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September 07,2026

What is Division 296 Tax and why 30 June 2026 Actually Matters

You've probably heard something about Division 296 tax by now, even if only in passing. It's been through several versions over the past couple of years, but the rules are now settled and the tax started from 1 July 2026. Here's the quick version, without the jargon.

What is it?

Division 296 is an additional tax on earnings attributable to total super balances over $3 million (taxed at 15%) and over $10 million (taxed at a higher rate again). The original proposal would have taxed unrealised gains, meaning you could be taxed on a paper profit before you'd actually sold anything. That drew significant criticism, and understandably so. The version that ultimately passed only taxes realised earnings, things like rent, interest, dividends and gains that have actually been locked in through a sale.

So why does 30 June 2026 matter?

This is the part most people miss. As part of the transition to the new rules, SMSFs have the option to reset the cost base of their assets to market value as at 30 June 2026. In practical terms, that means the value of an asset on that date can become the new starting point for calculating capital gains tax when it's eventually sold.

If your SMSF holds property, either directly or through a related structure, that reset could translate into a real tax saving down the track. But it only works if you can demonstrate what the property was actually worth on that date. A rates notice or an agent's appraisal won't be sufficient if the position is ever reviewed by the ATO.

This is where a proper valuation earns its keep

A capital gains tax valuation, prepared by a qualified valuer as at 30 June 2026, gives you a defensible, evidence-based figure. It isn't a desktop estimate. It draws on comparable sales evidence and the specific characteristics of the property, and is prepared to a standard that will hold up under scrutiny if the position is ever questioned.

We're already seeing SMSF trustees and their accountants trying to arrange these valuations which is preferable. Retrospective assessments into the future are also possible however can potentially lead to scrutiny by the ATO, which is less than ideal. A valuation completed close to the actual date, supported by contemporaneous evidence, will always be more robust than one reconstructed months or years later based on assumptions about what the market looked like at the time.

What if you want to wait till later and do a retrospective valuation?

If you arent ready to get a valuation, a retrospective assessment is still an option. If you do want to make it as robust as possible, make sure you do the following:

Get a third party to take notes of the property's accommodation and condition at the date of 1 July 2026,
Get a floorplan drawn up,
Keep detailed information of the rental and outgoings as at the same date; and,
Take date stamped photos of the property (a picture tells a thousand words)

This can be as simple as keeping good records and getting your managing agent to undertake an out of routine periodic inspection. This info would be then relied upon to complete the valuation at a later date. Be warned however, there is an element of double handling in the retrospective approach and longer you go back in time, the more research that is requried by the valuer to complete. This typically leads to more time and cost incurred to complete the same task. For this reason, the closer as possible to the date, the better (for everyone).

If you hold property in an SMSF and haven't yet arranged a 30 June 2026 valuation or condition report, it isn't too late. The sooner it's done properly, the better placed you'll be. Get in touch with the team at Titan and we can take care of it for you.

April 08,2025

What is an “under market property” and how can you get your hands on one?

If you have watched a property related tv show, follow a property influencer on Instagram or Linkedin or engaged the services of a buyer’s agent in recent years, you would have no doubt heard the terms “under market” or “below market”. It’s become the secret sauce or 11 herbs and spices of property spruikers everywhere. Here’s the truth that those people don’t want you to hear: property valuation cost Sydney can vary significantly, and understanding this is key to spotting what’s truly under market—versus just clever marketing.

It’s all bullshit

Everyone loves the idea of getting a good deal. It’s part of the reason why “under market” narrative gets so much traction. You will often hear the marketing pitch of a buyers advocate picking up a property $100K or more under value, or a commercial property at a yield of sometimes 2-3% better than the market is selling them for. I’ll point out a recent example: A recent commercial sale through an advocate in a metro commercial retail strip. This property boasted a passing yield of 7% when everything else was selling in the mid to high 5% range. At first glance, this looks like the buy of the year, but if you dig a little deeper, you will quickly realise the following:

The rental for that property was the legacy of an old lease that was about to be subject to a market review,
Rentals in this particular location have decreased significantly in recent years due to a new retail shopping centre opening down the road, dragging a lot of the prime tenants there.
The reporting passing rent is over market and will likely be revised on market review.

