Hi everyone, As you can probably tell I'm new to this and just realised that the water supply charges are double the estimated provided from the RE listing. I think the REA didn't realise that the property has separate water meters for the main residence and the granny flat. Looking closer at the bills, the renovated 3×1 main residence with a pool has a rateable value of $14300 and the 70s 2×1 granny flat has a rateable value of $15600. I know the GRV is based on the value of the property on 1st August 2015 but I don't know why the granny flat is rated higher than the main residence. Is there anything I can do about this now that I've had the property for 3 months and the council rates just got issued last month? Should I try to 'reduce' the GRV for next time? Also bonus question, should I get a property valuation done if I bought the house in cash? My current plan is to rent out the main residence and try to renovate the granny flat whilst I'm in it until the lease expires next year or so and move into the main residence later while short letting the granny flat. I'm not really planning to sell the property since it ticks a lot of our PPOR checklist (maybe when I can sub divide it) Thank you!
Very likely, settlement agent would have picked it up though, would have been documented accordingly. Is the total fenced land area including access, parking etc larger for the GF vs main res? Should be details on the rates notice re making GRV enquiries, make a few calls.
Thank you @WestOz. The settlement agent did pick it up and it just dawned on me a few months later that my water bills are much higher than I initially expected. The main house and GF share the front parking area but the GF's fenced off area is slightly less than half of the property area. One reason I think it might be because the previous owner owns a construction company and lived in the main residence while the GF was rented out to tradies. Not sure if that was the case in Aug 2015 and if the tradies paid to live there. I'm also confused with whether GRV takes into account the actual rent changed at the time or just as estimation based on the surrounding area. I'm currently overseas but will definitely be calling Landgate next week and see what they say
