durable notice that isn't visible on your side of the property are recorded the same way they would be for a standalone house — as conditions conducive to timber pest activity within the inspected property, at the time of inspection. As with any property, this is a snapshot, not a guarantee, and it's a reason to ask whether the neighbouring half has its own separate termite management arrangement or shares one with the whole building.

Our article on the defects we find most often in older Gold Coast homes covers the wider pattern of what shows up in established housing stock, attached or not. Varsity Lakes is a good example of a suburb with a deep townhouse and duplex stock — see our Varsity Lakes suburb page for what that looks like locally.

What's worth asking before you buy

  • Is this a freehold (Torrens) title or a community/strata title — and if strata, what does the body corporate cover versus what's yours?
  • Does the dividing wall separate the roof space and subfloor fully, or is either shared with the neighbouring half?
  • Is there a durable notice or other visible sign of a termite management system, and does it cover the whole building or just this dwelling?
  • Has any structural work, cracking or movement been reported or repaired on either half of the building?

Your conveyancer or solicitor is the right person to confirm the title type and what it means for shared structure and future repair responsibility — that sits outside a building and pest inspection, but it directly affects how you should read one.

A combined building and pest inspection covers your dwelling — house, townhouse or duplex — with a same-day written report. Our FAQs cover more on inspection scope. Call 0431 114 815 to book; the fixed price is confirmed before you book.