It would probably surprise you that a 16 sq m single car parking space at Bondi in Sydney, recently sold for $240,000 – but amazingly other sales in the same price range are expected to follow.

Over the last few years Councils across Australia have been attempting to minimise traffic congestion by reducing the number of car parking spaces available in new developments.  As the number of parking spaces is dropping, the value of these spaces is soaring.  Car parking spaces in Sydney, once worth $5000 to $10,000, are now regularly selling for between $40,000 and $140,000 each.

Brisbane City Council has also tightened rules to reduce parking in buildings over recent years, and the number of available carpark spaces had been reduced by 50 per cent.

Business owners with spare parking spaces, and owners of inner city units without a car, have been using services like SpaceOut (www.spaceout.com.au) to rent out their unused parking spaces and cash in on council policy changes.

There is currently a proposal put forward by the City of Melbourne (which is yet to be approved), limiting a single car park space per dwelling for new developments at inner-suburban Carlton and Southbank, and in parts of the northwest and east of the city.

As inner city parking becomes increasingly scarce across CBDs throughout Australia, there will be more and more opportunities for the owners of Private and Business parking spaces to make some extra cash, by renting their unused space out.  Conversely, as the price of inner city parking fees increase there are fabulous opportunities for people looking for a parking space to make great savings by searching for cheap parking on SpaceOut.

We love it when our members and website visitors provide feedback about the SpaceOut website and the service that we provide.  The good feedback helps to confirm that we are doing at least some things right – but we especially like to hear what we are doing wrong as it gives us an opportunity to improve.  Here is a selection of some of the feedback we have received from SpaceOut Members and site visitors over the  last month or so :

• Great idea, linking smaller storage spaces with people that need it
• Fantastic
• Brilliant! I have been trying to find a way to make some extra cash being a pensioner and have some spare room!
• Thank you so much for starting this excellent site. I am new to it, but it appears grand.
• Great Idea, love it!
• An excellent concept – so simple but so smart.  I will probably rent out some space very soon, but will make myself more familiar with the website & information & discuss it with my partnet first.
• it will be great when it grows a little.  : )
  Great!  I’ve never seen anything like this.
• What an innovative idea!  My mum told me to check out instead of self-storage.  I found one possibility and no doubt it’ll expand rapidly!
• a great idea for that unusual space
• Great concept – I hope lots of people are made aware of this service.
• Wow listing Wilsons car parks was so useful thanks. What a great idea!
  easy
• It would be good if you put that the prices were monthly costs as i didn’t realise this till seeing that Sydney’s average storage price was $800 per month.

If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, criticisms or compliments about SpaceOut please make sure that you contact us.

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Many Australian Seniors and Retirees have recently stumbled onto a little gold mine in their own back yards.

Seniors who own their home, have discovered that they can now make use of new online services to help them rent out unused space to people searching for storage space. They can earn a steady passive income to help supplement their superannuation or pensions whilst they enjoy their retirement.

Managing Director of space sharing website Spaceout.com.au,  Damon Russell says -

We have been inundated with enquiries from Aussie Seniors nationwide looking to rent out their spare space. “Grey Nomads” (seniors that travel in Caravans or Motorhomes) have been particularly active on the site. They are either offering their spare or vacant space for people to store their possessions or are looking for short to medium term storage space to store their vans. It seems to work both ways for our seniors….Those with space can easily earn a couple of hundred dollars a month and those looking for space can often find a cheaper and more convenient storage solution”.

The Census of Population and Housing (2009) highlighted that approx 80% of Australians over 65 own their home outright. Therefore, a spare room, a shed, an unused garage, or parking space, wasted space under their house, or even an empty wardrobe can all be easily harnessed to earn seniors an extra regular passive income – literally turning thin air into income!

SpaceOut offers an entirely new type of service which provides Australian home and business owners with an opportunity to turn their spare space into a regular passive income.  Homeowners simply list their unused space for rent at www.spaceout.com.au and people looking for space (SpaceSeekers) within a specific area can search to find which spaces are currently available. The easy to use search feature shows spaces that are currently available for rent on a map, making it easy to identify spaces in a local area.

Feedback from seniors has been overwhelmingly positive with most declaring “what a great idea” it is. With thousands of members Australia wide already, and growing fast, www.spaceout.com.au presents a great opportunity for ordinary Australians to make some extra cash with very little effort.