How the sale should have to be analysed is based on a reversion. property valuers in Sydney typically Capitalise the yield based on a market rental and then add back the difference of the over market rent to the review date. This calculation would end up with a yield far closer to what the market is showing rather than what is being reported by the passing yield. This story is much more boring and far less sexy than the "deal of the year" however. With that example front of mind, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I’m going to break down a few of the reasons on exactly why "under market property" is an example of “too good to be true”:

Take a step back and imagine you were selling your property. Would you sell your property for less than what you can get for it?

The reality is why would anyone do that if a vendor is paying an agent to maximise their return? I’ve seen people at restaurants arguing over a who had an extra entrée at dinner, and we’re supposed to believe that someone you have never met will gift you thousands of dollars because they want a quick sale? – Come on. Even recent “mortgagee in possession” sales these days are regularly selling at no discount from a regular transaction and they would fall in the category of a distressed vendor.

The selling agent’s job is to maximise the return for their vendor

The whole sale process is designed to maximise competition between purchasers and the eventual sale price for the vendor. From the listing presentation, the pay structure of the selling agent, pitting potential buyers against each other to create competition and urgency, to the eventual negotiations with the ultimate purchaser.

The market is much more sophisticated than even just a few years ago.

If you think you are getting a deal at the expense of someone else’s ignorance, those days are over. The amount of information available at everyone’s fingertips has turned the local punter into an expert. Property is Australia’s pastime and everyone has a pretty good idea of what their property is worth before the selling agent knocks on the door. That aside, the level of expertise available to a vendor is now better than ever. Sales agents know their markets well, often providing all the most recent sales in weekly updates as a free service. Auction results are pinging on everyone’s phone on Saturday afternoon from realestate.com.au or domain.com.au. Valuations are also often undertaken as a check in the background by many vendors to keep everyone honest. The days of pulling the wool over a vendor’s eyes are gone.

If something is too cheap, it probably isn't.

I recall a property being referred to me that was on the market for a little while, it was a modern commercial property to be sold occupied by a medical user in a really strong location. The asking price was almost 20% below what anyone else was asking in this location but I was being pushed to make a decision before the weekend for a client. In such situations, consulting independent property valuers Sydney can help ensure the price reflects true market value and isn’t just a rushed deal. Instantly, it was a red flag. I did some more digging and found there was significant contamination notification over the site resulting from a leaking underground storage tank over a neighbouring property. This meant potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate, removing the tenant (or a significant rent abatement) and the stigma of a contaminated medical site. I declined the “deal of the year” and slept like a baby that weekend.

So if under market property isn’t the goal, what is?

So if under market properties are fiction, what am I looking for, or what should my buyers advocate be looking for?

Look to buy well and acquire a good quality asset.

This post got longer than I anticipated so I will create another post detailing what I mean but in short; buying well means ignoring the sugar hit of short term overnight gains and looking for something that will perform consistently well over the long term. Don’t overpay for property at the time (big difference to under market) and buy the best asset you can afford. Keep your eyes peeled for Part II and if you like to discuss the strategy in more detail, the team at Titan work with residential and commercial investors every day and can take care of the whole the process on your behalf.

February 18,2023

Not all Valuations are Created Equal

Have you ever felt like you’re not sure what you need from a valuation? How about that feeling after you’ve already had one, but it didn’t really fit your brief? You’re not alone. This is a common theme among our recent clients too. You will often hear of people that are trying to wing it on their "passion for property". It’s a bit troubling really. I know if I was going to get an operation, I wouldn’t be looking for a GP with a "passion for surgery". Wouldn’t you be looking for a specialist surgeon too? Not all valuations, and valuers are the same and a five-minute phone call can often tell you how suitable someone is for the job. Valuations for different purposes, vary greatly. Different assumptions and even vastly different definitions of "market value" are common. Some of our clients are surprised to hear that we will happily tell particular customers that there is work we don’t do yet we do our best to refer you to someone that can assist in these specific instances. We specialise in the difficult, obscure and unique and our clients seem to agree that we have created a pretty good niche out of it. In the next few minutes, we’ll go through a couple of examples of valuation types and some of their similarities, as well as some of the reasons why you could be short-changing yourself if you don’t start with the right valuer. Quickly, we’ll cover the first two valuations that we don’t do at Titan, just to keep us honest. The remaining three are certainly more difficult, and are just some examples where a lot of our clients discover the most benefit working with us.

Mortgage Valuations

These are the valuations you get when you plan to secure a mortgage against property. The bank is the instructing party here, so the valuer works for them, not you. Mortgage valuations have to be completed in accordance with the ABFI Residential Standing Instructions. Titan does not work in this space and if you need a mortgage valuation, you will be best serviced by some of the larger valuation companies in the industry. As well as the technical requirements, the valuation company that does the job also needs to be on the approved panel for the bank you are getting the valuation through.

