Well put Adrian. It’s a tough balancing act between maintaining some sort of moral standard and progressing in a business sense. Toughest of all for the nice guy who wants to do the right thing by everyone.

A man cave in there would be awesome… Check with the local council and go for it I reckon!

Ouch Cat, harsh but fair?! Lol.

It’s a tricky question because everyone’s goals and aspirations (and personal circumstances) are going to be different.  Best thing to do it=s what you’ve done: get advise and carefully weigh up the pros and cons of each situation.  Good luck.

I'm with thecrest, we need an update paulnmarn!  Let us know how you're going.

From what I've heard, if it's built to a good standard and there's no major incursions where there shouldn't be, the approval shouldn't be too hard to get, although depending on the Council they can make it a bit of a pain.  One downside could be that once they know about it they may order it rectified if they don't approve it.

I don't see a problem with you leaving your phone number for the agent to pass on to a couple of their clients.  Obviously you probably can't get their details unless they've already volunteered them but I don't think it's an unreasonable request.

That's a really good question and one that I've often wondered.  I would assume that there is some sort of legal obligation on the part of the agent to report this but I have no idea where it would go.

It sounds as though the owners almost have it in for you.  If you're getting no joy from the agent (and it sounds as though you're not), I'd suggest having a word to the tribunal via their help line to see where you stand.  If these defects weren't acknowledged in your original lease…

I'm pretty sure it's different state to state so you'd be best to get advice from a realtor in WA as to what your options are.  I'm sure Terry will be able to give you some general advice on this too though.