General Interest (Page 16)

Whether it is routine maintenance, emergency repairs, lease renewals or property vacancies, you will always have the landlord asking you to explain the necessity and costs involved. Property Management over the last decade has become much harder, and time consuming, as legislation has changed and people are taking others to tribunal over the smallest of things. The first lease I prepared was in 1997. It was typed on a typewriter with carbon copies, and there was no such thing as inventories, CMA’s or online bookings. If someone had told me that in 18 years’ time that we would be arranging smoke alarms to be checked for every new lease IRead More →

Contributed By: Hynes Legal on

If you have even a passing interest in federal politics, you will have seen the furore over Bronwyn Bishop’s recent taxpayer funded chopper flight to a Liberal fundraiser which was only an hour or so away by car. No doubt it was the easiest $5,000 she ever spent at the time. When it came to light there was quite legitimate outrage about the spending, and the sole defence seems to be that it was ‘within guidelines’. Some guidelines they must be. It has since been paid back. And so no one thinks we are singling out the Liberals, if you want to see what happens on the ‘other’Read More →

There’s a lot of development going on right now, particularly in Brisbane. The sheer size and number of new apartment buildings that are coming online is placing some strain on existing managers trying to find tenants to fill vacancies. According to senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson from Domain, increased stock will have a short-term impact on rent in Brisbane while the additional stock is being filled. “Even though we might see some over-supply impact the market, Brisbane will generate an inner-city lifestyle,” Dr Wilson said. “It might happen (over-supply) in the short to medium-term, but the outlook for that type of development in Brisbane isRead More →

We at TheOnsiteManager.com recently partnered with 1300-Unite to deliver professional tradesmen to onsite managers. Our one-stop-service shop is dedicated to helping Onsite Managers with anything that you need from installing a dishwasher, replacing a carpet, unlocking an apartment, fixing your blinds, pest control, you name it! All our service providers are: licenced, insured, police checked and they’re standing by, in your area, right now! Best of all, our service is lightning fast and incredibly easy to use! You simply type in what you need done in a couple of words, along with your name, address, phone and email, and our system operators will carefully sortRead More →

Contributed By: Hynes Legal on

We don’t like being negative nellies, but sometimes we do need to talk about the things that go wrong in these newsletters. Alan Greenspan (the then Federal Reserve Chairman in the USA) coined the famous phrase ‘irrational exuberance’ in relation to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990’s, but it could apply to any boom since (and before – even back to the tulip boom of the 1600’s.) If you were to Australianise that phrase it would be along the lines of something being ‘too silly for words’. It is not for a lawyer to talk about risk when it comes to valuations / asset pricing asRead More →

We have all been there!! Looking for a house to buy in any chosen location and we come across a nice looking property. Right location, well-constructed, nice paintwork, lovely grounds. Looks likely. Wait a minute…. Why are there four ‘To Sell’ signs attached to the front fence from four different real estate agents? Before we know it, despite the many positives about this property, a question mark hovers overhead. If the property looks the part, how is it that between four selling agents it has not yet sold? Of course nothing need be amiss. The property could well be perfect. However that question mark hoveringRead More →

Body corporate insurance is arguably the most important aspect of building management, but when it comes to using it, it can be difficult to understand what’s covered and what’s not. The basic principle of strata insurance is to provide cover for common property and the building’s structure. This means that the body corporate is responsible for all common areas and the structural elements of the building. Owners are typically responsible for the internal contents of their unit. There are some circumstances where the body corporate can provide cover for internal fixtures if they are classified as part of the building’s structure. For example, if an owner’s hot water systemRead More →

Contributed By: SSKB Strata Managers on

There is an entrenched belief in the industry that property market trends in Sydney and Melbourne tend to precede activity in the Queensland markets. The market in Brisbane and the Gold Coast has historically seen an upturn in property sales volumes as the southern markets ‘overheat’ and property values increase to the point where they are no longer seen as sustainable or affordable. Property investors then turn to markets where they perceive greater prospect of capital growth and return is available. However at the moment we are seeing strength in the apartment markets of Sydney, NSW; Melbourne, Victoria and southern QLD in both Brisbane andRead More →

A couple of years ago, someone put me onto this little-known app called Netflix. Within about 15 minutes of having my TV connected to Netflix, I picked up the phone, called Foxtel, and cancelled my subscription on the spot… the $9.95 a month account that I’d opened on Netflix offered thousands of hours of on-demand, commercial-free entertainment, and had instantly removed the need for my $100 a month, ad-ridden, rerun-filled Foxtel account, forever. I’ve never looked back. These businesses are called disruptive innovators, or disruptors. They don’t create new markets they simply evolve existing markets and cause a disruption to the existing businesses trading inRead More →

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