Ang Kalatas Volume V November 2014 Issue | Page 16

16 TENANT’S RIGHTS - Access and Privacy A s a tenant you have rights under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and Regulation. There’s a factsheet from NSW Fair Trading that explains the law about your rights to privacy and the landlord’s rights to enter the premises. YOUR RIGHTS You are entitled to ‘reasonable peace, comfort and privacy’ in your use of the premises. The landlord/agent must not interfere with, or cause or permit anyone to interfere with, your peace, comfort and privacy. LANDLORD’S RIGHT TO ENTER THE PREMISES Other than as outlined below, the landlord/agent, or another person authorised by the landlord, must not enter the premises. If the landlord/agent gives you the proper notice (if applicable) and they have a valid purpose, you must allow them to enter. This applies whether or not you are at the premises at the time. ENTRY WITH CONSENT The landlord/agent, or another person authorised by the landlord, can enter the premises at any time with your consent. ENTRY WITHOUT CONSENT, WITHOUT NOTICE The landlord/agent, or another person authorised by the landlord, can enter the premises without your consent and without notice, only: a. In an emergency, or b. To do urgent repairs (see Factsheet: Repairs and maintenance), or c. If the landlord thinks that the premises have been abandoned, or d. In accordance with an order of the Consumer, Trader DOM MELLA [email protected] ENTRY WITHOUT CONSENT, WITH NOTICE Th e landlord/agent, or another person authorised by the landlord, can enter the premises without your consent for certain purposes. See the Tenants Factsheet by Fair Trading, for number of times entry is permitted and minimum notice periods. Except as noted in the factsheet, notice does not have to be in writing. If notice is posted to you, the landlord/ agent must allow an extra four working days for delivery. SHOWING THE PREMISES TO PROSPECTIVE TENANTS – “reasonable” notice / number of times l The law does not say what ‘reasonable’ means. A disagreement about what is reasonable can be settled by the CTT Tribunal. l If you disagree with the landlord/agent about reasonable access, apply to the CTT Tribunal for an order to specify or limit the days and times on which Saving for a house deposit JERONE PROPERTY | FINANCE REAL ESTATE MADE EASY and Tenancy Tribunal (CTT Tribunal), or Entry without consent – permitted frequencies and e. If they have serious concern about the health/safety of a person on the premises (after they have first tried to get your consent to enter). Except in the case of (e) above, the ‘Limits to entry without consent’ do not apply (see Factsheet by Fair Trading). THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 5 Number 2 | November 2014 PROPERTY MARKET the landlord/agent can show the premises. l If you refuse access, the landlord/agent can apply to the CTT Tribunal for an order that authorises them or any other person to enter the premises. SHOWING THE PREMISES TO PROSPECTIVE BUYERS – agreeing to days and times l The landlord/ agent must try to come to an agreement with you about days and times of inspections. l You must not unreasonably refuse to agree to days and times for showing the premises. However, you need not agree to more than two showings in any period of a week. l The landlord/agent may apply to the CTT Tribunal for an order to specify the days and times that you must let the premises be shown. You may contact Dom Mella for free advice or for more information on 8887 5400 or 0403 226 169. Email: [email protected] Reference: NSW Fair Trading Dom Mella is the Principal/ Licensee of Ray White Rooty Hill. He’s also a qualified accountant with background in Finance & Investments. He’s been in real estate business since 1999. W ith tod a y ’s increas i n g cost of living, it is becoming very hard to save. I have written this article for those people hoping to save up for a deposit on their first home. Sometimes, saving money can seem nearly impossible. If you’re on a tight budget, putting money away can feel like a luxury you just can’t afford. The good news is you don’t have to be wealthy to be able to save money. There are plenty of ways you can start building up your savings even if you don’t have a lot to spare. And every little bit you put aside now will make a major difference later. PAY YOURSELF FIRST If you wait till all your other expenses are paid before you decide if you have anything ‘left’ to save, you will never have anything left, that’s just human nature. Life has a way of throwing unexpected expenses our way like sudden car repairs. Set yourself up for success by paying yourself first. Every time you get paid, take a certain amount and put it straight into savings account. If an unexpected expense comes up, chances are you can find a creative way to take care of it. If you don’t give yourself the option to spend that money, you won’t. AUTOMATE IT Make things even easier by creating automatic deductions from your daily transactional account to your savings account. If your employer offers the facility have a fraction of your pay automatically paid into yours savings account. BALAGTAS [email protected] Don’t even give yourself the option to decide whether that money will go into savings or not—set it and forget it! The easiest way to stay on track is to not even give yourself the option. BANK ANY CASH WINDFALLS Every now and then, we find ourselves coming into extra money. It may be a rebate for that new appliance, a tax refund from the ATO or a $200 cash gift from your grandparents. Anytime you find yourself with money that wasn’t planned for in your budget, bank it. It can be all too easy to see sudden money as a chance to splurge or treat ourselves, but if you put that money straight into savings, it can pay you even more down the line thanks to compounding interest. MAXIMISE YOUR SAVINGS If you’re just putting your money into the savings account that came as a package deal when you opened your checking account, chances are you’re missing out. Make sure you’re really putting your hard-earned money to work for you by opening a high-interest savings account or managed funds or on a term deposit. If you decide to invest some of your money, make sure you understand your investment options and keep an eye on the performance of your funds. HOW MUCH DEPOSIT DO I NEED? If you are looking into buying a $500,000 home then you will need at least 5% deposit, being $25,000. The bank will fund/lend $475,000 and you will need to cover the rest to complete the transaction. The next major cost that needs to be accounted for is the cost of Stamp Duty, this is a state government tax payable by the purchaser of a property. The amount of stamp duty depends on the purchase price of the property. Recent changes to the first home buyers stamp duty concession has made it a bit harder for people as they now have to pay for stamp duty (unless they are constructing a new property). People can access the rulings and stamp duty calculator by visiting the Office of State Revenue website. As an example, stamp duty for a $500,000 home will be $18,311. So back to answering the question, “how much do you need to buy your own home”? If you wanted to purchase a property for $500,000 then what you approximately need is: Deposit $25,000 Stamp Duty $18,311 $43,311 At minimum you will need $43,311 to buy a property of $500,000. You will also need funds to cover Lenders Mortgage Insurance as most banks will only allow to capitalise this insurance to a maximum of 97%. Jerone Balagtas is a local successful Filipino mortgage broker part of the One Solutions group, he has 12years experience in the accounting/finance/ banking industry. He walks the talk as he is a successful avid property investor. Jerone encourages anyone to contact him regarding questions pertaining to finance on 0439 594 899.