Absolutely.

Had a Brisbane Solicitor on the other side who did not know of proposed lot or off the plan sales for land and told his client it must be dodgy and to not touch it.  Many solictiro's know 2/3rds of stuff all about property.

I figured as much.

I think I should add in my signature  "big phone, bigger fingers" .  Even on a phablet they are still bad for typing on.

Hi

Lawyers are the first point of call, they will assist in setting up your whole structure.  Accountants are not legally allowed to do this and are not covered by their insurance for doing this.  Many however do.

While many Accountants will not like what I say below, I am just stating the technical legal position.  The intention of the legislators has not changed or otherwise they would have allowed tax agents to provide legal services related to tax law under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009

 Accountants do setup trusts, but they should not technically be discussing who the appointer is or the benefits of a corporate trustees are unless they also have a lawyers practicing certificate.  They should not be discussing Asset Protection.  If they do it wrong there insurance will not cover them as their insurance policies specifically preclude engaging in legal practice.

Courts have found that even an accountant filling in the details of a trust deed which has been prepared by lawyers still constitutes legal advice and they have no authority to do so.  Courts have also found that the following constitutes legal advice and can not be done without a current legal practice certificate:

1. providing advice about Director's obligations

2. Drafting trustee resolutions

3. Interpreting a trust deed

4. Providing a trust deed to a client from a website

Interestingly enough, even though it is a widely held belief of Accountants, they are not allowed to provide advice on Tax Law, even if provided in relation to the preparation and lodgement of a tax return. (Sinclair v Commissioner of Taxation) except if they are a licensed tax agent and the service is limited to:

1. ascertaining liabilities, obligations or entitlements of an entity that arise, or could arise under a taxation law.

2. or advising an entity in relation to 1.

Although even more Accountants would do the above.

The biggest problem in Australia is that Accounting is not a licensed or protected profession.  Anyone can call themselves an Accountant.  Anyone can practice as an Accountant without insurance.  There is a restriction on tax agents or by the associations CPA, CA etc but not a legislative one.

Accountants are losing more and more of their ability to provide services.  From 1 July 2016 they will no longer be able to provide SMSF advice without an Australian Financial Services Licence, because that is providing financial advice.

There are great accountants out there (as the ones on this forum) and I will always recommend that you take my structure to an Accountant so that they can advise you on the liabilities, obligations or entitlements of an entity that arise, or could arise under a taxation law.  T

We are anticipating being ready to open on 18 March.

Our prices are same across the state.

Reconfig is $2200 plus GST for up to 3 lots $500 per lot over that.

Mackay RC app  fees are approx $2000 for up to 2 lots and $900 per lot over that.

You need a 3 way relationship that works.

accountant 

lawyer

mortgage

And you don't want any of the 3 to be a weak link.

Letters after your name do not mean squat, look I have a huge collection  BApp Sci BEd GDLP LLM Juris Doctor.  Does that mean I know what I am doing? What about if I did all those quals straight out of school and had never invested, developed owned businesses whatever else.  If I did not have all the practical experience to apply those quals to, I would have an absolutely different perspective on things. 

As an outstanding example,

A client of mine lost a sale last week, because the buyer's  solicitor freaked them out because we had an "off the plan contract" or a "proposed lot contract" with a disclosure under the land sales act.  The solicitor had never heard of an off the plan contract.  I kid you not. This was the guy offering to do their conveyancing.  Never mind we have an approval under s19(2) in writing from the office of fair trading (allows you to sell up to 5 proposed lots where easily identifiable without registered survey plan). 

I could list, except for confidentiality and client privilege reasons, the names of several of each of the following that I am currently suing for clients (different matters):

Solicitors

Accountants

Real Estate Agents

Buyer's Agents

Financial Planners

Builders

Property Marketing Companies

Building Certifiers

A couple of whom were  outright intentionally negligent and thought they could get away with it.

Most however either:

stuffed up

missed something

or although they were legally allowed to work in that area of their profession, it was beyond their skills

And we are not no win no fee litigators (apart from 3 times in 10 years in the history of the firm), we only litigate for commercial losses.

Qualifications can often be only the minimum standard required to gain entry to a profession and a good starting point.  

Choose the right people.  Recommendations on this forum area a great start,

Thanks for sharing.

I would talk to a broker

before, during after

all the time.  Especially if they are outstanding like the ones on here.

Hi Just Jess

Our Sunshine Coast Office has a planner that just does Morteon Bay Regional Council.  

Some things to bear in mind.

You may have to build a road, mains sewer, water and drainage for that number of lots, you may not also, depends on lot layouts and size, access to streets etc.

Town Planners fees are $2200 plus $500 per lot over 2

Council App fees $860 per lot

Public Notification $700 plus GST

Surveying could be $10,000 if your lot is well treed, could be more or less depending on other obstructions or lack thereof

Infrastructure Charges:

You will be looking at $28,000 per lot when you get title.

If you pm me the address  I will have a look for you and als, with your permission, answer through the forum (identifying info taken out) so that other people might get something out of it.

Good luck

Asset Protection is a question for your Lawyer, Accountants are not supposed to give such legal advice.  Ideally it should be done in conjunction with 3 people

1. Finance Broker

2. Lawyer

3. Accounantant 

(not necc in that order)

Discretionary Trusts are definitely flexible, but if in NSW is that flexibility worth the extra land tax bill (normally no)

I do not like own name for ownership, accessing negative gearing can be a big bonus though.  See a lawyer and an accountant and a mortgage broker.  Costs some but, as long as they are good, pays for itself and pales in comparison to how much you are about to outlay on a property

D