Canberra Clamping Down on Unlawful Property Purchases by Overseas People

Are you an overseas person and hold a property in Australia? If yes, this news report is for you! The Australian Government has reportedly corroborated that the overseas people--who purchase assets in the nation and are not permitted to do it--will have them disposed-off, by force.

Certainly, the incumbent Treasurer Scott Morrison has reportedly substantiated that he has ordered the divestment of an additional 16 Australian residential assets under the possession of the outsiders in violation of the foreign investment framework.

The properties were bought by people from a range of countries comprising Canada, Britain, China and Malaysia, ranging in price between 200,000 and 2 million dollars.

While Canberra has been coming down rather hard on the investors from abroad purchasing property, since the latest laws were officially launched, property worth more than 92 million dollars has been disposed-off. Oz is worried that foreigners are fuelling the costs the local residents.

Talking about the latest development--involving the forcible selling of the holdings owned by the foreigners in Australia--Morrison reportedly stated that the divestments of the said 16 properties--which have a combined purchase value of more than 14 million dollars--are more proof of the incumbent administration’s pledge to implementing the laws so that foreign nationals, unlawfully possessing Australian property, are duly found out even as their prohibited properties surrendered.

He also indicated that though the overseas investment offers major benefits for Down Under, it is crucial to guarantee that such investment is beneficial to every national, is in tune with the nation’s laws, and is not against the national interests.

Morrison added that the overseas investors either bought recognized residential property, minus Foreign Investment Review Board sanction, or had approval but their situations underwent a change meaning they were violating the laws.

Since storming to power in 2013, the present administration has reportedly forced the overseas people to divest a total of 46 properties. Under the preceding administration, allegedly no foreign nationals were pressurized to divest the unlawfully held Australian holdings.

Augmented compliance steps comprised moving accountability for the residential real estate enforcement to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to assist guarantee foreign investment laws are being implemented.

Morrison stated that since the transfer of job to the ATO for compliance in May 2015 more than 2,200 matters have been duly referred for examination. Via the information shared by the public, along with the ATO’s own enquiries, roughly 400 cases carry on being under active examination.

A new penalty regime was started in the month of December during the year gone by, and since then 179 penalty notices have been given worth more than 900,000 dollars. Penalty notices have been given to those who have not been able to get the FIRB sanction before purchasing property, and also for infringing a condition of an approved application in the past.