If you have purchased a property with someone else, it is likely that you’ve at least had an initial chat about sharing the costs of owning the property – but have you discussed what happens if one of the co-owners wants to sell their interest in the property?  Or worse still, if one of the co-owner...

Property purchasers and especially real estate agents should take note of a Supreme Court decision handed down last week in relation to representations made regarding a property’s right of way (aka “easement for carriageway”), and whether the property owners had the right to park on the right of way...

What are outgoings?

Outgoings are expenses incurred by the landlord arising out of its ownership of the premises.

Typical outgoings include:

• Taxes fees and charges – e.g. Council rates, water rates, land tax
• Day to day costs – e.g. cleaning, garbage collection
• Maintenance and repair services
...

PEXA ("Property Exchange Australia") is the new electronic property settlement portal, making life easier for solicitors and conveyancers, but what are the benefits to you as a client?

To name just a few:

• Less room for error - There is less chance of issues arising at settlement causing delays,
...

The New South Wales Government introduced legislation last year bringing into effect surcharges on stamp duty and land tax, to be payable on residential property purchased or owned by anyone falling within the definition of a “foreign person”.

Who is a Foreign Person?

Section 4 of the Foreign Acqu...

Commercial leases typically are for a fixed initial term of, say, 3 or 5 years, with an “option to renew” period of a further 3 or 5 years.  The lease document will note the specific dates within which you must exercise your option to renew the lease.  Usually the date range falls within 3 months an...

As you may be aware, owners of certain types of property are required to pay capital gains tax when the property is sold.  This is normally accounted for when the vendor does their next tax return.  However, in the case of foreign residents, compliance has been poor and it has proven difficult for t...

Shire Legal acted for a client purchasing a property at Burraneer through a local real estate agent.  The client had first seen the property 12 months prior when he was not seriously in the market to purchase.  It was not until 12 months later that he was ready to buy, and at that stage, the vendor ...

Consider this – you have entered into a contract to purchase a property, but for various reasons, the property no longer suits you.  But it will suit your parents perfectly.  So can you transfer the contract over to your parents, so that your parents are the purchasers?

Also consider this – your bu...

A few years ago, Shire Legal acted for a client purchasing a property at Kurnell.   There was nothing particularly unusual about the transaction – it was a standard family home being sold from one family to another.

However initial enquiries carried out by Shire Legal suggested that the recent reno...

Rising house prices across Sydney have made it difficult for people trying to enter the property market. In response to this we are seeing more and more people buying property with friends or family members rather than trying to go it alone.

This can be a great solution because sharing the costs of...

Section 162 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) provides that a Fair Trading Strata Schemes Adjudicator can order for the compulsory appointment of a strata managing agent to exercise all of the functions of an owners corporation, or only specified functions, as well as the functions of ...