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The ATO will not accept a breakup provided by a builder, a derpreciation schedule must be prepared by a quantity surveyor, a valuer or an accountant.
They will most likely be members of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants or the Certified Practising Accountants (not sure if the Aust Society of Accountants still exists, it merged with the CPA I think), the only other one would be the National Institute of Accountants.
I'm a little confused (that's not hard). Do you have one meter for the whole building or several shared meters? Water usage should be split according to your unit entitlement not just 1/11th of the property so that a 3 bedder will pay its share compared against a single bedder.
It is not just as simple as saying that you want to have separate metering, you will either need to install a sub-meter in each premises (where the water comes in, if it can be found) or have meters at the boundary and new pipes run to each unit, which will be quite costly if there is no access eg concrete slabs.
I would push for sub-metering if possible, however this will require someone reading all of the meters at a regular basis, to account for each unit's usage as well as calculating the balance as the common area water consumption which must then be divided between all of the owners.
Being in a flood prone area may affect the insurance that you are able to get (but that is another issue). The question of reasonability will revolve around whether you would proceed with the contract If the identified defect with the drainage to the house is rectified/or didn't exist? If you would purchase, then there is little wriggle room. If for example, you were assured that the builder was to rectify the defects prior to the date of settlement would you still purchase the property? If so, make this a condition of settlement.
It is more than reasonable that the tenant request that the mess made by builders be cleaned up and that they should have been relocated during the works (relates to quiet enjoyment of the premises). It is legitimate that the body corporate should have made allowance to clean up after the work (a cost that would be borne by the owners). Likewise, the tenant has a legitimate complaint that as he sleeps during the day (esp if he works nights), then he should have been accommodated elsewhere whilst the work was undertaken.
I have seen plenty of tenants relocated whilst bathrooms/kitchens were upgraded – it acts as an incentive to the owner/builder to minimise the time taken to do the work.
Why were these issues not addressed prior to the work commencing? The tribunal will find that the tenant has been put to an expense/inconvenience greater than should be otherwise encountered (quiet enjoyment) and will find that some compensation will be payable. Make the tenant an offer of a week's free rent (or whatever may suffice) & push back on the body corporate for cleaning depending upon the inconvenience experienced.
Two options, contact the REIQ and buy a pad of forms if they are still available. Alternatively, contact one of the commercial rea's and they may be convinced to part with a copy.
JW, you would only be paying a v small% as they are not providing much other than the back of house (prelims would account for 13% of the entire project and that would include a foreman, sheds, temps etc). As you would know as a qld pm, you need to be licenced, use your contacts or swing a favour.
Keiko, some states do require that all classes of builders must be licensed (NSW thankfully does not), hence only residential builders need to be licensed but someone building skyscrapers doesn't even need to know how to drive a nail.
If it is on his house you can rely on the contractor's trade licence. If it is on a block of units, then the same would apply (for a single trade).
Why bother with an outdated agreement?
Do one trade at a time, if it is feasible.
Think about it this way, the time and cost (interest, lost rent etc) of is going to be much less if you engage a small local builder to co-ordinate all the trades that you have tendered and want to useand pay the builder a small 'handling' margin as opposed to engaging them as the builder who undertakes the scoping of the works tendering etc.
If you buy on the open market from a real estate agent then it is at arms length (providing that you aren't the vendor) ie your smsf can buy any property other than one owned by the members of the smsf.
Can't you refinance under your current ownership without triggering cgt or stamp duty costs?
If you must sell, why can't you sell your ppor into a trust? You will still be up for stamp duty etc. for the transfer.Totally agree with the above but will add: Does the lease provide for gst? If the lease is post July 2000 or drafted after the announcement of the GST proposal, then it should have a gst clause. Furthermore, if there has been a 'review opportunity' in an unbroken pre-gst lease, then gst would also apply (although it would be 'grossed-up'). A review opportunity being a market rent review.
If the tenant hasn't been paying gst (and it does apply), then you have been short-paid and will need to recoup this. To explain Robert's point about the tenant not being registered is similar to saying that your supermarket will still include gst in its bill to you but you don't have a choice other than to pay it regardless of whether the customer is registered or not.
