Monday, November 16, 2009

Schoolies Ban!

Interesting to hear that the committee of Q1 in Surfers Paradise are looking at ways to prevent schoolies from staying in the states tallest highrise. The Courier Mail reports that up to 500 students may have already been booked for the week. Apparently, the committee at Q1 are investigating legal avenues and possible changes to the by laws to prevent schoolies from staying in their building.

Perhaps the committee at Q1 might take their cue from Palm Springs Residences who recently voted to restrict all letting to a minimum of 42 days in their building. No doubt this will be open to challenge but it is an example of how residents and holiday rentals do not always mix.

It will be interesting to see how the committee for Q1 deals with this situation.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are personal and not intended in to be advice in any way. I have spent many years participating on a number of different Body Corporate Committees. I am a dealer in Vintage Movie Memorabilia specialising in original movie posters and movie art. http://www.moviemem.com/I also present a radio programme on Jazz Radio 94.1fm Monday - Friday afternoons on the Gold Coast.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Why would you holiday let your apartment?

A large resort complex is currently advertising a special on luxury one bedroom apartments with beach views, separate lounge and kitchen, spa, etc etc, for $115.00 per night - no minimum stay. The complex is obvioulsy managed with hefty Body Corporate levies to go towards maintaining the extensive grounds, pools, gyms, tennis courts, etc.

The units were sold as "investments" with a "guaranteed return" for a set time frame. If you do your calculations, $115.00 a night will not leave very much at all for the owner of the unit after deducting cleaning and linen fees (often at $80.00 per clean), management fees/commission, Body Corporate levies, rates, etc etc. By the time all that is taken into account there is no possible way an owner can make a viable return.

The managers of the complex argue that they have to compete with other resorts but all they really care about is having high occupancy.

Many owners have had to liquidate their investments for far less than their purchase price because they were misled into believing that the holiday rentals would cover their repayments.

Bottom line is that you should think very carefully about purchasing an apartment for holiday letting.
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The opinions expressed in this blog are personal and not intended in to be advice in any way. I have spent many years participating on a number of different Body Corporate Committees. I am a dealer in Vintage Movie Memorabilia specialising in original movie posters and movie art. http://www.moviemem.com/I also present a radio programme on Jazz Radio 94.1fm Monday - Friday afternoons on the Gold Coast.

Illegal Parking or a free for all?

Bodies Corporate often have to deal with vehicles that have been illegally parked and they usually go through a combination of the following steps:
  • notify the owner of the vehicle
  • place a notice on the vehicle requesting that it be moved.
  • give a further notice if the vehicle is not moved within a set time frame
  • have the vehicle towed if it is not moved within a reasonable time frame

Well, it seems that a recent decision might prevent Bodies Corporate from taking these steps without:

  • issuing a formal contravention notice
  • obtaining an order from the commissioners office which might take months to receive

There has been a report that one Body Corporate was ordered to retrieve a car that had been towed away and pay expenses to the owner.

Many committees will feel that it is not worth the aggravation of going to the trouble of lodging applications to the commissioner and issuing contravention notices over a perceived illegally parked vehicle.

This is another example of how the system fails owners by being unnecessarily complicated.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are personal and not intended in to be advice in any way. I have spent many years participating on a number of different Body Corporate Committees. I am a dealer in Vintage Movie Memorabilia specialising in original movie posters and movie art. http://www.moviemem.com/I also present a radio programme on Jazz Radio 94.1fm Monday - Friday afternoons on the Gold Coast.