The thing about Darwin is that traditionally it has been a risky market.  When I bought in 04 the average yield was 10%.  However, vacancy rates were always ridiculously high, I think as high as 20% at various times.  This is why it was not considered a safe market to invest in.

However, over the last 8 or so years things have changed.  There is a lot of work up there at the moment to the vacancy rates are now very low, perhaps even the lowest in the country.  There is a desperate shortage of land so there is a premium on rents.  For example, I had a block of flats in Stuart Park, the next suburb out of the CBD.  They were pretty basic two bedroom, one bathroom units.  When I sold them last year, they were each renting out for over $300pw.

When I started buying in Darwin, older style units were selling for about $70 – 80,000 and were renting out at about $150pw.  Then the boom started and every property I owned doubled in value in two years, all the while being positively geared.  I sold out of everything for several reasons.  Those units are now worth about $300,000 each, although saying that, I have no regrets selling out when I did.  The rental yield on those units is now about 5 – 6%.

While there is a resources boom in Australia, Darwin will continue to have a low vacancy rate.  But because it is still a transient city (although not as much as it used to be) there will still be an element of risk, with potentially higher vacancy rates.  While Darwin has become much more cosmopolitan in the last decade or so, it has several factors at play that the other capital cities don't have.  Those factors make it a riskier investment proposition.

I don't have any property there any more.  One of the reasons for that is that generally speaking, the rental yield is not much higher than that in other capital cities while there is still an element of risk in Darwin.  I am now investing in Adelaide and very happy doing so.

I have a reasonable knowledge of the mechanics of Darwin investing so would be happy to discuss it further if anyone is interested.

Cheers

K

Darwin has a high rental yield because of the large number of transient workers there.  It also has a massive land and housing shortage.

Darwin never came to mind to me when I thought about property until I bought my first property up there in 2004, the day before the market boomed.  We bought everything we could get our hands on up there.  My husband and I quit our daytime jobs three years later.

Darwin?  I can talk about Darwin until the cows come home.  Love that city!!

K

For you to be able to sue your solicitor you will have to prove that you suffered loss (financial or otherwise) because of his negligence.  What loss have you suffered?  How would things have been different if the purchasers had paid the deposit?  You can't access a deposit prior to settlement (unless expressly stated in the contract) so it looks to me like the solicitor may have been a bit slack in not getting the deposit, but no real harm has come of it.

The other thing that needs to be considered is when the deposit was payable.  Was  it payable when the contracts were signed or when it was all unconditional (including the title issue, finances, inspections etc).  If it was when the contract was unconditional then based on what you have said above, the title issue hasn't been finalised and the deposit is not yet payable.

As to your options, it depends on what stage the contract is at,  If it is unconditional, then technically the purchaser is in breach because the settlement is overdue,  You could either take steps to terminate the contract or you could keep the contract on foot and charge penalty interest.

Can you send the documents to wherever the purchasers are to try to expedite settlement?  Sometimes it's worth spending a bit of your own money (on courier costs) to get the settlement through.

I'm sorry to say this, but ultimately you are to blame.  As I previously said, the failure to pay a deposit (if it was supposed to have been paid) hasn't really affected how the sale has proceeded.  Sometimes things take longer than you think they should.  When you decided to purchase the new property, you should have had written into the contract that the purchase was subject to the sale of your property.  It's a valuable lesson.

As to how to move forward, I think you should stop looking to blame someone and just do whatevery you can to finalise the sale of both properties.  Be proactive in getting that last signature.  Take a deep breath and a chill pill and call your solicitor to find out exactly where the contract is at and what steps need to be taken.  Find out whether the contracts are unconditional and what your options are.

In this market you are better off trying to get this sale through than put the property back on the market and risk not selling it for the price you want.  Contact the vendors of the property you are wanting to buy and see if you can get an extension on the time for settling.  Be honest about needing another signature from the purchaser and the fact that the purchaser is overseas. 

I often get frustrated when things don't progress in a timely manner,  But I have learned time and time again that the best way to get people to do things is to ask them "what can I do to help get this matter resolved/", as opposed to ranting and raving and blaming everyone.  I have had a bank have funds available 24 hours after finance was approved just because I gave them everything they needed, was polite and helpful and did all the running around for them.  The easiest way to get people to help you is to make them want to help you.

Good luck

K

If you were really opposed to looking into whether you paid the bill or not, you could always ignore the tax invoice and see whether the company follows it up or not.  It seems to me that there was some bad accountkeeping in 2007 and someone a bit switched on has taken over the reins and is chasing up unpaid invoices in the hope that some might get paid.  The company may not do anything more than just issue the invoices.

