- In January 2025, Yahoo News Australia ran a second feature with me — this time on a Balcatta studio apartment listed at $350 per week, with a toilet sitting in the middle of the living space, opposite the fridge.
- That property appeared to breach at least three sections of the National Construction Code (NCC): ventilation, foul air expulsion, and privacy. It still made it onto the rental market.
- Here’s the bit most Perth buyers don’t know: renovation work in WA has no mandated independent inspection at all. The tradie finishes, the agent lists, and the next person to find the breach is the unlucky buyer or tenant.
- If you’re about to buy an established Perth home — especially one that’s been renovated, subdivided or flipped — an independent pre-purchase inspection is the only way you’ll know whether what’s in front of you actually meets code.
“They can’t just throw everything into a room and say, ‘she’ll be alright, mate”
— Russell McCarthy, as featured in Yahoo News Australia
The Property That Made National News
January this year, Yahoo’s Sophie Coghill rang me again. This time it wasn’t about a new build site — it was a Reddit post. A Perth rental listing had gone viral overnight, and not in a way the listing agent would have wanted.
A studio apartment in Balcatta, advertised at $350 a week through Celsius Property Group out of East Victoria Park. Bed, fridge, microwave, kitchenette — and right in the middle of the room, with no walls around it, a toilet. Opposite the fridge.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
I told Yahoo straight: “From a building approval angle, I could tear it apart limb for limb. It’s just not good enough.” That’s not me being theatrical. That’s me looking at a listing that ignored the most basic provisions of the National Construction Code and somehow still ended up advertised to the public.
Credit where it’s due — Celsius Property Group withdrew the listing almost immediately after the story broke. Yahoo reported the owners are now undertaking further works to bring the property up to code before it goes back on the market. Good. That’s the outcome you want.
But the question I kept coming back to — and the question I posed to Yahoo — is how did this listing exist in the first place?
This is the second time I’ve worked with Yahoo News on a Perth property story. The first was the “wild west” piece on WA’s broken new-build inspection system back in October 2024. Channel 9 ran their own feature on the defects I keep finding around Perth. RAC has covered Perth’s most common building defects with me as well. And Nova FM ran our radio campaign telling Perth listeners to know your building before they buy. Every one of those stories comes back to the same underlying problem: nobody independent is checking the work.
What the NCC Actually Requires — and Why This Apartment Failed
The National Construction Code isn’t a suggestion. It’s the legal minimum standard for every habitable building in Australia. Three sections of it were almost certainly being breached by that Balcatta listing.
1. Sanitary compartment separation (NCC Volume Two, Part H4) “Sanitary compartments” — the polite term for toilets — must be separated from food preparation areas. They must have a door. They must allow privacy. A toilet sitting open-plan opposite a fridge fails every single one of those tests. It’s not a grey area.
2. Ventilation and foul-air expulsion (NCC Volume Two / AS 1668.2) Sanitary compartments must have either a window opening directly to outside air, or a mechanical exhaust system venting foul air away from the building. If your “toilet room” is just an open corner of the kitchen, there’s no boundary for the ventilation to work with. The foul air goes wherever the air conditioning pushes it — which, in this case, would have been straight past the food.
3. Plumbing fixture clearances (AS/NZS 3500 plumbing standards) Plumbing fixtures have minimum clearance and separation requirements from food-prep surfaces. The AS/NZS 3500.3 standard governing sanitary plumbing exists precisely so this kind of arrangement doesn’t make it into occupied homes.
As I told Yahoo: “It insults the general consumer. When I’m looking at this property, it looks relatively modern. It looks relatively new, and therefore it would have to comply with modern regulations, it’s not a heritage system, and the council wouldn’t accept that as well.”
That last bit matters. A heritage-era property gets some leeway. A modern fit-out gets none. If the bathroom-in-the-living-room arrangement was recent — and the photos suggest it was — somewhere along the line a tradie did the work, an owner signed off on it, and an agent advertised it. None of those three people are required to be a registered building inspector.
The Bigger Problem: Renovation Work Has No Required Inspection
Here’s what I want everyone reading this to understand, because it’s the part the public conversation around Balcatta almost missed.
In Western Australia, renovation work has no mandated independent inspection at all. None.
For new builds, at least there’s a site supervisor — even if (as I explained in the first Yahoo piece) he works for the builder and has every reason to keep his head down. For renovations, there isn’t even that. Someone rips out an old bathroom, reconfigures the plumbing, calls it a “studio conversion”, and slaps a rental listing online.
Nobody checks. Not before. Not during. Not after.
The only person who’s going to catch it is whoever buys the place — and only if they’ve booked an independent building inspection with someone who knows what to look for.
This is why I keep banging the same drum. The Yahoo Balcatta story is funny on the surface — the jokes about microwave meals and toilet seats wrote themselves. But the underlying issue is dead serious. Across Perth, there are countless renovated and non-compliant properties where the work doesn’t meet code and nobody has ever been required to check.
