Hi Reginald

The NSW Dept of Fair Trading's position on Water Usage is:

Water usage

In some cases a tenant may be asked to pay to the landlord the water usage part of the bill. The ‘water usage’ charge which appears on the landlord's bill for the rented premises is for the total amount of water which flows through the water meter on the property.

A tenant may only be charged for water usage when they have agreed to pay for water usage under the additional terms of the tenancy agreement. If there is no additional term about ‘water usage’ (usually under clause 29 of the standard form of residential tenancy agreement), a tenant cannot be asked to pay any amount.

A tenant can only be charged for the metered amount of water which they use. For this reason it is important that the water meter be read and the figure noted on the premises condition report before the start of each tenancy. Otherwise there will be no way of dividing the first account between the tenant and the former occupant.

If there is no individual meter for the rented premises, as is the case with most blocks of units, a tenant cannot be charged for water usage. If the supply authority has a minimum amount payable for all properties the tenant does not have to pay for water.

A tenant is entitled to a photocopy of the water account and should pay any amount owing before the due date on the bill.

Cheers,  Paul

Hi Adam

Would you mind sending me your email address from the Contact page of our website:
http://www.jvpropertypartners.com.au/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=63

I'll then get back to you with a bunch of questions about the property and we can see what turns up.

Cheers,  Paul

Hi Adam

I was think of turning two of your five properties to positive cash flow, by selling them with an Instalment Contract (IC) but I'm not sure if this would generate sufficient extra cash flow to cover your needs.

Selling with an IC usually allows you to sell at a premium price, with the trade off being, the time over which you get the money.  Selling two properties would normally generate anywhere from $30K to $50K in deposit payments to you, from the IC buyers as they move in.

You could probably expect $300 week week positive cash flow from both properties.  And you could expect your fixed capital gain in 3 to 5 years, i.e. when your IC buyers refinance into a traditional home loan.  Your fixed capital gain is the difference between what you owe on the property and what you sell it for with an IC, less whatever your IC buyers have paid off their loan, while they're with you.

As mentioned above, approximately $300 per week may not cover your needs but you never know 

Cheers,  Paul

Hi VIC3000

All the eligible Regional Municipalities are listed at:
http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/sro/SROnav.nsf/childdocs/-6BF180369BCB3975CA2575A1004420CF-65A02CC2EEDDD527CA2575A1004420E8-DBFEE9B4136A31E1CA2575CB00012C32

Cheers,  Paul

Hi Tiff

Yes, talk with the selling Agent.  They will usually assign one of their people to make your bids for you at the auction.  She/he stands in the crowd and you instruct him/her over the phone.  The Agent usually charges nothing for this service as they're very pleased to have another bidder on the property.

Cheers,  Paul

I agree with Terry but, if you can, try to get her list first, before you give her yours.  This often helps your side of the negotiation.
 
Cheers,  Paul

Hi Keen

Could you confirm that your Affiliate number for the site you mentioned, is ?af=CLS1113964  ?

Cheers,  Paul

Hi illuminati

We keep away from them completely, for both our tenanted buy & holds and the properties we buy and on-sell with vendor finance.  Our experience was they cost us too much in the longer term.

Cheers,  Paul

Hi Trev

We've used Megasealed probably 15 or so times and have got nothing but high praise for them.  They've also got a long guarantee, so that's also been appealing.

Cheers,  Paul