noworriesmate

I am looking for some general advice just now and depending on how things go I will pay to get specialised advice in due course. I still have a business in the UK despite living in Aus now for three and a half years as a permanent resident and thus paying tax on my worldwide income here. With the exchange rate looking better than it has since I moved out I am wondering if the time is getting nearer for selling it. So here are my questions: 1) I believe if I were to sell the business now, I would be liable for tax on any increase in value since June 2010 when I moved out, which would be taxed at my prevailing tax rate in Aus as well as capital gains tax in the UK on the difference between what I bought the business for and what it was worth when I emigrated - is this correct? 2) presuming the value of the business hadn't changed since 2010 but the exchange rate had gone from 1.67 to the pound to say 2.00 would I be liable for tax on the increase in value i.e. on $.33 for every pound I sold it for? 3) Now this is the tricky one - The guy who manages the business for me would love to emigrate out here too. Is there a way I could sell one of my branches of my business in the UK (I have 3) and then buy one out here, sponsor him to manage it and then bit by bit sell the other branches in the UK and replace them with ones here. aside from the visa questions, what would be the tax implications in doing this?? I understand this all may all be too technical to ask on here but as I said, just now I am just mulling it over and am not ready to spend the bucks for professional advice. NWM

At 16 someone can choose to leave home and therefore if a 16yr old refuses to emigrate with their parents they do not have to. With our boys who were 17 we said come out and validate your visa so you then have a choice for 5yrs, both did so but one of them decided to return to the UK for a one year course but then returned to Aus and is very happy with no plans to head back again. The trick is to listen to their concerns, treat them as adults, go through the options with them as if you are prepared to let them stay if they really want to. Often it's simply that they want to show you they are independent etc - if you clamp down they will pull against you but if you allow them enough room more often than not the common sense will prevail. NWM

The usual alarmist headlines! Yes if you are in or around a night club, or along Hindley street etc at 3am in the morning you may well see a fight - but that is the case in most cities around the world. However if you are joe average just wanting a quiet, normal, family life then IMHO Adelaide is an incredibly safe place to live. We have just moved to the Southern Suburbs (Christies, Noarlunga) and consider it to be a wonderful area to bring up kids etc but even here there are areas you may not walk along at night, but as I never would, why worry?? NWM

Obviously you have every right to your opinion however you are basing your argument on the premise that the fees charged to tenants are pure profit for the agent. The problem we are left with in Scotland is that tenants are now applying for a number of properties at a time meaning that agents are carrying out, credit checks, taking up references and sometimes 'holding properties' for tenants who have no intention of taking them - who should pay for this? the agent? the landlords? It is customary in any business transaction for both parties to pay for the parts of the contract relevant to them and this has been the practise in Scotland until last year and still is in England. I am not talking about unreasonable fees, simply ones that reflect the actual work undertaken. It is obvious that any company who has been getting a certain fee that legislation then determines as illegal will need to recoup that money from elsewhere or risk going out of business. In the case of letting agents, the only place they have to turn is the landlords who in turn demand extra rent from the tenant to cover this cost. You may hold agents and landlords in utter contempt but there really is little option - certainly in our case if we simply absorbed the loss of income from fees previously charged to the tenant we would be out of business and then some! NWM

They are - Shelter pressured the Scottish government and got them to clarify an existing law which ended up with all fees charged to tenants being deemed illegal. In England Shelter are trying to get them to adopt the same law however there is no existing law regarding this so it means that new legislation would need to be introduced. However bare in mind that all that will happen is that rents will go up to cover the loss of revenue so that tenants will end up paying the same overall, just that the admin fee will be included in an increased rent. NWM

Cool and thanks but my business is in the UK - I just live here, living off the massive profits I make for old rope in the UK!! :biggrin: NWM

I wish that were true - In Scotland where most of my business is based, agents are not allowed to charge any fees to tenants except rent, while in England it really depends where you are and how much competition there is. We can only charge a relatively modest fee to the tenants in Essex but we do not charge the landlords for the same work. The legislation is getting tighter and tighter and we are regularly inspected by the police to check the properties we manage are not being used for cultivation drugs, by HMRC to make sure that overseas landlords are paying the correct tax (we got fined 10k for a client who did not tell us they had split up with their partner and one of them had moved overseas), by the council to make sure that we have registered all the houses with multiple tenants etc etc. All of this we do without being able to charge any fees for this additional time consuming work. All of our staff have to be constantly retrained with the new legislation. I am not trying to make you feel sorry for us but just pointing out that as always there is two sides to every story - my guess is also that not many people would be willing to put up with the abuse that a letting agents staff get from both landlords and tenants when say a fridge packs in over Christmas or a tenant damages a prize plant that the landlord had planted in memory of their dog! NWM