Business Valuations

Business Valuations are generally calculated as a multiple of profit and are often conducted by Forensic Accountants rather than valuers, however there are the odd valuers dipping their toes in this space. This is another sector of the industry that we do not work in but have strong industry contacts that we can refer you to if required. Specialist experience and models are used to complete this work. Sale transactions are also often subject to confidentiality agreements which means unless you are involved in the transaction in some way, the evidence you get in the report may not be accurate or current.

Compulsory Acquisition

This is one area we have a lot of exposure in and work on behalf of landowners and acquiring authorities regularly. Valuations for Compulsory Acquisition (under “Just Terms”) are completed in accordance with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991. In particular, Section 56 talks about Market Value with other factors that may be included as part of an acquisition including costs for legal and valuation, relocation costs and what can be best described as sentimental value to the owner. There is also extensive Caselaw that talks about all of the Heads of Compensation are treated. We have an article that you can read if you want a bit more information here. Getting someone that doesn’t know their way around the Act can, and often does cost you money. Whether it’s a result that doesn’t maximise the compensation, or knowing when to take a deal with extra costs in litigation. Expert legal advice is equally important for work in this space. Your local cut price conveyancer won’t cut it unfortunately.

Land Value Objections and Appeals

Land value for Rating and Land Tax Purposes are completed as an unimproved land value. All the valuations are done on 1 July of that respective year (also known as the “base date”). The relevant legislation in NSW is the Valuation of Land Act 1916. The rabbit hole starts at the Land Value based on Section 6A, with differing provisions for heritage properties, contaminated land, extractive industry, crown land, stratum property and the list goes on. Detail on the VG’s policies on each of these can be found here. We also have an earlier article about lodging your own objection here. Apart from the intricacies of the Valuation of Land Act. The requirements have changed in recent years making it much more difficult to have an objection accepted. We know exactly what needs to be done to lodge an objection that has merit and will tell you from the outset if an objection has a poor likelihood of success so you aren’t spending money unnecessarily.

Easements

Easements are valued under Section 88K of the Conveyancing Act 1919. There are also hundreds of judgements which guide the valuer as to the current state of play based on caselaw. Instead of waste your time with all the details in a short blog post, I will save your time with this: try searching “easement” as a keyword on the caselaw NSW website. As you can imagine, experienced legal advice is crucial when you are involved with a situation like this. These are just a few examples that we see with our clients daily. As you can imagine there are many more. They all are similar in the fact that they are all completed by a valuer but the application of methodology varies on a case by case. Our work is bespoke and we are selective about what work we take on to ensure that we provide value for our clients every time. The key takeaway is that the valuer completing a valuation of your home for the bank may not have ever done a valuation for any other purpose. Furthermore, they may not be confident to step into a courtroom to have their opinion pressure tested. Are you comfortable not getting the best value and advice for your money? Why not find out from the start if the valuation you are getting is worth the paper it's written on. If you value quality advice, call the team at Titan.

November 20,2022

New Stamp Duty Opt Out for First Home Buyers – Are you better off?

Legislation has recently been passed allowing first home buyers to opt out of stamp duty in lieu of an annual land tax. This is a watered down version to the original proposal put forward a few years ago however likely that it is viewed as the first step in a major overhaul to stamp duty to occur over several years. Let’s take a look at a few questions and see what we can look forward to.

How does it work?

In short, first home buyers forego paying a large lump sum stamp duty on a purchase to pay an annual land tax on the property for every year the property is owned. This legislation is proposed to be in force from January 2023. The land tax is calculated on the rating value (or Valuer Generals valuation) of the property as of that year.

How does it affect you as a first home buyer and will you be better off?

