Prior to Christmas, the IRD issued a draft statement confirming some of the traps that exist when renting out property via platforms like Airbnb, Book a Bach, etc. In this month's blog I thought I would set out examples that we have seen over the past few years as use of these peer to peer sites has exploded. Trap ... More 

I have written several blogs warning taxpayers about the aggressive tactics the IRD have sometimes been employing. This is a trend that unfortunately shows no signs of abating. In fact, it appears to be getting worse.  Recently we’ve noticed some IRD auditors jumping from an initial (you’re being audited) letter, straight to statutory demands for information within unrealistic timeframes.  ... More 

From my personal experience over the years, I have learnt that the best time to buy properties is towards the end of November, December and January.    Towards the end of November most vendors are looking at offloading their stock to avoid holding costs, as the chances of the next settlement date will be in February i.e. they will ... More 

In my day to day interaction with clients I meet a lot of small business owners who are in their embryonic stage. They are busy practising their particular expertise and, as such, most budding entrepreneurs do not willingly spend time thinking about the administration of the business.  I understand that, as they want to make a dollar before they ... More 

As you may be aware, there is a new law that requires all tenanted homes to be insulated by 1 July 2019. Anyone who owns rental property must ensure their properties are insulated to the required standard by this date. At GRA we’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether the cost of insulating a rental property is ... More 

It is a requirement in New Zealand for parties to provide their IRD numbers when buying or selling real estate (whether as an individual or through another entity such as a company or trust). Normally this does not pose any sort of problem. However, there will be significant issues if you are selling a property that has been generating ... More 

Many New Zealanders still retain memories of Black Tuesday – the day the share market collapsed in 1987. The crash began in Hong Kong, spread to Europe, moved into the United States and then headed Australia and New Zealand's way.  By the end of Tuesday 20 October 1987 the stock market had shed a vast amount of value and ... More 

It’s been an interesting start to 2017 with a much tighter credit market than what we have seen for most of the last decade. While the majority of the media have been concentrating on the fact that the market seems to have slowed since the 40% deposit rule introduction, I put more down to banks themselves pulling back in ... More 

At Property Ventures we are increasing our focus on new builds as investments because we see tremendous advantages from a financing perspective. Not only do investors get pristine new and low maintenance properties in better areas, they get the benefit of 80% LVRs and tax advantages from higher chattel depreciation.   These smart tax and finance benefits make investing ... More