Conveyancing in Adelaide.

[singingpom]

Hi all.

Having bought a house seven years ago with the intention of migrating to Adelaide, things didn't happen, and we rented the house out until we sold it a couple of weeks ago.

Having had differing levels of management (mostly pretty poor), and tenants who didn't really give a damn, we sold up.

Anyone from the UK thinking of buying a property to rent out in Australia needs to look at the range of things the Landlord pays for, which is dramatically different to how it is here. The insurance costs are astronomical, with extremely poor payouts when things go wrong.

Good luck to all of you emigrating and already there. We hope it is all you hoped for.

Edited March 21, 2015 by NicF
Removing recommendation as per forum rules

[Toni]

I think the key is to get a good property manager. When I had a long term rental I had an excellent one and she was pretty spot on with most things but not all. I think it is more difficult to manage your property if you don't live nearby and be able to inspect it yourself. Although the property manager was good I always went to exit inspections and was more careful in the way I checked the home on exit.

[Rammygirl]

Well we rented our Australian house out when we moved back to UK. We had a great agent though. Insurance wasn't astronomical and paid out to cover all damage after a neighbours tree dropped a limb on the roof! The agent and insurance company sorted it all out before they told us so all we had to do was approve it. Less hassle than when a tree fell in our garden in the UK!

 

yes you pay things like water and rates as a landlord here but more things can be deducted than in the UK for tax too.

 

You will have a large capital gains tax bill though from the ATO as you are not resident in Aus. Hope you can offset it in the UK somehow.

[singingpom]

Yes, unfortunately we could not keep tabs on the property as we weren't local. When we had bad tenants; lots of "smaller" items of damage and loss to account for, there was a $300 excess on each and every item. Most of them were under $300 but, getting it sorted out meant lots of hassle and a huge monetary loss. Coincidentally, insurance on a rental here was under £100 per annum, whereas insurance in Oz (admittedly it was a bigger place, four beds not two), was in excess of $850. Perhaps we haven't had the best of agents. I have certainly read some reviews that have been almost catastrophic.

If anyone would like to know any specifics on the rental or sale process, then please PM me, and I'll try to get back to you in a decent time span.

[Rammygirl]

Surely if the tenants damaged the property you would re claim from the deposit? Also all repairs would be tax deductible.

 

Inwould be be interested to know how the capital gains thing pans out. We are intending to sell out rental whilst we are resident in Aus to avoid a large bill.

[singingpom]

Hi Rammygirl.

We didn't make any profit so hopefully we won't have to offset any tax.

We have made sure that our Oz accountant has filed all our paperwork for us.

I don't know how it will work for you. Obviously it is easier for you to check it out while you are there. Good luck whichever way it pans out.

As for the tenants deposit paying for the damages; twice we used the entire deposit to cover some of the costs involved clearing up and making good before we could install new tenants. The insurance company makes sure it is used for repairs etc., before paying out their paltry amount at the end. Plus, the management companies don't seem too interested in retrieving the tenants' contributions towards water costs. That is even tough we chased them practically every month; sometimes multiple times per month. At one stage the water arrears were 15 months behind, and another tenant was 12 months behind. That can use up most if not all of the deposit.

I am afraid that we have been left very disappointed with the standard of agency there.

Perhaps if we'd made the move, and used the house we bought for the purpose, it would have been a lot different.

[Rammygirl]

I think your problems are related to your agent. We have had no problems with ours collecting water payments, or in issuing notice promptly when tenants have missed payments.

 

our property is inspected regularly and we get a full report, and pictures if we ask. Fortunately our insurance claim was not because of damage by tenants but they will always deduct any deposit money used from a claim.. after all this is your first source of insurance.

 

Agents do seem to vary a lot here. I hear people say they never get inspections from some agencies. And some don't seem to bother checking references.