There’s good and bad. Land tax is payable for as long as you own the property. So depending on your property strategy, you may still be better off still paying a one off stamp duty instead of land tax forever. We have run several scenarios internally using detached property (low density house, duplex and townhouse) assuming differing levels of value growth over time based on historic averages. The break even point seems to be consistently around 6-7 years. This reduces if there is significant capital growth during the period of ownership and conversely increases if there is a correction during the period of ownership. Using strata units, the average break even across our examples increases to around 11-12 years. This is consistent with average period of ownership in Sydney at the moment (unlikely to be a coincidence). If the property is your forever home or you plan to accumulate properties as an investment strategy, you might be better off paying stamp duty on purchase. For most people, their first property is a stepping stone and usually will be sold to fund an upgrade in years to come. If this is the case, land tax may be the preferred option. You can complete your own calculations using the Service NSW calculator found here. Just as a side note, the average period of ownership of a property in Sydney of 12.4 years. This has increased in recent years too from around 7.5 years in 2009. This is thought to be primarily due to transaction costs (Stamp Duty on purchase and CGT on sale being the biggest ones) as well as well documented affordability issues in the Sydney market. We may see in the future that a possible benefit of these changes is that property is more fluidly transacting in years to come. This benefit wouldn’t be evident in the market till the legislation is widened to cover all purchasers (the likely end goal in my opinion) and a generation of owners that have already paid stamp duty have washed out of the market however. Increased deposit If you aren’t paying stamp duty, you will likely have a few more dollars to throw at your purchase at the start. This may provide options of a lower overall loan amount, chance to buy something better with your money, or bring your purchase forward in time. This benefit will be partly offset by a slight reduction in serviceability due to higher ongoing costs of ownership being the new annual land tax. Off The Plan (OTP) Purchasers The decision to opt into this scheme with an off the plan purchase may be a bit more difficult when it comes to OTP strata properties. Reason being valuations for properties are not completed by the Valuer General till they are registered, often 12 months or more after you sign a contract for an OTP purchase. They are then apportioned using the Unit Entitlement which is generally only known just prior to registration of the Strata Plan. What this means for purchasers is they have to decide on whether they want to opt in to land tax without knowing the value of their property or its unit entitlement in the development that will be the basis of the land tax being levied. The most rational way to overcome this by developers is by making an estimate of this value. However, if you are making a financial decision of this significance, you’d hope it would be using hard evidence. My discussions with industry experts and developers have not seen a resolution to this just yet but I would imagine that a solution would have to be in progress somewhere given the volume of OTP sales in the Sydney Market. Has it been rushed in? Possible however unlikely. These changes are the brainchild of Dominic Perrottet for many years and were being discussed in the media as long as five years ago when the market was soft during the previous property downturn. In saying that, there is an election looming and housing affordability is one of those things that always swings voters, especially first home buyers. The result of the elections will also impact the staying power of this scheme given that the Labor government has already mentioned that this legislation will be repealed if they win the state elections.

October 05,2022

Demysifying Rating and Taxing Valuation and Objections for Non-Valuers

Following on from with our last post here, we thought it would be helpful to provide a practical guide on how rating and taxing valuations are done in NSW and some tips when preparing an objection to your land value.

How Rating and Taxing valuations are done:

Rating valuations are completed under the provisions of the Valuation of Land Act 1916. This piece of legislation is extremely complex so were not going to go into too much detail. This post is more of a guide to the practical application of rating valuations in NSW. The method used to provide valuations for rating and taxing is the Mass Appraisal approach. Apologies in advance for the use of jargon. Mass appraisal is completed by grouping like properties together into “components”. A sample of several properties are then selected out of the component that represents different statistical markers in that group. These properties are called “benchmarks”. These properties are typically the median value property, and properties in lower and upper quartiles as well as properties that may represent a different sub-market in that group (if required). It’s a little easier to explain with an example: There are 1,000 residential properties in Gotham City south of Wayne Mansion. All of these properties are placed in a component called Gotham City South. Three properties have been selected as benchmarks. The median property, a low value property with a smaller land area and a higher value property being a large 1,000sqm block. These three benchmark properties are individually valued. Based on the percentage change that results from the previous year’s land value, a factor is generated. The factors generated are then applied to the rest of the properties in the component. This approach has its benefits, its affordable to implement for the government, reasonably accurate and is able to be rolled out to every property in the state without being overly resource heavy. It also works very well with properties that have large groups of similar properties like the Sydney suburbs. Mass valuation does have its flaws though. It doesn’t work very well with properties with unique features, good or bad. Typically, some of the properties that mass valuation struggles with are constrained properties, properties with contamination issues, heritage properties, development sites etc. Also, by way of application of percentage factor increases, previous errors in land values can be compounded year on year if not kept in check. There are processes to stop values getting out of kilter. Were not going to discuss all of them but one of which is the objection process.

What to do you need to do to lodge an objection to your land value?