We encourage our members and website visitors to provide feedback about the SpaceOut website and the service that we provide.  The good feedback helps to confirm that we are doing at least some things right – but we especially like to hear what we are doing wrong as it gives us an opportunity to improve.  Here is a selection of some of the feedback we have received from SpaceOut Members and site visitors over the  last month or so :

• saw your ad in local paper; interested and looking; I have space to rent if I become interested
• total square meterage instead of width, height, etc would suit me better and multiple listing of suburbs ie more than one location in search
• Great idea for a website
• Great concept, just need to get more people on to it
• Very user friendly.
• GREAT idea!! Exactly what I’ve been looking for  the past few months! Thank you!
• Great idea!! Hope people in Perth will use the site
• multiple listing for one add – rural and parking storage to be a able to be ticked in the same ad
• First time I’ve seen a site like this
• This appears to be a fairly new site as there are not a lot of participants yet but the idea is great. Have you contemplated a category for temporary/intermittent parking places for cars and vans around the state
• It would be good to be able to specify what the space was good for. For example, I have a large second garage that would suit a boat, caravan, car, camper van. That would be good to able to note.
• wot a great idea for those of us who have the space and those of us who need the space
• Very easy to use and navigate
• Great site for advertising space.  I am very happy with the results for advertising office space have successfully leased 2 offices in last 6 months. Great results!!
• Spaceout is fairly new, not many people know about it.
• Great stuff
• Easy to operate and informative thanks
• Beautiful, simple, functional website.
• I have found everything I needed to know for a novice space owner.  Everything is easy to navigate and the information is very useful.  I haven’t needed to look anywhere else for answers to the many questions I had.
• it would help if the prices matched companies not just suburbs
• I live in Eltahm some locations in that region would be more accessible
• Excellent warm helpful service from Miami. Could not be more helpful or pleasant
• like the idea of getting the best deal in the region
• You continue to add improvements to your site. It’s very user-friendly. You try to think of everything both parties would want included. Congratulations. Carol – Perth

If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, criticisms or compliments about SpaceOut please make sure that you contact us.

Last Sundays Perth Newspaper – The Sunday Times ran an article by Hayley Bolton about how Perth Home and Business owners are making up to $500 a month renting out their spare space.

Shed a nice little earner

Empty driveways, garages and sheds around Perth are being turned into cash cows.

Scores of people are pocketing up to $500 a month by renting out empty space they think could be useful to someone else.

SpaceOut.com.au is a website the matches “SpaceOwners” with “SpaceSeekers”.

Founder Damon Russell said. “When home and business owners realise that their unused space could be earning them a regular rental income with little or no effort, it is a real no-brainer”

Bayswater resident Carol Marshall is hoping to make some extra cash out of her back shed. She is asking #90 a week to rent it.

Mr Russell said the idea cam to him when he needed somewhere to store his belongings while he went overseas.

Once again, the controversial (and probably illegal) practice of “fining” people for alleged breaches of parking conditions is making News Headlines.

Channel 9’s A Current Affair program has run a series of reports over the last few weeks about the methods Australian National Car Parks (ANCP) seem to be using to intimidate people into paying “fines” for failing to get a ticket at public Car Parks they manage.

It was alleged that ANCP take advantage of the fact that people are often unaware that they need to get a ticket – even though the car parks are clearly signed as “2 Hours Free Parking”.  It seems that if you fail to get a ticket (even if you stay for less than 2 hrs) ANCP staff have been issuing ‘liquidated damages’  demands for $66 – which quickly escalate to $88 and then $163 if you don’t pay in time – in some cases followed by a NOTICE OF INTENTION TO SUE.

However, as a private company, ANCP does not have legal authority to administer fines.

What the law says:

A DRIVER using a private car park enters into a contract with the operator to abide by the terms and conditions stated on signs (which must be prominently displayed).

Under contract law, parties are not entitled to impose penalties for breach of contract but can seek “liquidated damages” – which are defined as a reasonable estimate of the damage suffered as a result of the contract being breached. If a court finds the estimate is not reasonable it is defined as a penalty and becomes invalid.

If damages are sought by a private car-park operators but resisted by the driver the issue may end up in court, however, the company then has to demonstrate how the damage it suffered equals the damages it is seeking.

There is considerable doubt whether ANCP could justify the $66 damages they have been demanding.

But It’s all happened before :

This is certainly not the first time this type of practice has been reported.

In April 2007, The Age (Crackdown on car parking ‘bullies ) reported similar practices by Australian National Car Parks and highlighted that a number of Victorian Councils had banned (or were considering bans) on ANCP operating within their regions.

