Liberty Report

At first glance the building does look like it needs a bit of attention (one lift not working, the main entrance door not working, and cracking plaster around doorways) these items are being dealt with as money becomes available.




There have been a number of reoccurring plumbing problems. The bathroom waste fittings from the unit above leaks, effecting the unit below. If the problem is caught early enough it can be fixed without too much expense. The problem gets costly when the problem is left and water damages the ceiling. We have sent our plumber and builder to sort out a number of these units.



There are the usual complaints about noise however this is a common problem in any build environment.



Sipho, the caretaker is a stern man and takes the job seriously.



There have been a number of incidents of cell phone muggings outside the building and tenants are to be reminded to be careful.



The building is still attracting good rentals and we are very positive for the next couple of years.

Joburg CBD flat rentals surge

05 Aug 2010

The Johannesburg inner city appears to be the only market in South Africa still offering buy-to-let investors a growing income stream.

That’s true for bachelor flats in particular, with latest figures from property economists Rode & Associates showing that average rentals for bachelor units in the Johannesburg inner city rose a whopping 34, 6% in the year to second quarter 2010.






That brought the average rental for a standard bachelor unit in the Johannesburg inner city to R2,675/month. That means it now costs more to rent a flat in Hillbrow than in Randburg. According to Rode & Associates tenants are currently paying an average R2,650/month to rent a bachelor flat in Randburg’s Ferndale and Fontainebleau. Click to read more

Broadway Update October 2009

Good afternoon Broadway Investors

 

It is hard to believe that it will be 2 years in December.

 

Broadway has had a few problems in this time but nothing that had been out of the ordinary for the CBD building:

·         Managing agent problems (building maintenance, levies arrears)

·         There have been ongoing developer issues (not uncommon with new developments)

·         Student as tenants (the units are usually empty over December)

·         A few Bank repo’s went through this year.

 

The care taker at the building, Benjamin, is great and has been an assert insuring that the building is well looked after.

The security also seem to have the building under control.

The Bridge Diner is up and running and although it had a slow start things seem to be picking up nicely.

The buildings laundry is up and washing on the 14^th floor.  

 

Next year should be a great year with world markets already starting to recover. We are going to start our marketing of units for next year at

 

o   Penthouse at R6000

o   1 beds at R4850

o   Studio/bachelors at R4500

 

We have had a few landlords that have repainted and cleaned up their units ready for January and they look great.

We used a Sirius Construction for the work, repainting is about R1200 depending it’s a studio or one bed.

 

 

Let us know if you had any questions

Online Problems FNB

How dependant we become on technology

 

We are sure that you know (either from experience or you heard it on the news)

 

FNB is having trouble with their online banking, this has made it impossible for us pay anyone from the comfort of our office.

 

We have had to make a trip to the bank, not want we wanted to do but some thing that has to be done.

 

Very often in life and business we are faced with things that we don’t really feel like doing.

 

Successful people and companies are good at getting the crap things done; it is not because successful people like these things more than most.

They know that getting it done is more important than moaning about it.

Options for Colosseum electrical

Is it possible to put in prepaid meters?

 

Electrical meters will be very tricky in sectional title building like Colosseum. The electricity comes into the building in a bulk supply and is then allocated by Trafalgar to the units. We will follow up on our side and see what can be done.

 

One way that we can see it being done is that all the owners agree to have prepaid meters installed into all the units. The cost of the council meters are about R3500, so this is going to be a really big hurdle for most of the owners, especially the ones that are still battling to get tenants that the rents that they want.

 

Keeping an eye your electrical bills

It is not always plain sailing in property

If you feel that there is a problem with the electrical reading make sure
that the readings are correct, have your tenant or managing agent

Confirm the electricity readings for each of the Electricity charges and
check them against your invoice.

Don't be afraid to ask for a breakdown

If a body corporate letter explains that there are additional electricity
charges for communal use, find out if the charges apply if the unit is
vacant

Make sure that the body corporate explains how the invoicing is charged.

Very often electricity is dated, be aware some time the back dating can be
as much as two months,

This can be very confusing for the tenant that get a high electricity bill
in September (where he was away or it was very hot and he never used the
heater once) for his use in July.

Bridgeview News

On the 27th September 2009 at approximately 04h36, there was an incident of break-in on site.
The control room received a panic signal from Bridgeview and the armed reaction officer was dispatched with a back up. On their arrival, they made contact with the guard Alain G2119 and Bongani G1993 and
they have arrested two guys that had broken into unit 323 and stole 2 laptops, they broke the window and gained access into the unit. The police were called and the suspects were taken away by the police.