KEY POINTS:
Investors suffering in the Blue Chip related liquidations are being targeted by a multitude of offers of help.
A seminar to be held this Thursday entitled How to Make the Most of Your Losses is but one of a range of offers of advice to disaffected investors.
Onehunga chartered accountants Humphries Associates are running the seminar with a local branch of property management franchise Quinovic Property.
It's been done at the request of Blue Chip investors lobby leader Greta Norman, who is a longtime client of Humphries. Humphries suggested Quinovic be involved.
Many of those who invested through the scheme are owed weeks in rent, and others face losing deposits on properties yet to be built.
Norman said Thursday's free seminar could be valuable for investors affected by the liquidation because many of them were without direction. "They just don't know where to go."
Michael Humphries, director of Humphries Associates, said the aim was to educate investors about the various tax structures available to them, such as trusts and LAQCs (loss attributing qualifying companies), what to do if they were in the wrong structure, and upcoming tax changes.
The seminar would also talk about how people in business could utilise losses through their business.
"A lot of people we find coming in just haven't had the advice upfront. They might own a rental property in their own name or in a partnership, and there's just no flexibility in the long run, especially if they're in business and want to minimise risk," Humphries said.
Quinovic business development manager Martin Easthope said the agency had been swamped with enquiries after the Blue Chip saga.
"Even some solicitors representing their owners, saying 'how can you help out?".
He said at this stage it was hard to know how much business it would generate but Quinovic had gained several one-off new clients.
Harcourts has set up a specialist team to deal with ex-clients of Blue Chip franchised property manager Bribanc, now in liquidation. CEO Bryan Thompson said while the situation might look complicated to investor owners of affected properties, it was really very simple.
"The only thing that makes it complicated is if they get advice from people who don't understand what's going on.
"Some of the noise in the marketplace is of concern to me, and it could very much concern people who are vulnerable at the moment."
Property managers Crockers are also taking on ex-Bribanc clients.
Director Rob Macdonald said the firm had previously been managing some properties on behalf of Bribanc, and had had dozens of approaches since the liquidation.
He said people had been "grossly let down" by Bribanc, and advised investors to do their homework before choosing another manager.
"There are good professional operators in the marketplace who frankly do this stuff all day, all night ... It's not rocket science." Macdonald said Crockers was now paying rent from formerly Bribanc managed properties directly to the owners.
"The moment we got notification of the liquidation, and I might add we heard that through the public arena we haven't paid them one brass razoo and neither will we."
Andrew King, of the Property Investors Federation, said the larger property management firms were not necessarily best, as some had real estate sales sides as well and the property managers could be the poor cousins.
"Some of the smaller independents can be better. They take a more personal view on it, and they may actually provide a better service because they're focussed on it."
King has just set up a property management broking service, where he matches property managers with investors.
HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD PROPERTY MANAGER
* Experts advise considering the following things before putting your investment property with a manager
* How long has the company been in existence?
* Does it operate a rental trust account (mandatory for members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand)?
* What are the qualifications and experience of the individual property managers?
* Does the firm specialise in your area?
* What fees does it charge? (Look out for ad-ons)
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR LOSSES SEMINAR
6pm, Thursday 21 February
The Conference Centre, AUT Tech Park, 585 Great South Road
Email david@dollarsandsense.co.nz
Andrew King Property Management Brokers
www.andrewking.co.nz
