Old Houses (Akiya)

This means every pipe including those either embedded in or under the concrete slab.  In these cases it is just not viable to rip up everything and replace the pipes so although these listings say that sewerage is close by that is as close as it is ever likely to come to these houses.

Akiya houses are also traditionally built entirely from wood.  Many of these houses have been damaged by termites at some or multiple stages throughout their existence and some still have termites nests eating away at the timber at the time of sale.  The only way to know about this is to undertake a thorough building inspection.  However, most sellers of the cheaper Akiya houses will not allow a building inspection to be undertaken citing inconvenience and a preference to sell to someone buying the house outright.  This often means they already know of these problems and that you would not buy anyway when you find out.  The only real way to inspect these houses with confidence is to buy yourself a thermal imaging camera and train yourself in its use and then attend the house yourself in person and undertake this when doing the inspection.  Unfortunately in most cases you won’t like what you find making it a very expensive exercise to fly from your own country to undertake such an inspection.

If you buy an Akiya style house at a price too good to be true, expect it to cost you significantly more than the asking price in getting it to a standard that is both safe and liveable.