Finding a date of construction

[obiwan]

Hi all,

I am trying to find the date of construction of a property I own in Perth.
I have contacted the local council and they say I need to pay a fee of $38.50 for them to do a search, and that they cannot gaurantee that they will be able to find it if it was built before 1993?

I have the date of when the property became a strata titled unit, but not the construction date, it is around the 1985-1988 time. I am trying to get a tax depreciation report done and have been told that I need to find this information out (which I thought the depreciation company might do this?) obviously I need to have the exact date as this will effect the depreciation schedule.

Any help appreciated

Obi

 

[ger]

have you looked in the tittle
you should have got a copy when you purchased the property

 

[Cheeks]

Phone western power and get the date a meter was first installed, that date will be sufficient for the schdule.

Some times western power will tell you that they can't help you, persist and you will find they can get the date very easily for you.

 

[pobrien3]

I am in NSW so things may be different over here but I contacted Energy Australia and got the date of electricity connection. This is suffice.

Cheers

Patrick

 

[Dazz]

Phone western power and get the date a meter was first installed, that date will be sufficient for the schdule.

Some times western power will tell you that they can't help you, persist and you will find they can get the date very easily for you.

This has not been my experience. Western Power hasn't been around for that long. Before that was SECWA and most of those records are not accessible - if they exist at all. Western Power records only go back so far.

If you are enquiring about a '85 to '88 building, I think Western Power will not be able to assist and hence power meter installation dates will not suffice.

I bought some industrial sheds constructed in the '60's, no-one can tell me when, not even council, and when I approached Western Power they said a meter was installed in '89...that was as far back as Western Power computer files went (for my property at least).

Hopefully you'll find by other means that the building falls into that sweet spot of mid '85 to some time in '87 where the building depreciation write off is 4% and not the usual 2.5%.

Obiwan, definitely go the $ 38 council fee route, it could be the best money you ever spend.

P.S. I also think the burden to dig for the info and provide written proof should fall upon the company doing the dep. report for you.

 

[Cheeks]

I've had no problem with western power for early 80's properties.

I'd try making a phone call to western power before spending the $38.

I've had several dep schdules performed and western power have always had the answer.

 

[obiwan]

I phoned western power today and they were more than willing to pass on the details of when the meter was installed. So thanks to everyone with that advice.

I have also decided to go ahead and do the search (I am little worried that the ATO might not think that this was the date of construction) it is also an experiment to see if the two dates are similar. Will keep you posted

Cheers

 

[Rixter]

obiwan, out of curiosity whos your QS? When a houses have their electricity meters commissioned a ticket or tag is usually left in the meter box showing date connected & inspected.

Hope this helps.

 

[obiwan]

Hey Rixter, I went to the depreciator.
I did a search on this site and a few people said you could get a discount using them if you mention somersoft. And they were also a bit more flexible on when they could do it, compared to other companies.

 

[Rixter]

Thanks Obiwan. What was the discount like and charges if you dont mind me asking for comparions. I've used HTW known as Deppro for a few years now. $440 inc gst

 

[depreciator]

I'm not sure what we would have charged Obiwan because I don't know who he/she is.
Our standard price is $650+GST i.e. $715.
We discount for repeat clients (quite a few people come back to us). We discount for multiple properties. We discount for forum members and the clients of some affiliates.
Discounts, especially for people with half a dozen properties, in some cases can take the price down to $495.
Yep, we're unapologetically more expensive than some, but cheaper than others.
Why are we more expensive?
- We only send appropriately qualified people to site to estimate costs in accordance with AIQS Best Practice. Lots of companies don't do this. Tempting as it is, I won't name the ones who take shortcuts.
- We have a custom built CRM system where every client phone call and all correspondence is logged. This enables us to answer 'post delivery' questions quickly and efficiently. (It's often service after the Schedule is done that is most important.)
- We send Schedules via e-mail to accountants (if clients want us to, and 80%do). Then if it's the first time we've dealt with that client, we call the accountant to walk them through the Schedule.
- We have a Self Assist portal that allows clients to amend their Schedules if they do renos down the track. (There is a $49 fee for this, but we waive this if the additional return in the first year is less than the fee).
- We send out e-mails to clients when the ATO says anything depreciation related that we think they might want to know about.

In short, we see ourselves as a 'service provider', as opposed to a 'product flogger'. Service comes at a cost, albeit a tax deductible one. Alot of people come to us and say: 'We got a report done last year by XXXXXX because they were cheaper than you, but we weren't happy with the service...'

Now having said all that, do we get the occasional unhappy camper? Yep. We do thousands of reports every year so it's inevitable. Last week we had someone upset with us because we wouldn't do something that I felt may assist them to act fraudulently.

Scott

 

[depreciator]

.....I also shoot the breeze endlessly about depreciation on the phone or via e-mail. I explain how people can self assess the value of Assets if I don't think we can justify our fee. I counsel them when I feel they are trying to be too cute with the ATO. I explain when a maintenance task strays into the area of capital expenditure and how to avoid this. I explain the benefit of valuing Assets prior to a post settlement makeover to take advantage of the Disposal provisions. Etc etc.
That's what 'service' is all about.
I'll just get down off that high horse now.
Scott

 

[Rixter]

I'll just get down off that high horse now.
Scott

Hi Scott,

Is that higher than a soap box?? I was just about to switch camps too

 

[depreciator]

My horse is definitely higher than my soapbox - I use the soapbox to get up onto the horse.
Scott