Home ownership is the pinnacle of the Australian Dream (or the American Dream, or the Scandinavian
Dream, or the Dream).
It shows that you are prosperous.
It’s a status symbol that separates the middle class from the poor.
But how much do we really own our own homes?
Do we really “own” anything?
In this video, I’ll give you three prevailing reasons (and one possible future reason) why
you don’t actually own your own home.
The first one is fairly obvious — Mortgages.
That is, people borrow money to purchase a house and then proudly tell their friends
and colleagues that they are now homeowners.
Of course, they don’t actually own anything.
What would happen if they started missing their mortgage repayments due to unemployment
or otherwise?
They’d very quickly find out who the true owners are.
According to ASIC’s MoneySmart website, these are the steps that a lender can take
if you’re behind on your mortgage:
Step 1 – The lender sends you a letter about your missed mortgage repayment.
Step 2 – The lender sends you a default notice.
Step 3 – The lender takes you to court.
Step 4 – The lender applies for a court order to enable them to take possession of
your home.
Step 5 – The lender sends you a letter telling you to move out.
And, if you don’t move out,
Step 6 – The lender has you evicted from your home.
They’ll send a sheriff (or bailiff) to your home to evict you.
They’ll change the locks and sell your home.
Yes, if you have a mortgage, you only “own” your home as long as you’re able to continue
paying back the bank on time.
In my opinion, this is not ownership.
It’s more like renting your home from the bank, a bank that can take you to court whenever
they need to.
Reason number 2 — Council Rates (or Property Taxes, depending on which part of the world
you live in).
Even if you have paid off your mortgage, or bought your home outright, do you really own
your home?
What if you stopped paying your council rates?
You’d very quickly find out who really owns your home.
According to the National Debt Helpline, in times of financial hardship, a council is
not obliged to waive your rates (even if you make a waiver application).
However, they should still try to give you reasonable alternatives that will help you
to overcome your financial hardship.
But if you don’t come to an agreement, the council can take legal action against you.
They can start proceedings in the local or magistrates court for the amount of the outstanding
rates.
Or, they can sell your property.
Yes, even if you “own” your home outright, you only “own” it for as long as you’re
able or willing to pay the local council rates.
If you don’t pay, “Bye-bye house!”.
The third reason — Government Land Acquisition.
Even if you own your home outright and pay your rates and taxes like a good little citizen,
the Government still have the authority to seize your land.
According to the Queensland Government’s Land Acquisition and Resumption web page,
all levels of government have the right to acquire privately held land.
This can be through negotiation with the landholder or through a compulsory acquisition process
known as ‘land resumption’.
So who can “resume” land?
According to the Acquisition of Land Act 1967, ‘constructing authorities’ can legally
take your land for public purposes.
These include, the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, the Department of Transport
and Main Roads, the Coordinator-General, electricity companies such as Energex and Ergon Energy
under the Electricity Act 1994, and local governments.
So basically, the Government can take your land if it’s for a public purpose.
There’s a whole process that goes along with it, and you can make an objection, but
ultimately, the Government have the final say,
“If the constructing authority believes they still require the land, they may apply
to the relevant minister for the land to be taken.
If the minister is satisfied that the proposed resumption should proceed, they may refer
the matter to the Executive Council to have a taking of land notice published in the Queensland
Government Gazette.”
There is a compensation process that allows you to get something back in return, but even
through the Government are the one’s demanding your land, you’re responsible for any outstanding
government rates or taxes.
No free rides!
Anyway, the point is, if the Government is determined to take your land, they’re going
to take it, and the law will back them up.
And I presume this is true for most countries.
In Queensland, we shouldn’t be so surprised.
I mean, it’s in our bloody name!
Queen’s Land — The land owned by the Queen!
So these reasons, Mortgages, Council Rates, and Land Acquisition, are all concepts that
affect us right now.
But what if in the future, the Government were to lose power?
Just say due to some unforeseen cataclysmic event the global economy collapses, governments
fail, police no longer exist, and we end up living in a world of anarchy.
Who owns what in a post-apocalyptic world?
This leads onto my fourth reason — Ownership Doesn’t Exist.
Without all these laws, and Government officials, and police, ownership really doesn’t exist.
It only exists insofar that I am willing to defend my property.
If we’re living in a world of anarchy and lawlessness, what’s to say that a group
of bandits won’t just come up to my house and say, “Right cobber!
This is our house now.
Get out!”.
If I’m not able, or not willing to defend my property, then the concept of ownership
goes out the window.
With mortgages, council rates, land acquisition, and the possibility of a post-apocalyptic
future, we really don’t, and can’t own our own home (at least, not in the true sense
of the word).
If for example, I own a pencil, can anybody take that pencil away from me?
Well, not legally unless I’m using it to attack somebody.
So why is that we can own a pencil, but we can’t own our own house and land?
I think there’s a single-word answer: Control (and I’m not talking about the spy agency
in the TV show Get Smart).
If you own a pencil, it doesn’t hurt the Government (well, not unless you use that
pencil to write a book that attacks them politically).
But if you own too much land, you’re a threat to state power.
Consequently, we have laws in place to prevent any such private acquisition.
Mortgages, government taxes, land acquisition — Home ownership is a fiction.