Get to Know Your Property. Do a little bit of research and learn all the important features of your property. The area, the location, the zoning. The good and the bad. Is your property unique? Does your property flood? Is it heritage listed? Does something impact its development potential or its value? Arm yourself with this information first. Find Evidence to Compare to Your Property. Using what you know about your property, do some research and find the closest physically comparable sales evidence for comparison to your property. These sales should be as close to 1 July as possible as that is the relevant date for all rating valuations. Vacant land sales are strongly preferred as they require less adjustment than improved properties and eliminate some of the subjectivity from the equation. Work Out What Your Property Is Worth. Armed with your evidence, work out what your property is worth and see if its worth lodging an objection. If you get here and your value is too high, its time to jump on the Valuer Generals website and lodge your objection. What is Required by the VG for an Objection to be Accepted? If you plan to lodge an objection, there are a couple of things you should know.

It needs to be lodged on time. You have 60 days from the date of your notice to lodge an objection. Extensions are sometimes permitted for extraordinary circumstances. For example; you were overseas at the time of the notice being issued or health reasons etc. Better not to risk it though.
You need to provide evidence to support your objection. That means you need sales evidence, or a sale of the subject property for an objection to be accepted. The days of, “my neighbour has a lower value than mine” don’t cut it anymore.
You need to justify why you are lodging your objection so make sure you have a few comments written down before you jump on the website to make the process easier.

Hopefully this helps but if it is still a little daunting, the team at Titan work undertake reviews for rating and taxing valuations every day and we can take care of the whole the process on your behalf.

September 07,2022

The Perfect Storm for Land Value Objections

The NSW Valuer General, Mr David Parker, spoke to the AFR yesterday and told everyone to start collating information to lodge their land value objection from now. Why would the Valuer General “poke the bear” and tempt everyone to object to their land values. Before we can answer that question, I’ll give you a very quick summary on how land valuations are undertaken in NSW. Firstly, here is the link to the AFR article I’m referring to: LINK and here is a quick summary for you to get your head around the valuation land value system in NSW in thirty seconds:

Valuations are generally issued in January but they are completed with a valuation date of 1 July of the previous year – 6 months before they are issued,
Land Values are completed in accordance with the Valuation of Land Act 1916, The valuations are multi-purpose, they get used to levy Council Rates as well as for Land Tax notices, Valuations for Council Rates (Government Val or GVAL) are issued every three years where Land Tax Values (LTV) are completed every year,
Once you get your notice, you have 60 days to object to your valuation, This year is a combined GVAL year and LTV year so about 2.5 million notices will be issued early next year,
Valuations are completed on a Mass Appraisal basis. That means they pool groups of properties together and apply an indexation rate based on the movement of a few selected properties that represent a statistical cross section of that group.

Now you know the basics, let’s get back to the question. Why poke the bear?

The Valuer General’s department has a huge amount of data indicating that objection volumes spike in GVAL years. It makes sense because a much larger cross section of people get notices. This gets compounded when we are commencing a downturn in a property cycle. Very simply, if the valuations are undertaken at 1 July when the market is at its peak and then the values are issued in January when the market has turned, the instant reaction from most people that see their notice is that the value is too high. What most people don’t realise is that any movement the market does from July of the previous year gets captured in the next year valuation cycle. So what the VG is doing is subtly trying to educate the masses with a clickbait headline. Quite clever actually. The VG is a smart guy. He was once a Commissioner of the Land and Environment Court, is a Professor and a published academic. You don’t get the top job knocking about the suburbs doing mortgage vals. I’m certain that he wouldn’t place a bet he knew he didn’t have a good chance at winning. He is also well aware there is a correction currently happening across NSW. It may correct further by the time we get to January, but you can be certain that the market conditions at the moment would be a primary consideration when the VG department is issuing land values for this year. In saying that, the goal of the article (from my outside perspective) is to probably achieve a few things:

Get everyone to keep an eye on the market around the time the base date (1 July) will be issued so its fresh in our minds when we get to January we have a good idea about the value of our properties,
Educate the public so they either don’t lodge timewaster objections or only lodge when they know they’re a good chance of success,
Reduce overall objection volumes by eliminating the emotional objectors, and;
Preparing objectors for the new process that has been implemented for objectors

After all that, I’m not telling you to file all your future notices in the too hard basket. I’m saying even though the AFR article was poking the bear, there is some good to take away from it. Get the information together from now so when your notice comes, you know whether you have a good chance for success.

