The Government is ramping up efforts to address soaring property prices, and, having focused on the “demand” side of the equation, is now moving to focus on “supply”.
Latest stats show building is booming in our neck of the woods. And you don’t need to take too long a Sunday drive to see new homes of all shapes and sizes popping up everywhere – a trend fuelled no doubt in part by the current bargain basement interest rates.
I know. The year’s barely started, and here am I wanting to tax those post-holiday brain cells with news about, well, tax. But, given the property season is in full swing, this is one you might just need to be across sooner rather than later, if you’re looking at trading.
It’s only a couple of weeks until the major changes around residential property taxes come into force – and we’ve been out and about on a bit of an educational blitz.
It’s great to see the increasing number of our clients taking advantage of the new KiwiSaver HomeStart package – with the Government confirming the scheme is off to the same cracking start nationally that we’re seeing in our parts.
Having recently clocked the big 2-0 in my legal career, I started doing a bit of a recreational, back-of-the-envelope tally of how many property transactions I’ve clocked up during that time – I got into the many thousands very quickly, felt old, and stopped.
A recent High Court decision (Johnson & Ors v Auckland Council) develops the law around the extent of a buyer’s liability for failing to complete proper due diligence checks when buying a leaky home. The case shows that the compensation paid to a buyer will be reduced if the buyer does not take adequate care when deciding to buy, even if the Council has been negligent.