I think Vulcanology would be cooler!! NWM

Thread closed at request of OP NWM

We live in Marion just now but have bought a house in the Christies Beach, Noarlunga area which we move into just before Christmas. The Northern Suburbs around Elizabeth, Munno Para, Salisbury have a poorer reputation however we moved from Paisley so it would take a lot to faze us!!! Personally for families I think the southern suburbs (Hallett Cove down to Aldinga) are pretty good plus Golden grove/T tree Gully in the North East. But there are plenty of other really great places around the city. Southern suburbs have the beaches if that's important to you. NWM

Wow - I would have said the opposite, we have been amazed how little crime we have seen (apart from the hoon driving). I guess it must depend where you choose to live around the city. NWM

Em, I haven't been through what you are going through but I wanted to welcome you to the forum and say thanks for plucking up the courage to post!! NWM

It's next door to my office on Stockwell St, Apparently (and obviously) we aren't able to open today. It's a total tragedy but amazing how the people of Glasgow come together when things like this happen. NWM

quinkla mentioned Rydens - I know them well and both the manager and one of the directors are good friends - if you pm your details I will happily get in contact with them on your behalf and introduce you to them. If they are willing to take on your property you couldn't be in better hands. Regards NWM

If the lease is still in force then you are responsible for repairing the property - if you are nearing the end of the tenancy then you could just let the tenancy end and then get the works done when they move out. As you have rented to them for quite a while now, your other option is to serve them with a notice to quit and then they have two months in order to move out however my guess is that if you did this then they would refuse to pay the rent in the meantime as they are not going to pay you if they have to live in the property with major defects. The best thing always is to chat to the tenants and come to some mutual arrangement - it may be that they are happy to move out while you get the works done, or have some friends or family they can stay with? and then offer them a reduced rent for a while for all the inconvenience etc. I have offices in West Scotland and Essex so can help if your property is there, otherwise an ARLA registered agent should be willing to help you negotiate. If you need to deal with it yourself my advice is to keep chatting to the tenant - it's always the lack of communication or the feeling that the landlord isn't doing anything that gets a tenants back up. NWM

That's not entirely true - the OP has already stated that the tenant had an agreement with the agent - so if the agent hasn't completed the paperwork correctly then they will all be in real poo. The courts are very clear on this kind of thing and the tenants would have even greater protection if it ever came to that. If the lease is in it's first 6 months then the landlord would be responsible for the costs of re-housing the tenants while the repairs were completed. My guess is that the repairs are urgent otherwise you would simply bring the tenancy to an end either by waiting for the end of the lease or by serving notice. I am surprised an agent wouldn't take this on - my company would if it was in our area, we get paid for doing the work, ongoing fees and then hopefully the landlord would tell others about how we helped etc - All good for business. NWM

The contract will still be between you and your tenant - the agent will have signed a lease on YOUR behalf and it will be that lease that contains all the important information. hopefully you have been given a copy of their standard lease so you can see the terms and conditions etc. NWM

I should add from my previous post - I agree the property inspections in Aus are invasive. I can't understand why property managers mention things like dirty dishes or dust or that the lawn needs mowing etc. People are renting the house and as long as the way the tenant is living is not causing any damage to the property then I see observations like this as petty at best. I remember in my early days of owning a letting agency a husband coming in and berating my staff because his wife was in tears due to the fact that my staff had said the kitchen was messy - In this instance I instantly apologised to the man (once I had confirmed his statement was true) and gave him M&S voucher as an apology and sent his wife some flowers. From that time on my staff were instructed not to make note of things that in no way affected the actual property. NWM

Inspections aren't just there to check on tenants, we use them to give feedback to the landlords as to the overall condition of the property, wear and tear, and things that may need attention that the tenant may not have noticed. In the UK a property manager or director can be imprisoned if something happens to the tenant due to his negligence in checking things such as electrical or gas outlets/appliances. I personally would not let to a tenant who would not let my staff protect me from consequences such as these. NWM

Wow that's amazing news - well done for persevering, so many people would have given up by now. I hope that Aus turns out to be everything you have dreamed of but looking at the way you go about things I think thats likely!! Well done (again) NWM

I have to admit - I think a 14hr shift working as a firie is more than a photo opportunity! I'm not a huge fan of his but credit where credits due! NWM

i've printed that off and framed it for posterity!! NWM

We've done the same - advised landlords to let them off some rent etc in order to get them out NWM

The way the law works is that although you have given them notice and their lease has come to an end, if they choose not to move out then the only recourse you have is to take them to court to get vacant possession. Basically by the time you do this and get sheriff officers/Bailiffs to get them out you will be into the early part of next year. It may still be worth doing this as if you decide to let them continue in the lease until next April they may again decide not to move out. I always advise our Landlords to take out Insurance which covers the cost of doing this - it really isn't expensive and gives a lot of peace of mind especially for ex-pat landlords. NWM

Crown in Glasgow are pretty good - they have their own guys in Aus and don't (often) sub it out as others do. Also they include the customs inspection (Aqis) fees as standard (or at least they did) NWM