A couple more tips for those that are lodging an objection

The properties that represent the typical house block are usually the ones they get correct most of the time. Most of the objections that get allowed - land value gets reduced, are not the “typical” property. They might be a commercial property, have heritage restrictions, are contaminated, are rural properties, have an odd shape or are just a little out of left field. The mass valuation process doesn’t suit these unique properties very well and as a result, these are the ones that more frequently slip through the cracks.

The Take Away

If you want to lodge an objection, make sure you do your research and include sales around July or it wont get far, or even better call Titan and we can do it for you.

August 03,2022

What you are entitled to as compensation after an Government acquisition?

The Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (Just Terms Act) dictates what landowners are entitled to as part of an acquisition. This post will provide an outline of the relevant sections of the Act that you should know about and what you may be entitled to. Section 55 of the Just Terms Act is critical information. It outlines the “Heads of Compensation” that are applicable as part of a compulsory acquisition. Section 55 is shown below: “55 Relevant matters to be considered in determining amount of compensation In determining the amount of compensation to which a person is entitled, regard must be had to the following matters only (as assessed in accordance with this Division)— (a) the market value of the land on the date of its acquisition, (b) any special value of the land to the person on the date of its acquisition, (c) any loss attributable to severance, (d) any loss attributable to disturbance, (e) the disadvantage resulting from relocation, (f) any increase or decrease in the value of any other land of the person at the date of acquisition which adjoins or is severed from the acquired land by reason of the carrying out of, or the proposal to carry out, the public purpose for which the land was acquired.” Different Heads of Compensation from the above are applicable depending on if the property is owner occupied, an investment, residential or commercial. Before we delve too far into the detail, its worthwhile defining a jargon term that will pop up regularly. That is, what is the Public Purpose? The Public Purpose is the reason the compulsory acquisition is required. Common examples are road widening or to construct infrastructure (airport, school, hospital, rail network, etc). Now let get to the reason why were all here. What are you entitled to as part of your compensation figure? This post will focus on residential property. The heads of compensation will be covered individually below: 55 (a) Market Value The market value of the property is defined in the Just Terms Act under Section 56(1). The individual sections have not been quoted but you can find them all in the Just Terms Act. Section 56 entitles the landowner being compensated to the market value is the property being acquired disregarding the public purpose for the land being acquired. Disregarding the public purpose means the valuation has to exclude the value of any disadvantage or benefit that would result from the Public Purpose. An example of a disadvantage is when you previously were in a quiet location and after the acquisition, your property will suffer from aircraft noise impacts. A common example of a benefit is a rezoning allowing a higher density use because of proximity to a new railway station. If the railway station didn’t exist, the land would probably would not be rezoned. However, most examples are not as black and white. This is where expert town planners often get involved and can point to what would have happened if the public purpose didn’t exist. 55 (b) Special Value Special value is value that the property has to the owner that doesn’t get captured in the market value. Things like modifications to a dwelling to allow wheelchair access. These modifications would be expensive to install but don’t attract any value to the broader market. Special value claims are typically rare. 55 (c) Severance, Severance is applicable if the acquisition bisects or severs the land from other lands. For example, a freeway cuts a parcel in half and the half of the land can no longer be accessed. The affect on value would be significant. This is a rare occurrence these days as most acquiring authorities will either acquire the whole parcel and make efforts to not to have severed parcels in the planning stage of the project. 55 (d) Disturbance, Covered in Section 59 of the Just Terms Act. Disturbance costs relate to:

legal costs and valuation fees reasonably incurred – You get reimbursed for valuation fees (as long as the valuer is appropriately qualified like the team at Titan) and legal fees incurred.
financial costs reasonably incurred - examples of this include including mail forwarding, mortgage discharge, removalists fees etc.
stamp duty costs up to the equivalent value of the property being acquired - this only relates to owner occupied properties only,
If you are running a business from the premises, there may be additional impacts that would result from business disturbance here.

55 (e) the disadvantage resulting from relocation, Previously referred to as “Solatium”, this is a one off payment relating to the sentimental value of owners or tenants being in the place at one time. It is indexed annually from starting at $75,000 and at the time of this post, the current indexed amount is $85,350. Depending on how long you have occupied the property, you may be entitled to all or a part of this amount - Relates to owner occupied residential properties. 55 (f) Injurious Affection or Betterment. These were touched on in 55(a) and the value of changes that would result from the Public Purpose, positive or negative, get covered off here. The Just Terms Act is very lengthy legislation and there is a lot to know. There are also a plethora of variables that can apply including whether you are a tenant, business owner or investor. If you require a summary based on your property and circumstances, would like a referral to solicitors that work in this area, or wanted to engage for your compulsory acquisition matter, please get in touch with our expert team.

