Land Lease Living Affordable Lifestyle Living | Page 18

Important information (continued) gain made on the sale of your house when you leave the community. If the home sells for less than you originally paid for it there is no capital gain. you with an itemised account for electricity and gas charges, give you at least 21 days to pay and provide you with a receipt. 3 On-Site Sale Premiums mean that the home owner agrees to pay to the operator a fixed percentage of the sale of their home when they leave e.g. 10% of whatever the home sells for. If you have another arrangement in place – such as Share of Capital Gain (see above)– you can’t also have an option to put in place an On-site Sale Premium. 3 Water and sewerage is also included in your site agreement and is separately measured or metered. Like the electricity and mains gas charges you must be provided with an itemised account and receipt for payment. (Note: sewerage is not always charged separately as it depends on how the local water supplier chooses to charge the operator for this service). 3 Entry Fee and Exit Fees are fixed fees that you agree to pay to the operator when you sign your site agreement and are paid when entering, during the agreement or after your home is sold onsite or removed from the site. 3 Service Availability Charges are fixed amount charges for utilities such as sewerage and water set out by the supplier. The operator calculates these charges by dividing utility charges (except for electricity) for the entire community, by the number of sites – including both residential and holiday places. Legally an individual home owner cannot be charged any more than their correct share of what has been actually billed to the operator. 3 Deferred Site Fees allow you to put off paying some or all of the site fees to a later date specified in your site agreement. This may be useful when you have a limited income or when your money is tied up in an asset such as your former home. ELECTRICITY, GAS & WATER In land lease communities, utilities such water, sewerage, gas and electricity are usually already connected to your home site when you move in and you pay usage fees and service availability charges to the operator (as specified in the site agreement): 3 Electricity and mains gas in newer or refurbished communities are generally part of your site agreement and each home site is separately measured or metered. The operator has to provide 3 Service Availability Charges for Electricity apply to eligible pensioners, if less than 60 amps of electricity is supplied the charge is discounted. If you use less than 20 amps you pay 20%, if 20 but less than 30 amps you pay 50% and if 30 but less than 60 amps you pay 70%. 3 Rebates on Energy Fees apply to pensioners and concession holders in residential land lease communities. If eligible they may be able to claim NSW energy rebates including the NSW Gas Rebate and the Low Income Household Rebate on their energy bills from the NSW Department of Trade & Investment, Resources & Energy. Land lease living – find out more www.landleaseliving.com 16  Land Lease Living To find out more go to: http://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw. gov.au/energy-consumers/financial- assistance/rebates USEFUL LINKS It is always a good idea to get legal advice before entering into any sales contract for a home or arrangements for a site. You should also do your homework in learning about your rights and obligations when you enter a land lease community. 3 NSW Fair Trading has many useful fact sheets relating to all aspects of site agreements and land lease communities to access go to: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au and check out residential land lease information under the Tenants & Home Owners section. 3 To check the standard form of a residential site agreement you can download a copy of the form at: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au 3 If you would like to check your rights and obligations under the NSW Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 go to: https://legislation.nsw.gov.au 3 The Regulation that specifically relates to site agreements, utility charges, dispute resolution and other relevant matters is Residential (Land Lease) Communities Regulation 2015. To view a copy of the regulation go to https://legislation.nsw.gov.au 3 To find out if you are eligible for rental assistance and the level of rebate you can claim go to: https://www.humanservices.gov.au