Your accountant is right in saying that you will have to remit the gst on the rent paid.
Technically JW you will be required to engage a builder even if the work is not structural if it exceeds the value of work that may be undertaken without a DA/CC.
An OB Licence is not applicable as this is classed as 'building work' which will require a builders licence to undertake – an OBL only applies to owner-occupied premises not multi-dwellings.
The OB cap only applies once to the total value of the work ie if you are doing $100k of work ie 4 x kitchen replacements, carpet, bathrooms, painting, electrics etc) then you have instantly exceeded the limit regardless of the value of each of the individual contracts.
I'd suggest that you speak with a builder/project manager who may be prepared to take up the risk of supervising you & subbies, picking up the home warranty insurance, OHS and meeting all of the legal requirements etc
A couple of points:
If it is sufficiently serious to warrant an engineer's report, then follow their advice. Has the engineer indicated whether the problem has been caused by footing failure or by the drying/wetting cycle of the reactive clay (or other material)? If this is a footing failure, then the cracks will only continue to the point of failure (in an unknown timeframe).
Cracks less than 5 mm you could get away with a bit of bog however you are talking serious movement here.
If you undertake the repairs, what is the remaining life of the building? ie will the cost of the repair outweigh the useful life/should you look at partial demo and rebuild/extending the house instead?
Uretek is not a reinforcement – it is grout injection into the soil to increase its bearing capacity and to raise the slab back to its original position/limit further movement. This engineered solution should reduce further differential settlement.
Strata costs are widely variable however some generalisations to be aware of:
Older buildings, if properly maintained, will have higher maintenance costs, or repairs when they crop up will cost more.
Lifts/Pools/central air conditioning/24 hour concierge/security etc all increase the levies.
High levels of absentee owners (ie lots of rentals) often is related to inadequate/basic/lower levels of maintenance only being undertaken.
An active body corporate tends to keep costs under scrutiny (happens in high owner-occupied premises).
Check the amount in the sinking and admin funds, how they are spent and how they are to be spent. Is there a high level of reactive maintenance (breakdown callouts) or proactive (planned maintenance eg lobby carpet repair/replacement, gutter cleaning, gardening/lawn mowing, painting, concrete repairs etc)? It is better to have planned maintenance (showing that the strata manager& BC are forward thinking as opposed to only having to react to breakdowns).Yes and no. It depends.
That is, there are two types of leases. Gross – the tenant pays you one figure which is inclusive of all outgoings except water use & electricity/phone. Nett – the tenant pays all or nominated outgoings ie insurance, rates, water, council, maintenance, land tax, management fees etc IF they are listed in the lease as payable by the tenant.
You can always go part way as well ie semi-gross: tenant pays some of the outgoings or increases above a base year.
THere definitely is in NSW. Refer to the Fair Trading website, there is probably a link to 'selling your home' & your rights.
Troody, there are a few questions to ask for your own peace of mind: 'what rights do you have if there is no lease in place?', 'what is the period of notice required for the tenant?', 'is it possible that the tenant will agree to sign a lease for a period of one month?'. It is always best to cover your rights as the building owner as well as to have some evidence of a lease giving both parties rights (right to occupy, right to payment, termination conditions etc).
Buying a BA is personal preference.
The downsides: you have several neighbours (and a lot of fence to replace), you have minimal street frontage, a long driveway, possible reduction in security as you are away from the street.
Upsides: you are away from the street, quieter location, not bothered by neighbour going up and down the common driveway/access handle.
If you are concerned about capital growth, look at several BA's and properties at the front of the block, look for the original sale and resales on the sales data. You will be surprised at the results.
Richard, 90 day settlement, not on a std contract in NSW (at least), should be around 6 weeks only, so May will give a June settlement. As he points out you can't claim expenses until it is leased out so you may consider getting earlier settlement or early access to the premises to lease it out (with the vendor getting the rent up to settlement). If you do rent it out before the end of the FY, then you may even consider pre-paying the year's interest in June (if you have an interest only loan).
The main thing will be to get a late May/early June settlement so you can lease it out straight away,