July 29,2022

How can a Buyers Agent help get an edge in a purchase by keeping you anonymous?

A recent purchase we have assisted a client with was to buy the next door property on behalf of a land banker. Most owners that have property with potential for medium density or high-density development, know that multiple adjoining properties are often required to unlock the full potential of a site Most investors and developers also know that the money is made in the purchase so if you can save a few dollars with a successful negotiation, you are ahead from day one. Mindful of this, our client engaged us to negotiate anonymously on their behalf to buy the property next door that was on the market in the inner western suburbs of Sydney. The Brief Without going into too much detail, our client owned a property in a retail strip in inner west Sydney that was zoned B4 Mixed Use. Our client’s property was 300sqm and had a shop and first floor office on the property. The B4 zone in this area allows residential flat buildings if the land size is larger 500sqm and the street frontage is bigger than 15m. Our client wanted to buy the property next door to maximise the development potential of his property, unlocking the potential for units that his property didn’t have at the moment. The Negotiation We were given the specific goal to save as much of the adjoining owner premium or what was colloquially referred to by our client as the “next door neighbour tax”. We provided our guide to value based on recent sales and the value uplift that would result from the property being amalgamated and being able to be developed with 12 units. Our client living and breathing the location, wasn’t surprised with the numbers that we came up with and gave us the go ahead to negotiate on their behalf with the agent. We engaged with the real estate agent and placed a strong early pre-auction offer for the property. Negotiations continued from here till an offer and acceptance was reached prior to auction. The Outcome As a consolidated site, the property was calculated in our initial discussions to be at worth another 15% more than the eventual sale price so our client realised a considerable saving. Our “faceless” client now have a development site in a fantastic location that they are pursuing a DA for at the moment. A great outcome. If you are in a similar situation or another where anonymity would be beneficial, get in touch for a no obligation discussion.

July 28,2022

What do you do when the Government wants to compulsorily acquire your property?

Have you recently been notified by the government because your property will form part of a road, rail or other infrastructure project? Given the amount of infrastructure projects going on in NSW at the moment, it’s no surprise. The amount of people affected by new infrastructure projects is now greater than ever. When a Government authority acquires property, they have to work within the rules of legislation called the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991. They are also required to negotiate with owners using a valuation of the as a basis of the negotiation discussions. The steps that follow are usually (but vary slightly depending between authorities): Initial contact You are notified that your property is in the alignment of a proposed infrastructure project. Offer to purchase The acquiring authority makes an offer to buy your property using their valuation as a basis of their offer. Valuation Exchange You send the valuation you complete to the acquiring authority they send you their valuation in return. This is the start of the negotiation process. Valuers Conference The owners, acquiring authorities and respective valuers meet to discuss the valuations and their shortfalls with a view to try to reach come common ground. This process can occur multiple times depending on the market conditions or the complexity of the property being acquired. Updated Offers The authority sends you a revised offer based on these. This is accepted or rejected by the owners. The property either settles from here or goes to the compulsory acquisition process. PAN period If a settlement cannot be reached through negotiation, A PAN (or Proposed Acquisition Notice) is issued to the owners of the property notifying them of a notice period (typically 60-90 days) that the government will use its compulsory powers. Eleventh hour negotiations with the acquiring authority can still occur during this period. Gazettal After the notice period in the PAN concludes, the property is published in the NSW Government Gazette. The property has then been compulsorily acquired by the authority becomes the property of the government authority. The owners have not been paid anything for their property yet however. Valuer General Valuation A third valuer engaged by the Valuer General (VG) to complete an impartial valuation. Part of their role includes consideration of the valuations completed to date over the property and consideration of all the features of the are applicable to the property. The result of this valuation will become the eventual compensation amount that you will be paid. Generally within around 42 days of the date of Gazette. Appeal If the compensation amount provided by the VG is not acceptable, you have the right to appeal this valuation to the Land and Environment Court of NSW. This is another detailed process that will be covered in a later post.

All of this might be very daunting and confusing, but what do you do now?