Moreland Council, which includes Brunswick, Coburg and Pascoe Vale, accused Australian National Car Parks of bullying behaviour, and Darebin Council, which includes Northcote and Preston, had asked the company to stop handing out tickets.

At the time ANCP was being investigated by the NSW Office of Fair Trading and had also been reported to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

In 2006, then NSW fair trading minister Diane Beamer urged drivers to “exercise extreme caution” in ANCP car parks because the company could have been engaging in “improper, misleading and deceptive conduct”.

In October 2008, the Herald Sun (Supermarket shoppers not legally obliged to pay parking fines ) reported that tens of thousands of Victorians had paid up for shopping centre parking fines that they were not legally obliged to pay.

On 10th October, Consumer Affairs Victoria issued a state-wide alert warning motorists that Care Park Pty Ltd had no power to issue fines or impose penalties at “free” supermarket car parks.  Also at that time Australian National Car Parks was at the centre of a case designed to test the legality of its demands, and a third company that issued demand notices – Parking Infringements Victoria – was under investigation by Consumer Affairs.

A Facebook group called The People vs Australian National Car Parks -  has been established with the aim of helping with information and advice.  There are also plenty of active forums discussing the issues, but consensus seems to be that if you do get issued with one of these demand notices – don’t panic and don’t lose sleep over it – simply throw the notice away.

If you are looking for quick and easy ways to either Make or Save a little extra cash this year, then Private Storage is something that is definitely worth taking a closer look at.

Private Storage is a new, but remarkably simple idea that allows ordinary Australians to rent out reasonably priced, privately owned storage space. Traditionally the only options available to individuals or businesses looking for somewhere to store their extra things, has been to use commercial Public Storage and Self Storage facilities and services.  However, with Private Storage, just about anyone with unused space in their home or business, can advertise and rent out their spare space and convert it into a regular extra income – literally making money out of thin air.
More and more Australians are becoming aware that they can make money out of their empty bedrooms, garages, sheds and even cupboards.  People looking for storage and needing to rent out space to store their things are also realising that there are real alternatives to traditional self storage, and are attracted by the significant cost savings (as much as 50%) and greater convenience offered by Private Storage.

Is Private Storage right for you ?  It is not necessarily suitable for everyone – so here are some of the advantages and disadvantages :

Advantages of Private-Storage:

• You get to make real passive income each month by renting out spare space in your home or business. A shed, part of your garage, a room or even a big cupboard is all it takes to start producing income.
• Rather than dealing with a “live in” tenant – you only have to share your space (and your life) with inanimate objects (with an occasional visit from the owner perhaps)
• It is cheap (or even free) to advertise your space online and very easy to set this up. All you need to do is clear some space, measure it, and list the details online.
• This is still a relatively new idea, so there’s not much competition out there (yet) when you list your space. It is still quite easy to rent your space quickly if you set a reasonable price.
• Until recently, people searching for storage space only had the ‘professional’ option.  By offering Private storage, you get to provide someone with a really good price for storage, while you make money. It is a genuine win-win situation for all..

Disadvantages of Private Storage

• You may need to take some time (and a little effort) to clear out the space and get it ready for a potential space renter. This may take time and thought depending on your particular situation.
• You need to make sure you are clear on insurance if something happens to the stored goods. This usually requires a call to your Insurer. You should tell whoever rents your space if they need to arrange their own insurance.
• Depending on your location, the space itself and the price you charge, you may wait a while for someone to contact you about renting your space.
• You may need to be selective about the types of things that you are willing to store, or what level of access you are willing to offer

If you have some unused space and love the idea of your home making you genuine, ultra low-risk passive income, then Private Storage could very well be the thing for you. It currently costs you nothing to advertise your space, and once it is listed, all you need to do is sit back and wait for someone to contact you.

if you do happen have spare space around your home or business, or if you are searching for storage space then Private Storage is certainly a service that you should consider. For more information, try online services like www.SpaceOut.com.au.

Business Tenants in Australia are expecting a massive increase in the cost of renting their office space as shortages of quality office space (particularly in CBDs) shifts the pricing “power” back in favour of landlords.

In Sydney, the asking price for prestigious office space that is currently under construction is rumoured to be up to $1400 a square metre.

The anticipated rise in the costs of office space is typical of a market coming out of a recession and reflects the fact that relatively few new development projects have been started in the past couple of years.

Melbourne’s premium rent is more like $550 per sq m, but independent adviser Urbis has predicted a rise of about 10-12 per cent over the next two years.

