I don’t know as I am not a property lawyer, but would think this would depend on the title and any rights such as easements..

Yes initial repairs are not deductible. But you might be able to ‘depreciate’ them.

Hi VFA1

I am not taking on new law clients atm as getting too many.

You can read the legislation at s 55 of the Duties Act NSW and surrounding sections:

http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/da199793/s55.html

VFA1 wrote:

Hi I am a joint tenant in a PPOR with my parents. About 5 years ago I transferred 33.33% of the title into my name in order to build a new house. I paid the required stamp duty at the time. Since then I have married and my wife and I have 3 other investment properties. Getting finance is such a hassle because in order to borrow funds, my parents need to be joint borrowers when I wish to draw equity out of our house (we all live in the house together BTW). I now want to transfer the remaining 66.66% into my name but obviously the property’s value has almost doubled since rebuilding from the previous old home but is there a way I can reduce or eliminate the stamp duty? There is a small amount of equity used but does it make a difference to the situation if there is a mortgage over the property or if it is owned 100% outright which I hope to be holding the title certificate in my hand early next year? Thanks

The only way to avoid duty is to argue that the parents hold their share of the property on trust for you. It would be a resulting trust that arises because of the circumstances. We have helped a couple of people transfer title without duty – or nominal duty in situations like this in NSW.

If having the property mortgaged won’t necessarily affect the duty aspects, but practically the mortgage will need to be discharged when title changes hands – which would mean a new loan application if it won’t be paid out.

Best to seek legal advice.

psrproperty wrote:

Are Equity Release and Refinance the same thing?

nope

Refinance = paying one loan out with another

Equity release = borrowing against an existing property

What I have seen happen with CBA is that someone might put in some money into the loan today and then think they can redraw it immediately or the next day, but they have to wait for the next monthly payment to come out first. I don’t have any CBA loans atm, so have not experienced this, others have not had any issues.

So after you split the loan I would ask them if I paid say $200,000 into the loan today, could I redraw $200,000 tomorrow?

I would split it first then pay $799,900 into the loan and redraw. Otherwise it might automatically close.

You would have 2 loan splits.

Also watch out with CBA as there are a few quirks. Confirm with them that you have redraw and can immediately redraw the full amount.

risky I think

When you sell you eat up equity with the agent fees and then when you buy again you have stamp duty, conveyancing, etc So you might lose about 8% of the value.

You also have to consider the loan. Could you qualify for another loan again?

Think about the effect on the pension too – could you be over the assets test if you downsize?

I am a tax lawyer with a credit licence. with lots of experience in this area. You will need to apportion the interest if you do not split, furthermore, you will be paying back deductible debt with every deposit into the loan.

Splitting a loan means making one loan into 2 (or more).

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by  Benny. Reason: Editing as per Terry's correction - for clarity

I did something similar once. I had the deposit invested in shares and the signed a contract, coming up to settlement I was trying to wait to sell at a peak. and settlement was approaching so i had to bite the bullet and sell at a price less that I could have a few weeks prior.