Engage a valuer early and make sure they are experienced with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 – Our team works on these valuations daily and has all the experience you need to help get the best outcome,
You will need a solicitor that also knows the process and legislation well – Titan works with, and can recommend several solicitors that work frequently with this type of acquisition,
Remember that good negotiated outcome is often better than a hard fought one. Use this to your advantange and try to get an outcome that is mutually beneficial and less stressful for everyone.
Your outcome and your experience will only be as good as the advice you are getting. Get the best advice you can find. This sounds expensive but assured, valuation and legal fees get reimbursed by the Acquiring Authority as part of the Acquisition process – check out our post on what you are entitled to find out what you are actually entitled to in accordance with the legislation.
A good valuer will also point you in the direction of other advice if required, we regularly work with business valuers, engineers, town planners and contamination experts to make sure you have the most accurate and best advice you can get in what is a very stressful and daunting experience.

July 21,2022

What does a buyers agent do?

A buyer's agent uses their insider knowledge and expert negotiation skills to scope out and evaluate properties on your behalf. The process involves 4 steps. Consultation We sit down together and work out your requirements and develop a detailed brief for your purchase. We support you with our knowledge and research including sales evidence, demographics, rental rates, vacancy rates and future development potential. This brief will be used to find the property that best meets your criteria. Search We go to the market and make contact with our established industry contacts (both on and off market) to find suitable properties that are short listed best suiting the brief and complete our first level due diligence process based on our proven Titan Method. For a typical residential purchase we complete desktop reviews of between 50-100 properties, inspect around 20 to come to a short list for approval. Presentation We provide a short list of the best properties to you for approval. These are presented in an easy to read report with all the performance criteria shown in black and white for comparison. We also provide a recommendation of the best option based on performance metrics and likely purchase price based on previous market evidence and market conditions. Secure After you select a property from the short list, we complete our secondary due diligence, arrange requisite Pest & Building and Strata Inspections (if required), and negotiate the sale or bid at auction on your behalf. After we secure the property at the best price possible, we work with your solicitor/conveyancer and financier to make the process painless.

Why use Titan Buyers Agents?

We are the experts in property so you don’t have to be. Purchasing a property is the biggest investment in most peoples’ lives, but it’s often made using emotion. Titan Buyers Agents make purchasing property a business decision. If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. Our team is experienced with both residential and commercial property and can assist whether you are an owner occupier or an investor. We offer confidential and plain English advice backed by strategic and sound valuation data.

What our clients say

My wife and I engaged Titan Buyers Agents to help us find and purchase a block of land in in Mortdale for a knock down rebuild. Angelo researched the market and found several properties that fit our criteria within the location we wanted to buy. He inspected all of these properties and provided detailed research on the market in this area, and let us know how the auction would go based on what has sold in the area. He bid on our behalf at auction and secured the property at a price that was below our maximum which was a pleasant surprise in a rising market. Since we bought the property, there have been several other blocks sold in nearby streets which made our purchase look like a steal. We would be happy to recommend Angelo and Titan to anyone looking for a Buyers Agent.

Con Kertemiou

Angelo assisted me with the valuation of a property in Sydney for the purposes of buying the property. As these things go, it was time sensitive as I was moving country in a few weeks and required the valuation as soon as possible in order to keep the acquisition process moving. Angelo was professional and flexible in all dealings and I was able to sort it all out before I left, which was such a huge relief. I will definitely use Angelo again in future and would recommend him to anyone in the market.

Jessica Ferreira

Our company engaged the services of Titan to find a new company headquarters and long term investment. Despite a challenging market and specific criteria, Angelo was able to present realistic options with numbers and a comprehensive reasoning as to his recommendations. The report provided were based on facts, numbers and presented in a way which were easily understood. I would highly recommend Angelo and is team for any buyers agent and advisory work.

Nick Castillo

With a young family, going to open homes and dealing with agents becomes quite dauting. My husband and I engaged Angelo from Titan Buyers Agents to find our family home. Angelo took charge and presented us with four properties that fit our brief. He was informative, on time and saved our weekends and family. He did all the background checks to give us peace of mind in our decision and negotiated the transaction before auction in a really strong market. We would definitely recommend Angelo and Titan.

Christina Zanetti

Angelo assisted one of my clients by providing a property valuation of their leasehold interest in a commercial office building which was acquired under a compulsory acquisition process by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) in the Sydney CBD. Angelo’s valuation supported a compensation claim that was substantially higher than TfNSW’s offer and was ultimately accepted as the final settlement figure. To say that my client is extremely happy with the outcome is an understatement! Angelo is personable, delivered on time and was extremely diligent throughout the entire process.

Rowan Humphreys

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