Did the COVID-19 crisis have you working from home for some of this year? If so you’re not alone. With EOFY almost upon us, it’s important to know that there are certain expenses you can claim a deduction for if you were forced to work from home due to the health crisis. This may result…
Staying compliant with relevant legislation and delivering a great customer experience in property management can require a fine balancing act. Andrew Cox from Maintenance Manager delivered a practical session at the REIQ Summit in March that showed how you can tick both boxes and retain more customers in the process. Here is a summary of…
The REINSW refers to the upcoming NSW rental reforms as “sweeping changes”. So exactly what is changing and how much of an impact will those changes really have on you, your landlords and tenants? All states and territories in Australia have now responded to demand for minimum housing standards for tenants. As a result we…
While the media could be blamed for fear mongering when it comes to coronavirus and some would argue that it’s nothing more than a ‘storm in a teacup’, we all need to take sensible, measured precautions. But what do ‘sensible precautions’ look like at work and in particular, in property management? According to the OECD,…
Demand for minimum housing standards for the growing number of tenants in Australia has resulted in rental reforms being rolled out state by state. Now all states and territories are on board, albeit at different stages of the process. So, what’s the latest in your state/territory? Based on the last Census, 31% of Australians rent…
By now you would have heard the news about the QLD government’s proposed rental reforms and the subsequent responses from the REIQ and others about Stage 1 of the proposal. But what are the reforms trying to achieve? Rental reforms are nothing new in Queensland and elsewhere. In July this year New Zealand implemented national…
It’s tax time and that means most of your landlords would be gearing up to complete their annual tax return. One thing they may not be aware of however is that the ATO has announced a crackdown on investment property deductions. According to the ATO, 2.2 million Australians claimed over $47 billion in tax deductions…
A Gold Coast family that unwittingly lived as tenants in a house riddled with toxic levels of methamphetamine is currently planning to take their former real estate agency to court. After testing, it was discovered that the house had been contaminated with the drug by previous tenants. The managing agency was ordered to pay the…
A national safety warning has been issued this month on four gas heater models following a tragic death from carbon monoxide poisoning in Victoria. With winter just around the corner, this is an issue all property managers must be on top of now. The four models in question all failed safety tests, prompting the national…
Two real estate agents in NSW were recently ordered to pay a tenant $330,000 because they allegedly failed to respond to requests made via email to fix a broken light. The five owners of the property and the agents all denied responsibility when the tenant slipped down the building’s common stairwell in the dark and…
A watch zone is currently in place in Far Northern Queensland from Cape York to Cape Grenville and Cape Flattery to Cape Tribulation, including Cooktown and adjacent inland areas, as Tropical Cyclone Trevor continues to intensify. Currently classified Category 1, Tropical Cyclone Trevor is expected to intensify to a Category 2 before crossing the eastern…
New tenancy reforms for victims of domestic violence in NSW commenced on February 28, 2019. Designed to improve protection for tenants and/or their children living in a domestic violence situation, the new law allows the tenant to terminate their tenancy immediately, without penalty, if they or one or more dependent children are experiencing domestic violence…