Yes. Legally you can. But “legally can” and “financially smart” are two different things. Here’s what consistently happens in the Perth market right now when a home with Iplex Pro-Fit pipes goes to sale.
What disclosure actually means
Under REIWA’s material fact guidance, sellers and their agents have a legal obligation to disclose known material defects. Iplex Pro-Fit pipes in a Perth home built 2017-2022 are a known material defect.
That means if you know you have them, your agent discloses them. Full stop.
Hoping buyers won’t notice doesn’t work either. A building inspection takes about twenty minutes to flag Iplex Pro-Fit at the meter box, the pipe bands are visible to any competent inspector. If you know and don’t disclose, you carry the legal risk.
What buyers do with that information
Here’s the pattern playing out across Dayton, Ellenbrook, Alkimos and Landsdale:
- A seller lists with disclosed Iplex pipes.
- A building inspection confirms them.
- The buyer comes back with a price reduction request.
- That request is typically $20,000–$40,000 off the agreed price, sometimes more if the inspector has given them worst-case damage scenarios.
- The seller either wears the reduction, renegotiates under pressure or the deal falls over.
One Perth seller in the Swan Valley corridor lost more than $15,000 at settlement because of disclosed Iplex pipes. She’d already accepted an offer. The building inspection flagged the pipes. The buyer renegotiated. By that point, she was committed to her next purchase and had no leverage.
That $15,000 would have paid for a significant portion of a full house repipe.
The three options sellers have
If you’re selling a Perth home with Iplex Pro-Fit pipes, you have three realistic paths:
Option 1 — Disclose and absorb the price impact
The honest path. But you’re handing the buyer a negotiating lever worth more than the repipe would have cost. In most cases this is the most expensive option, not the cheapest.
Option 2 — Repipe before you list
Get it done, get the certificate, list the property clean. Buyers can bid with confidence. You keep the negotiating leverage. This is the option most sellers who’ve done the maths choose.
Option 3 — Include the repipe in the contract of sale
Agree to complete the repipe before settlement, or credit the buyer at settlement. Can work. More moving parts than Option 2, and requires a buyer willing to accept that arrangement.
Why repiping before listing wins
When you list with a Star Plumbing repipe certificate, the conversation changes entirely. Instead of “Iplex pipes present not yet addressed” (which buyers read as: negotiate me down), your listing reads: “Re-piped, certified, 10-year warranty.”
Buyers in Perth’s affected suburbs like Dayton, Ellenbrook, Alkimos and Landsdale are switched on. They’ve read the Facebook posts. They’ve seen the burst-pipe stories. A re-pipe certificate removes the single biggest hesitation at inspection.
- Re-piped homes sell faster. The buyer’s nervousness is gone before they walk in the door.
- They sell for stronger prices. There’s no lever to pull at negotiation.
- Agents have to disclose known defects, but they’d far rather hand buyers a certificate than a flag.
- Your disclosure statement becomes an asset, not a liability.
The maths
A typical Perth four-bedroom home:
- Repipe cost: $20,000–$42,000. Fixed price, in writing, before we start.
- Price reduction after a buyer’s inspection flags unfixed Iplex pipes: typically $50,000–$100,000. Sometimes more.
- Risk of the deal falling over entirely: real, and hard to put a number on.
In most cases, the repipe costs less than the price impact of leaving it unfixed. And you get the security of staying in your home through the work — no burst pipes between now and settlement day.
Timing it to your sale
You don’t need months of runway. Tell us your listing date and we’ll schedule the re-pipe to finish just as you’re getting ready to go to market.
- Most Perth homes will take 2 to 3 weeks to re-pipe.
- You can stay in the house the whole time if you prefer. Water would go off during working hours, back on every evening.
- Fresh certificate goes straight to your agent, ready for the contract.
We’ve timed re-pipes around listing campaigns across Dayton, Ellenbrook, Alkimos and Landsdale. We know what “ready for market” means and we schedule accordingly.
What about selling to a developer or investor?
Some sellers assume they can bypass the issue by selling to a developer who “won’t care” about the pipes. In practice, most commercial buyers still commission building inspections and adjust their offers accordingly. The pipe issue is priced in either way, you just have less visibility into how much it costs you.
Next step
If selling is anywhere on your horizon, even 12 to 18 months out, the best time to repipe is before you list, not after a buyer’s inspection makes it their bargaining chip.
Send us your building plans and we’ll give you a written, fixed-price quote within 24 hours. No building plans? Our team at Star Plumbing Perth come out, check the meter box and send a quote within 48 hours. No commitment, no pressure.
Sources you can verify
- REIWA — Material fact disclosure obligations, Western Australia