Australia’s major cities remain among the most expensive in the world for parking space fees and office accommodation – a reflection in the lack of supply and the expected rise in demand for office space as numbers of white-collar workers rise.

DTZ’s 13th annual Global Occupancy Costs report, highlights six Australian cities that are among the world’s 100 most expensive.

According to the report, Sydney’s ranking has increased from position 45 in 2009 to 23 in the latest data – putting it well ahead of many international business precincts including downtown New York, Brussels and Berlin.

Melbourne jumped from rank 86 in 2009 to 53 in 2010. Brisbane is ranked 29, followed by Perth (32), Canberra (73) and Adelaide (80).

SpaceOut continues to offer a realistic alternative for people searching for cheap and convenient office space to rent.

In today’s Brisbane daily mX Newspaper Torny Jensen wrote the following article about the costs of parking  – and how Brisbanites, particularly in the CBD area, are searching for parking alternatives such as those offered by SpaceOut.

Workers on park avenue

Fed-up city workers are ditching expensive CBD carparks for cheaper backyard spots.

Brisbane was ranked as the seventh moist expensive city in the world for parking in the most recent Colliers International Global CBD Parking Rate survey, with motorists having to pay a median monthly cost of $596 for parking.

The survey found Brisbanites were spending more on their parking than those living in Tokyo or New York.

But a local website is revolutionising city parking by matching desperate motorists with inner-city tenants who have room to spare in carparks backyards and garages.

SpaceOut.com.au advertises private car spaces for rent, and places ads for commuters hoping to find cheap car parks close to their work.

This morning the site offered an undercover parking space in South Brisbane for $50 a week or $160 a month

Meanwhile a space with double-swipe security protection at Spring Hill was being advertised for the bargain price of #240 a month.

Spaceout’s Andy Henderson said many private carpark providers were inner-city residents who lived and socialised in the city and chose not to have a car.

“We’re getting a lot more inner-city accommodation, and a lot of those, for example are being filled by foreign students who don’t have a car.” he said.

“They see this as an opportunity to subsidise their rent.“

If you are tired of spending a small fortune on parking fees, fed up with paying out parking fines, or  desperate to find a convenient and cheap place to park, there could be a remarkably simple solution.

Property owners in cities and towns throughout Australia, with unused garages, parking spots or even driveways are offering them up for rent as private parking – providing a great alternative for people who are fed up with paying high parking rates.  Some owners are charging as little as $150 a month for inner city parking – or even less for suburban spots. Using private parking could save you thousands of dollars a year. A recent study shows that Sydney CBD has a median parking rate of $730 per month.

A new type of online services like that offered at www.spaceout.com.au allows you to locate and get in touch with people who have lock up garages, undercover parking or private driveways that they are willing to rent out on an annual, monthly and even casual basis.

These days many people living in or near capital city CBDs have parking spaces included with their lease but don’t own a vehicle, and don’t need or use the parking spot.  Many of these people are happy to rent out the parking space at a fraction of the normal rate.  They get a regular extra income, and you can get bargain priced parking – it is a win, win situation where everyone benefits.

A spokesman for classified advertising and community website Gumtree said it had seen a “massive increase” in the number of parking spaces and garages for hire in recent months. It has now introduced a section for people looking to rent a garage or parking space.

Whether you need to park near the CBD, sporting arenas, shopping centers, hospitals, theatres or close to a railway station you are probably used to paying a fortune for parking. However space owners with driveways near the CBD, train stations and even major shopping centers are renting out private parking spaces for as little as $150 per month.

Damon Russell from SpaceOut says “we get new listings just about every day from people wanting to lease out their unused space.”   Right now SpaceOut has hundreds of cost effective parking space listings that are available for rent in capital city CBDs and suburban locations throughout Australia.

Steve and Craig from, Sydney currently “share” a garage in Redfern. Steve, “the home owner” leaves early to work at the Sydney airport and Matt parks his car there whilst he is at work from 8.30 -5pm. Steve makes $3000 per year and Craig is saving about $2000 per year on parking fees and is actually closer to his office.

“It works for both the parking space owner and the motorist wanting the space. Drivers typically save between 30 and 70 per cent off the cost of parking when they choose to use this method instead of a commercial car park.” Says Russell.

Some residents close to airports have even been offering lifts to the airport as well as their driveway to park your car.

Private parking space rental is a relatively new concept, but the idea of ”sharing” unused space actually ties in very nicely with societies increasing awareness of the benefits of recycling.  Why not give it a go, save yourself some money on parking fees (or make some extra cash if you are an owner) and do your little bit for a greener community.