Author Topic: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)  (Read 4797 times)

limeandpepper

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4569
  • Location: Australasia
Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« on: January 31, 2018, 01:15:35 AM »
Just curious about what your base costs are i.e. ongoing costs when there is no longer a mortgage.

Ours:

1 bedroom apartment in Melbourne of about 40sqm
Body corp: about $1000 per year
Council rates: about $1000 per year
Water rates: about $700 per year (I think this excludes volumetric charges)

Not sure if I'm missing anything else. I know there will be repairs/maintenance as well but that seems variable and I have no idea what to expect.

Your turn!

marty998

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7372
  • Location: Sydney, Oz
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2018, 02:14:40 AM »
Water usage generally is paid for by strata (and forms part of your body corp fees)

My costs are (2 bed apartment):

Strata: $2730
Water: $685
Council: $1040
Electricity and Gas: ~$800-$900
Contents insurance: ~$320

bigchrisb

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1237
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2018, 02:20:31 AM »
Mine, for a 160m2 duplex:
Water about 1000
Rates 3000 (ACT phasing down stamp duty and phasing up rates, lucky me)
Insurance about 600
Electricity 0 (lots of solar)
Gas a few hundred.

limeandpepper

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4569
  • Location: Australasia
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2018, 03:28:56 AM »
Water usage generally is paid for by strata (and forms part of your body corp fees)

Ooh I have no idea about that. I guess I'll find out? We haven't moved in yet. As you can tell I'm clearly a novice...

From the Section 32 for my place it breaks the water rates down to:

Waterways and drainage charge residential
Parks service charges
Water service charge residential
Sewerage service charge residential

Then it says the building is supplied by a common water meter and volume related charges are split amongst the units.

Fresh Bread

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3370
  • Location: Australia
  • Insert dough/bread/crust joke
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2018, 10:57:18 PM »
When we owned a unit we had the same water bill every quarter of around $170.

Maintenance in a unit - it's really very little as your strata is covering it as long as you can do basic stuff yourself like fix a dripping tap. I would be mentally prepared for special levies should something unexpected come up. We paid $4k for rainwater leaks in other people's units. YMMV but maintenance for our block always seemed way overpriced so if you have time, get on the exec committee and get involved in getting quotes and checking things out.

Once you move from a unit to a house you drop strata but add in buildings insurance and things like drainage and roof maintenance. We spent $4k on a new sewer last year and this year it's $2k patching up the roof. Plus we have spent money and will spend more on improvements to insulation and so on. Other than that, the house is 70yrs old and just bits are falling apart?! I feel tired just thinking about it.

Our current annual expenses (3 bed house) are about
$3k council rates
$1.6k insurance (I need to make a call - it was $980 2 yrs ago!)
$950 water, $600 ish electricity (some solar panels), $520 ish gas.

limeandpepper

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4569
  • Location: Australasia
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2018, 11:11:38 PM »
When we owned a unit we had the same water bill every quarter of around $170.

Maintenance in a unit - it's really very little as your strata is covering it as long as you can do basic stuff yourself like fix a dripping tap. I would be mentally prepared for special levies should something unexpected come up. We paid $4k for rainwater leaks in other people's units. YMMV but maintenance for our block always seemed way overpriced so if you have time, get on the exec committee and get involved in getting quotes and checking things out.

Thanks for the insight! None of us are handy types so we really have to learn the basic stuff. I know the apartment block where we bought had a special levy the year before we bought, it was to paint the building. Hopefully not too many special levies. I'm definitely interested in getting on the committee.

Fresh Bread

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3370
  • Location: Australia
  • Insert dough/bread/crust joke
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2018, 11:28:50 PM »
When we owned a unit we had the same water bill every quarter of around $170.

Maintenance in a unit - it's really very little as your strata is covering it as long as you can do basic stuff yourself like fix a dripping tap. I would be mentally prepared for special levies should something unexpected come up. We paid $4k for rainwater leaks in other people's units. YMMV but maintenance for our block always seemed way overpriced so if you have time, get on the exec committee and get involved in getting quotes and checking things out.

Thanks for the insight! None of us are handy types so we really have to learn the basic stuff. I know the apartment block where we bought had a special levy the year before we bought, it was to paint the building. Hopefully not too many special levies. I'm definitely interested in getting on the committee.

And it really is mostly basic stuff because everything under the floor and above the ceiling, plus windows and doors, is strata's responsibility. Obviously you need a licensed person for anything gas & electric like a broken light switch or fitting. Renovations just cost a fortune so don't do it unless you have to!

limeandpepper

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4569
  • Location: Australasia
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2018, 12:36:45 AM »
Renovations just cost a fortune so don't do it unless you have to!

Yeah I know I'm hoping to delay any renovations or just do very minor ones! I dislike that our place is carpeted though as I much prefer floorboards, mainly because I want to foster pets when we're settled down. And the kitchen and bathroom is kind of old and run-down and I would probably like to fix it up eventually but not anytime soon.

chasingthegoodlife

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 340
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2018, 08:58:14 PM »
For a detached 3 bedroom house in a semi-rural area:

Council rates around $1500 annually
Water usage and rates around $900 annually
Home insurance around $600 annually

Gas and electricity are in flux for us as we better weatherproof this old house and look at heating options aside from the existing wood heater. My previous place had electricity only and (although I missed a gas cooktop passionately) I think paying only one round of service fees saves quite a bit if you are a low energy user.

Bigchrisb - Ouch on the rates! Although it makes a lot of sense from a govt policy perspective, having already paid my stamp duty I am not keen to see it introduced here.

bigchrisb

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1237
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2018, 01:47:26 AM »
[quote author=chasingthegoodlife link=topic=87000.msg1893438#msg1893438

Bigchrisb - Ouch on the rates! Although it makes a lot of sense from a govt policy perspective, having already paid my stamp duty I am not keen to see it introduced here.
[/quote]
Indeed. The economist in me likes rates as a much more efficient and stable revenue stream than stamp duty.  But having paid 30k of stamp duty in 2014, I'm not enjoying it much.

DrowsyBee

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 300
  • Location: Canberra, Australia
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2018, 11:23:47 PM »
The rates issue in Canberra is a funny one. So many people complaining about their rates increasing while stamp duty decreases. Economists lauded the idea and it is very rational, but then people will all of a sudden it affects them. In fact, the Canberra Liberals had a policy of halting the rates increases, which would also mean retaining stamp duty, an incredibly inefficient tax. Of course, as a first home buyer, none of this affected me, especially when our stamp duty bill was $20, so I made the gf pay it!

Anyway, bigchrisb, I'm looking forward to when I own a place in the next year or two and researching solar/battery setups. Have you ever explained your setup on this forum or anything? I'd really like to know more about it (what it consists of, cost, energy output, how many people, etc).

bigchrisb

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1237
Re: Your basic costs of owning your property (Australia)
« Reply #11 on: February 11, 2018, 03:51:36 PM »
Ha. The concessional stamp duty was another frustration for me! I was buying my first home, but I wasn't interested in a new construction. Apparently, first home buyers only buy on the city fringe, or pay big development profits to the builders.

I'll start another thread about solar rather than mix this one up. Will be a couple of days before I do.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!