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THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 26 #06 Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
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T H I S I S S U E C R E AT E D E N T I R E LY B Y S O C K P U P P E T S
CAB AUDIT
Byron’s Belle collapse Keeping it local and connected probe widens Ray Moynihan
Investigations into the collapsed Belle real estate franchise have widened, with the government announcing Fair Trading is now working on the case with other law-enforcement agencies. The Office of Fair Trading revealed last week it was investigating ‘irregularities’ of more than $550,000 in the upmarket agency’s trust funds, and it is currently analysing data from confiscated computers and statements from Belle’s former agents. Sarah Dougan, Belle Byron’s principal who has a background in financing real estate deals, denies any intentional wrongdoing and claims the trust funds were ‘put out of whack by a major property settlement’. Ms Dougan says the amount of money unaccounted for is nowhere near $550,000, but she has so far declined The Echo’s repeated requests to provide more details of the irregularities.
Over-valued properties While there are conflicting versions of what went wrong at Belle, its collapse opens a rare window into the complex dealings at the upper end of Byron’s property market. In December, local newspapers reported enthusiastically on the ‘health’ of the Byron market, stating that several of the Belle agency’s luxury properties were ‘selling like hot cakes’, though more than six months later a number of those sales have failed to eventuate. In one case, three exclusive properties in Massinger, Carlyle and Childe Streets were being sold through Belle to a single buyer for well over two million dollars each, prices believed by some local agents to be far in excess of market value. The Echo understands the buyers were offered a guarantee of rents worth up to $200,000 a year for each of these three properties, although all three sales have so far failed to settle.
Sarah Dougan says they failed because of a financial difficulty on the part of the seller, who told The Echo he was unable to make any public comment at this time. Local real estate agent Rose Wanchap says in her opinion the prices of the three properties may have each been up to a million dollars above market value, and that sales being announced by Belle had created a ‘false spike’ in Byron’s upmarket property prices.
Deals failed Ms Dougan rejected claims Belle’s values were above market. In another case just last month, Belle’s Byron office was helping to arrange the sale of the Broken Head property belonging to former barrister Tim Gotterson. At one point in negotiations the deal involved a complex financial arrangement which appeared to potentially inflate the real price of the transaction. Documents and emails exchanged between Tim Gotterson and Sarah Dougan, and provided by Mr Gotterson to The Echo, suggest the arrangement involved the seller lending $500,000 to a potential buyer to help him make the purchase. If the first two repayments of $100,000 each were made ahead of schedule, the rest of the repayments would not be required. Though the deal ultimately failed, if successful it could have resulted in the sale price being as much as $300,000 more than what the seller would actually have received from the buyer. Sarah Dougan says she would not condone a situation where a published sale price was different from the price actually paid. She also confirmed that for some sales she would not act as a sales agent, but instead would act as a broker and take a fee for arranging finance, though it is unclear whether that was the case with the proposed Broken Head deal.
‘Hear that sound?’ Lewis Walker asked his grandson, Jackson. ‘That’s the sound of movement.’ Lewis and fellow Bundjalung dancers performed a Welcome to Country ceremony at Saturday’s launch for the new local cultural-hub website, The Byron Movement. Photo Jeff ‘Wobbly’ Dawson‘
The wet didn’t keep over 400 people from the launch of the Byron Movement at Durrumbul Hall on Saturday. Co-founded by Will Scott, Stewart Ford and 25 other local people, the event celebrated the launch of a multimedia interactive website which aims to provide a ‘tree music and cultural platform for the area.’ Live music by Fyah Walk, Raz Bin
Sam and the Lion I Band, Danny Ross and Shai Shriki were just some of the acts, along with tree planting, audiovisual displays, speakers on sustainability and coal-seam gas (CSG) and Sea Shepherd information tables. Will told The Echo, ‘We hope the platform inspires more independence and a more enriching quality of life through connection to a coexisting,
sustainable and balanced business and environmental society. Real freedom is achieved by growing your own food, and being self-sufficient with power and water, while ensuring you still have enough money to operate on a global commerce driven earth. ‘Through connections and education we can forge a better path.’ For more visit www.byronmovement.com.
Council puts a price on using sports fields Hans Lovejoy
In the ever-expanding effort to extract more revenue, the cash-strapped Byron Council is asking sporting clubs and schools to consider a draft policy that will see them paying for field use and maintenance. Mary Ashton, from North Coast Trophies in Brunswick Heads, has a longtime association with sporting continued on page 2 clubs in the area. She told The Echo
Council’s time-frame for submissions was way too short, and requested an extension on the policy. ‘This came out in the first week of the school holidays, which is a huge disadvantage to those parents and coaches who are away at the moment,’ she says. While she agrees it’s important to have a policy, Ms Ashton is concerned by the lack of detail in the policy and the proposed licences. ‘There’s no certainty for the clubs.
We need to find out more.’ There are 23 sporting fields in Byron Shire managed by Council, and the draft policy gives an example of Pine Avenue in Mullumbimby, and how the pricing will be calculated. Council claims the cost of managing that ground per season (26 weeks) is $4,443.92, and through a 15 per cent subsidy, a club would pay $666.58. This is based on using the facility continued on page 3
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