Discuss your requirements with your solicitor first to ensure the lease is made a condition of the contract – a standard residential lease is only covered by Fair Trading/ VCat if the term is < 3 years.

Then contact a few agents to get their opinions – choose the agent who is most attuned to the situation, don’t go on estimated price, marketing costs or commission alone as they will all offer the same spin.

if the property is currently leased, there is precious little you can do about the presentation by the tenants, that’s the way they live.

If the house was vacant a stylist could provide you with as little or as much as you require – from furniture to rugs, accessories, artwork Etc……. Cost will vary with the services provided & length of hire/eot. They will also advise if you need to touch-up painting in specific rooms.

none that I can think of off the top of my head.

In very general terms, you will be required to remit 1/11th of the contract price as gst (possibly less if using the margin scheme).

How about a yurt or some reconditioned site sheds?

Garages generally aren’t habitable rooms. That is, the walls, fenestration and ceiling heights do not meet the BCA requirements.

Setbacks won’t be an issue where the building meets the BCA standard – zero lot lining is permitted provided there are no fire source features ie windows & doors.

is the property owned by you/your company with the abn? Is the bookkeeping company’s name on the lease?

As you are not able to charge gst on residential, issue one invoice for the total rent payable to be received in monthly payments.

I do find that most accountants will accept that the lease is sufficient to evidence the requirement to pay rent & the direct credit at the bank is evidence of payments.

For a small rental like that, I wouln't anticipate much of a discount from what you'd be paying for residential  – say around 7% + gst in Sydney metro although it will vary depending upon the type and quality ofproperty

There is plenty of room for special conditions provided they don’t contravene the RTA.

Something as simple as ‘…the tenant acknowledges that the owner has received development approval & may commence construction without further reference or compensation for disturbance to the tenant’, could probably suffice.

Bend the agent’s professional indemnity insurance. The initial judgement is against you as owner however you may be able to prove a case in negligence against the agent and to claim the same + costs.

Some agents will accept a small part of the deposit on a card but be wary of the fees.

I am pretty sure that stamp duty must be paid by bank cheque – solicitors are pretty rigid on that count.