Having said that, I am a believer in paying for a good or service that I have received.  I would look through the archives and if I hadn't paid it, I would pay it.

Cheers

K

It is quite easy to put a caveat on someone's property.  I don't think that you need to have an equitable interest in the property.  I have placed caveats on someone's property (with their consent) because I loaned them some money.

Please don't consider this as legal advice but I think the way it works is that once a caveat is placed on a property, the owner of the property can issue a notice to the person placing the caveat, letting them know that unless they can justify their caveat in a court, then the caveat will be lifted within a certain timeframe (maybe 28 days?).

The caveat is a legal document as is the notice to remove the caveat, which is a proforma court document.  The onus is then on the person placing the caveat to justify to the court why the caveat should remain.  This is an expensive process and the person placing the caveat would really need to financially justify going to the Supreme Court to ensure the caveat remains.

So while it is very easy to place a caveat, it is also very simple to remove the caveat, unless the caveat is there for very good reasons.  At least thats the way I think it works!

Cheers

K

Have a look to see if your insurance policy covers flood damage.  We had a similar problem with a unit we had years ago. 

Under our policy if there was "flood damage" and water from the bathroom was included in that definition, then the insurance company was liable to pay for all "subsequent" damage.  Essentially that meant that they wouldn't pay for the structure that held the water, but they would pay for all damage that occurred as a result of the structure breaking. 

Initially the insurance company said that they would only pay for the repair of the roof underneath (it was a two story place).  That meant that they wouldn't pay for the bathroom repair or the rotting floorboards.  However, we mounted an argument that the "structure" that held the water was actually the lining of the shower and that they had to pay for everything that was damaged as a result of the shower lining breaking.  Of course, to get to the floorboards, the repairer had to rip out the tiles in the bathroom and replace everything.  The company accepted our argument and the authorised repairer had to rip out the whole bathroom to repair the rotting floorboards.  We paid for the new shower lining and any new things we wanted in the bathroom (vanity, shower screen etc) and the insurance company paid for everything else.  Voila!!

Look at your insurance policy carefully.

Cheers

K

Hi Mark

I agree with TerryW.  You cannot go through VISA to cancel the payments.  You entered into a contract with Phil Jones' company and signed a direct debit form.  VISA are just complying with the form you signed.  Any dispute you have is with the company and you will have to take up the issue with them.

The truth is with most of these seminars, everything looks so easy.  If it was all that easy then everyone would be doing it.  If the company was fraudulent in what it presented then it may be possible to chase up an American agency that you can report the company to.  But there is a clear difference between fraud and the company just presenting its' best results.

Given that the company is not Australian I expect that you will have a very difficult time getting any money back from them.  However, I suggest you contact them again, pointing out that the forums are no longer available and the promised support is not there.  They may just agree to cancel your direct debit.

Once upon a time I was a solicitor.  A very common legal saying is that when a client says something like 'it's the principle" or "this goes way beyond money" that's the time to ask the client to put $50,000 into the solicitor's trust account!  Fighting for principle is very VERY expensive.

Good luck

K

I don't like your chances at all.  In short, you can't use the legal system to make someone pay for "being such an asshole".  If you were to take the vendor to the small claims court you certainly would not be able to get compensation for lost time and working days.  The most you would be able to get would be a court order to turn the files over to you.  And I doubt you would get that.  The vendor's offer to let you have the files at settlement would not be considered to form part of the contract for the sale of the property as the offer was made after the contract was signed.  And it would not be considered a separate contract because there was no "consideration", that is, something you offered him in exchange for the files.  His offer would be deemed by the court to be just a nice gesture and nothing legally binding.

You should be able to go to the local Council and get the builder's details and then approach the builder and get plans.  Council would have all the permits. 

Cheers

K

If the sunset clause has expired and there has been no further agreement to extend it, then it should be a relatively straightforward rescission by your friend.  Any law firm that has a property division should be able to handle this.  I would recommend that your friend engage a solicitor rather than a conveyancer because generally speaking, conveyancers don't know the law particularly well.  Call the Law Society and get a referral from them.  They won't recommend a particular solicitor, but they should be able to give a list of firms that have property divisions.

Cheers

K

I know that in the Defence Force the policy wording is such that even purchasing in a trust or company will strip you of the right to subsidised housing.  You would have to get legal advice based on the policy wording.

Cheers

K