Leasing property with separate granny flat.

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Sci-fi, 7th Nov, 2018.

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  1. Sci-fi

    Sci-fi Member

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    Yes I did this morning thank you, she said give her till Friday to sort out with the builder of the GF as she wants to set up a seperate address which apparently should have been done before I moved in so we both can set up
    Our own electricity accounts, what a screwed up situation, I’ve been a landlord I can’t believe the negligence here.
     
    Marg4000 likes this.
  2. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    If it does end up being the case that you are being charged for power supply to both premises, I would have thought its a pretty simple legal cause of action to recover the full amount of all your power supply bills from the landlord.
     
    Marg4000 likes this.
  3. Sci-fi

    Sci-fi Member

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    Yes it definitely is the case, however I don’t fancy going to tribunal as I’ve only been in the property for three months, this is my first electricity bill, not a good start, I’m hoping the PM and landlord fix this ASAP.
     
    Marg4000 likes this.
  4. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    You don't necessarily have to go to tribunal. You could just ask them for the money first.
     
  5. neK

    neK Well-Known Member

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    Or you can call up and cancel your electricity - at which point the person at the other house will also have no power :p

    Electricity doesn't get shut off anyway, there's a grace period.
     
  6. Sci-fi

    Sci-fi Member

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    That’s so tempting at this point.
     
  7. Ben Chifley

    Ben Chifley Well-Known Member

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    It would definitely be illegal in South Australia - you can get granny flats approved for elderly family members but if your local council discovers you've been renting it out commercially they'll throw the book at you.
     
  8. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    I think everyone is really jumping to conclusions here, and stressing @Sci-fi about something that might be well on its way to being fixed without dramatic legal action.

    It sounds like the Landord and Agent were under the impression from the builder that it would be charged separately via two NMI's, and so they are investigating what's happened here.

    The two possibilities are either that the builder didn't file the paperwork and so the second NMI wasn't set-up, OR there was a misunderstanding and the second meter was never set up in a way that it could be separately billed. Both of these set-ups are reasonably common with auxiliary dwellings.

    Fortunately because there are two meters, it should be very easy to establish how much of the amount billed you are not responsible for. The Agency can organise for you to be reimbursed for this- and ideally charge the auxiliary dwelling tenants in turn.


    A good point that's been mentioned above is that in many areas, Auxiliary dwellings cannot be rented to non-related parties. Plenty of greedy Landlords will try to circumvent this, but there's a few giveaways- no separate power metering, insufficient bins, shared phone line, shared letterbox. What council are you located in, if you don't mind me asking?
     
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  9. Sci-fi

    Sci-fi Member

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    In NSW, Sydney, they are organising paperwork to set up GF as a separate dwelling as it wasn’t done and apparently the electrician registered both metres to the house, PM said it should be fixed now, I’m calling electricity company on Monday to find out.
     
    Tom Rivera likes this.