What to Do If You See One of These
I told Yahoo that anyone who comes across a listing like the Balcatta one — or who walks through a property and finds something similar — should “report it first and foremost to the council”. That’s still the right advice. Here’s the longer version.
- For an advertised rental listing: report it to your local council’s building services department, and copy in Consumer Protection WA. The listing agency has a legal duty to act once a breach is in writing.
- If you’re already a tenant in a property like this: Consumer Protection WA is your first call. Document everything with photos and timestamps before you do anything else.
- If you’re about to buy a property that looks suspicious: get an independent pre-purchase building inspection before settlement. Renovated and flipped properties are where most of these compliance failures hide.
- If you’ve already bought one and the breach is now your problem: the inspection report is your starting point. It becomes evidence with the Building Commission, with insurance, and — if it comes to it — at the State Administrative Tribunal.
Renovation vs New Build: What Actually Gets Checked in WA
This question came in from a few people after the Yahoo article went live. Here’s the honest answer, laid out plainly.
| Stage | New Build in WA | Renovation in WA |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-slab pour | Engineer-certified plan (paper only) | No requirement |
| Frame | Builder’s site supervisor (works for builder) | No requirement |
| Lock-up | Builder’s site supervisor | No requirement |
| Plumbing | Licensed plumber self-certifies | Licensed plumber self-certifies |
| Electrical | Licensed sparky self-certifies | Licensed sparky self-certifies |
| Practical completion | Builder hands over — you can book an independent PCI | No formal handover — no required inspection |
| Mandated independent inspection at any stage | No | No |
| Council sign-off before occupancy | Building permit + occupancy certificate | Often not required for internal works |
The renovation column is the column the Balcatta apartment lived in. It’s not unusual. It’s the norm.
What This Means for Anyone Buying an Established Perth Home
Most of the people who read these features are buyers — first-home buyers in Alkimos and Baldivis, upgraders in Mount Lawley and Maylands, investors looking at suburbs like Balcatta itself. If that’s you, here’s the bottom line.
- Buying an established home? A Building & Pest Inspection at $499 + GST catches structural, pest, moisture and NCC compliance issues across the property — renovation work included, end to end.
- Buying something recently renovated or flipped? This is where the Advanced Building & Pest Inspection with Thermographic Imaging at $699 + GST earns its keep. Thermal imaging picks up hidden moisture and ventilation issues behind freshly painted walls — exactly the kind of thing a flipper covers up with a coat of Antique White USA.
- Worried about plumbing in particular? Fair worry. Plumbers self-certify their own work in WA, which means a non-compliant fit-out can sit in a property for years without anyone questioning it. Our inspections cross-check plumbing fixtures, drainage, ventilation, and waste against the standards.
The Balcatta story made national news because it was visually absurd. But for every story like that one, there are a hundred quieter ones — properties with smaller breaches that never get picked up because nobody independent is looking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Balcatta studio apartment still being advertised?
No. After the Yahoo News story ran, the listing agency, Celsius Property Group, withdrew the listing. The owners are reportedly undertaking further works to bring the property up to code before it’s relisted.
What is the National Construction Code (NCC) and does it apply to rentals?
The NCC sets the minimum legal standard for all habitable buildings in Australia, including rental properties. It governs structural, fire, plumbing, ventilation, and amenity requirements. A property doesn’t get an exemption from the NCC just because it’s being rented rather than sold.
Are renovation tradies required to follow the NCC in WA?
Yes — licensed tradies are legally obligated to comply with the NCC. The problem is enforcement. Unlike new builds, there’s no mandated independent inspection during or after renovation work, so compliance relies on the tradies who did the job self-certifying their own work.
Can a building inspection catch NCC breaches in an established home?
Yes. A thorough pre-purchase building inspection by an inspector who knows the codes will document NCC and Australian Standards breaches as part of the report. That documentation is what gives you leverage with the seller, the agent, or — if you’ve already bought — the Building Commission.
Where can I report a non-compliant rental property in Perth?
Start with your local council’s building services department. Copy in Consumer Protection WA. For health and amenity issues, the council’s environmental health officer is the right contact. The listing agent is also legally obligated to act once you’ve raised the breach in writing.
My Final Thoghts
I’ll say what I said to Yahoo. It insults the general consumer.
The Balcatta apartment isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen — not by a long way. The demolish-the-house jobs, the water-leak NCC breaches, the non-compliant slab work cost owners far more money in the long run. But the Balcatta story matters because of what it represents. A property that should never have been listed, ended up listed — through an agency, in front of the public, at $350 a week. That tells you everything you need to know about how lightly the rules are being taken by some operators in this industry.
Until WA mandates independent inspections — for new builds and renovations — the only protection you have as a buyer or a renter is the inspection you book yourself.
Book your inspection online — or give us a ring on 1300 23 63 63. Same-day inspections available across Perth and the Peel region.
— Russell McCarthy Licence BP104751 | Lead Inspector & Founder, WA Building Inspections Perth Real Builders. Better Inspections.