Buyers Beware… Investigate or Reach for your Wallet
In the last year Napier & Blakeley have undertaken more than 100 physical due diligence and capital expenditure forecast exercises with a combined value in excess of $10billion.
It’s rare to find nothing that would be considered problematic for an incoming owner, but the last few years there have been a few issues that have become commonplace through either lack of ongoing investment and maintenance or as a result of new market legislation.
The GFC brought substantial financial constraints to the entire economy but for property owners it brought pressures through loan to value ratios (LVR’s), reductions in value and rental income. This created a catch 22 situation where many knew they had to keep maintaining and spending capital to keep their assets compliant, relevant and therefore rentable, but were unable to directly fund or borrow funds to do so.
We recently re-analysed an asset that we had prepared due diligence and capex forecasts for a few years ago, and the list of items that we identified in our initial report were almost completely the same as now. Nothing had been fixed, maintained or repositioned. So, many years down the track the asset has fallen deeper into redundancy and therefore costs more to rectify. Continue reading
New Disability Access Standards – Effective 1 May 2011
The purpose of the Premises Standards (and corresponding changes to the Building Code of Australia and State / Territory Building Law) is:
- To ensure that dignified, equitable, cost-effective and reasonably achievable access to buildings, and facilities and services within buildings, is provided for people with disability, and
- To give certainty to building certifiers, developers and managers that if standards are complied with they cannot be subject to a successful complaint under the DDA in relation to those matters covered by the Premises Standards.
1. General Application
The Premises Standards will apply to all new buildings and to extensions or additions to existing buildings.
In most circumstances it will also be necessary to provide an accessible path of travel from the principal public entrance to the new or modified part of an existing building.
