Some of you might already know of this iPhone/iPad app that you use to take photos of the corners of a room, and it creates the floor plan – and I gather it can make the whole house plan.  As images (JPG or PDF) or drawings (DXF).  Apparently, after you’ve gone through the learning phase, it takes only about 30 seconds to do one room’s floorplan?
It is free, and called MagicPlan.

Geoff Buck.

ANDREA PETRIE,The Age,may 10 2012.

RONALD Kousal must have thought he had the bargain of a lifetime when he bid $1000 for a five-bedroom house in Melbourne’s west – and the offer was accepted.

But his luck ran out yesterday when the Supreme Court of Victoria declared the sale unlawful and overturned it, following a long legal battle by the home’s original owner.

The two-storey brick house in Wirraway Avenue, Braybrook, was built in 2006 by Zhipping Zhou.

After Mr Zhou failed to repay a $100,000 civil debt – a debt that he disputes – a warrant of seizure and sale was obtained by the Sheriff’s Office in November 2009.

Mr Zhou had $170,000 equity in the property, with the bank retaining a mortgage of $460,000, and was in arrears by almost $8000 to Maribyrnong Council for municipal rates.

The sheriff auctioned the property on December 16, 2010, – without a reserve price. Mr Kousal was the highest bidder and bought the property for $1000, after outbidding the only other bid of $200.

The sale price did not even cover the costs incurred by the sheriff, which amounted to $1152.73 after search and valuation fees were included, and advertising expenses paid.

An earlier auction failed to attract any bids and the property was passed in.

Mr Zhou claimed the sheriff breached his legal duty by selling the property for an amount that was ”illusory, unfair and unreasonable”.

He sought a court order for the sale to be set aside, and sought damages against the sheriff.

He also took action against the buyer, claiming he acted ”unconscionably”, and sought an order that Mr Kousal be permanently restrained from lodging transfer of the property.

But Mr Kousal argued that he bought the property in good faith and had a legitimate expectation that the sale was conducted by the sheriff according to law.

In handing down his judgment yesterday, Justice Vickery ruled the auction and sale unlawful, citing equity laws dating back to the 19th century.

”The only proper inference to be drawn from these facts is that the sale pursuant to the second auction was carried through, not for the purpose of applying the proceeds of the sale to the payment of a payable amount due to the judgment creditor, for there were no such funds available, but for the purpose of offsetting, to a substantial degree, the costs incurred by the sheriff in conducting the sale,” Justice Vickery said.

Outside court, Mr Zhou said that while the judgment had been returned in his favour his fight was far from over.

Federal budget 2012: Tax breaks for green buildings dumped

By James Thomson
Tuesday, 08 May 2012

An issue in the UK relates to a landlord’s clear right to evict a tenant if the terms of the lease are breached.It relates to a case where the tenant  fell into substantial arrears.the landlord tried to evict her but the case made it to the Supreme Court,where the tenant claimed the landlord could not evict her under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights claiming it breached her rights ” to have respect for a person’s home”.

The court ruled that the landlord had not considered if it was “proportionate” to evict,therefore the tenant could go back home.

The author of the article,Andrew Winter,said that he checked the word proportionate  but it did not really help.The logic for this ruling is madness,as the word seemed to mean fair on both sides.

Source : Herald Sun,Sat. April 28,author Andrew Winter.

The workers received an exit email from the HR department-which was intended for just one employee in their London office.It instructed staff to hand over their company property and security passes on their wayKurt of the building,and submit all electronic  passwords.

Source: The Age,Business Day,April 24.

Did you know that Australians have the fifth (yes, fifth) highest income per capita is the world? In US dollars, every Australian (yes, on average) earned $67,000 last year. The four countries above us in income rankings were Luxembourg ($122,000), Qatar ($98,000), Norway ($97,000) and Switzerland ($85,000).

The response to her letter has been very positive and is an excellent example of pro active risk management and OHS.

She advised her clients to view ,

www.buildingcommission.com.au  and download a copy of the latest swimming pool regulations.

In her letter she stated,

“To ensure our files are up to date and we are compliant with respect to our duty of care please provide our office with a copy of your current certificate of compliance within 14 days.”

The response has been VERY  positive from her clients.

You would be well aware of the Coroners inquest and proceedings in the media involving  a rental property involving Mark Harvey,surveyors,insurers,councils and a fellow agent.Please do everything possible to prevent any further tragedies .

Author Geoff Buck.

Consumer experts advise disabling roaming and using free wi-fi hotspots and prepaid call and data cards when traveling.

First reported in the Herald Sun April 2012.