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The Body Corporate would be the same as any other business. It could have income (say from leased property) on which GST might be chargeable, and it will pay bills to outside parties which have a GST component. Even interest received from bank accounts is taxable income.
But levies received from owners are not income.
A levy is not a charge for “goods and services”, it is simply a transfer of funds from each owners bank account to a mutual account from which bills can be paid. it is no different to you moving money from one of your own bank accounts to another. The ATO was clearly stated in the past that this money in a Strata account is not “income”. Thus I can’t see how it should attract a GST component, whether it is commercial or not.
I am familiar with this building, as I have friends living there and visit occasionally.
The discussions here seem to be about “brothels in apartments” which I gather does occur. But in this particular case they are in commercial suites separate from the residential section, and are directly accessible from the street.
So it would appear that someone in the Strata hierarchy has approved their use as massage shops, perhaps not with the direct intention of sexual services being provided. Surely this would constitute a breach of lease conditions and would enable the offenders to be dealt with by the owners or OC?
In our building, electricity is individually metered for each lot, so is the gas. So it should not be any more onerous for Sydney Water to come out and read individual meters if they are installed. The added cost to read a meter would only be a very small percentage of the total cost we get slugged. Like electricity, there would be a separate meter to record common property usage, which the OC pays but includes in levy estimates.
I think individual water meters are now required on new developments, but retro-fiiting them into existing buildings would be extremely difficult and expensive.
@kiwipaul said:
Their is a quicker way to get a result (even if it’s a hobby), inform the Tax office that they are earning an income which they are not declaring to the taxman (a virtual certainty if it’s a cash business).Just for the record the No is 1800 060 062
Income from a “hobby” is not usually taxable. You might have to be able to convince the ATO that it is a hobby, not a part time business. You are not able to claim any deductions against hobby income.
Just have a look around the granny flat and see if you can find a meter box. It would have to be somewhere accessible to a reader.
From my past experiences, if there is a “sub-meter”, it is used by the installation “owner” to calculate the usage and seek re-imbursement based on its readings. The supplier won’t be interested in reading it.
I took “laundry on the balcony” in the context of breaching by-laws to mean having their washing out to dry there.
@daphne diaphanous said:
Just so JimmyT. Meanwhile, an idea occurred to me, which might help matters. It shouldn’t be too difficult to lift the bonnet & find the engine number. I believe they are trackable to the last owner. If that person is a resident, the SM should be able to take care of the rest, with appropriate penalties.Usually you can’t lift the bonnet without opening the car doors first, and if these doors are locked, you may be up for “break and enter” if you force your way in.
Even if you do get a chassis VIN or engine number, the police or traffic authorities are not allowed to tell you who the owner is. At best they MIGHT tell you if there is an address match. If it is not registered, there may be no record of who the current owner is anyway.
Is this car still registered? You should be able to find out using your traffic authorities’ web site.
Regardless, if you tow the car outside, and leave it parked normally in the street (not on the nature strip), this should not be immediately considered “illegal dumping”, and I doubt the council can take action against you. It would just be an unregistered car parked there. Even councils have to wait a reasonable period of time before the car can then be declared “abandoned” and remove it, which becomes their responsibility. It seems that they cannot claim compensation from previous owners even if they are identified. The original owner is hardly likely to come back and complain that you moved his car.
In the past I have had a few cheap old “bangers” which I have used till they break down. I have then rung up one of the companies that offer “free removal” of cars; a tow truck turns up and takes the car away, I have never been asked for PoO or even personal ID.
@Wirihana said:
Thanks for your postings again guys, Whale, I would consider one or two days a week a casual visiting basis as opposed to residency.I find it hard to accept that you could be classified as a “visitor” when you are the owner of the property. The length of your occupancies, even one night per month, would be irrelevant.
Our local council website says you can operate a salon from home without council approval, but says nothing about a strata managed complex.
Is it really a simple as this?
This can also be a problem when tenants move out of a property. All their unwanted appliances, clothing and household “junk” gets dumped into garbage bins, and furniture is left lying around the common property.
Even new tenants moving in can generate a large volume of packaging from their new furniture and appliances.
Unless the offenders are caught in the act, it is difficult to recoup the clean-up costs.
Most of my on-line shopping is done through PayPal. They deduct the payment from my cheque account 21 days after purchase. I don’t know if this can be done with a corporate account.
I don’t think the electricity authorities are too keen about unqualified people being in meter rooms, for safety reasons. There is also a security risk from mischievous interference with settings.
If there is any incident in the building that necessitates access to this area, it should be attended to by a licenced electrician.
Perhaps the cleaner could be given a more appropriate area to store his spare light bulbs. Likewise, if painting or tiling is impeded by electrical installations, perhaps a LE should also be involved?
Digital TV has been around for a number of years already, and no doubt many, if not all, of your residents are already enjoying it, either with dedicated TV sets or “set top boxes”. The only change to come will be that the analog system is being shut down.
In most cases there should be no need to change anything within the building, as existing aerials and wiring will cope. A quick survey of your residents who are receiving digital should give an indication of any problems.