2019 is shaping up to be an interesting one for the real estate industry, with anti-money laundering laws, landlord requirements and talks of capital gains tax. The reality is people still need to buy first homes, move towns, sell matrimonial homes on divorce, sell investments or sell family homes post a family loss.

New Zealand has had Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism laws operating since 2013. These laws applied to banks, casinos, financial institutions, and some trust and company service providers. These laws are now being extended to include real estate agents from the 1st of January this year. All businesses and service providers covered under the AML/CFT Act (including those from the first phase) will now have reporting requirements that relate to particular transactions as well as suspicious activities.

Similarly, landlord requirements are being ramped up in the form of compulsory insulation in all rental homes from 1 July 2019. Ceiling and underfloor insulation must be installed, where it is reasonably practicable, by 1 July 2019. It must meet the standards set out in the regulations and be installed safely.

Capital gains from the sale of baches and holiday homes could be taxed in the future, and the Government could raise billions of dollars by taxing more profits from the sale of property and shares. Its Tax Working Group explained how such a tax could work in an interim report published last week, but stopped short of making a recommendation.

All of these possible changes will mean that you will be well served by an established and professional agent such as Harcourts’ Ilse Evans. Ilse is there to make the process of buying or selling your house painless, professional and price maximizing, as is obvious from the following testimonial.

“Over the four years we lived at 88 Francis Street, Ilse Evans continually kept in touch with us with local market updates and recent sales evidence and showed that she has the best knowledge and expertise of the Hauraki and Takapuna areas. For us, this also showed that Ilse is a hard working agent who uses the power of a good database to ensure she has contact with a wide selection of both vendors and buyers in our market.

Ilse provided us with excellent pre-campaign advice regarding both marketing and house presentation, and during the campaign we know Ilse did an outstanding job of both attracting buyers and servicing their needs and queries. This ensured we achieved the best campaign process and an excellent outcome.
We would strongly recommend that Ilse is the best-placed agent in our area, and can only say good things about our experience with Ilse.”
Paul & Claire Steele, 88 Francis Street.

So, for more information on Harcourts Takapuna, real estate agents Takapuna and real estate agents Belmont please go to http://www.ilseevans.co.nz .