Apartment Business Permit Renewal

Today's the day that DH, bless her heart, will claim the business permit for the apartment. The first 2 months of every year is the time when businesses line up in government offices for the yearly business permit renewal. This year, we were surprised coz there were extra requirements like the Certificate of Occupancy, Certificate of Completion, some other permits like the plumbing, fire, etc. etc. The fire department even inspected the three fire extinguishers in the apartment and declared them expired. Hokay, so I had to refill them again at a total cost of Php1500 (500 per tank, discounted). It was a contact person of the fire department who refills them. Heck, I even bought those fire extinguishers from them, of corz hoping that the issuance of the fire inspection permit will be facilitated - and it was. Every year, I renew my fire insurance for the apartment and the house. The cost of fire insurance is not a lot - a little over Php5K for both properties, but of course it gives you a little peace of mind. Besides it's still part of rental property management and as landlord or apartment manager it's an expense that's worth it. I've started buying fire insurance for the apartment every year since it was completed. I wished that with my buying fire insurance I get some sort of leeway or bonus points from the fire department.

Overall, I think DH paid a little over Php8K for the real estate or property tax and the renewal for business license fees. Corz the only consolation is that we could take that out from the rental income we derive from the apartment units. I remember the first time I had the property assessed at the Assessor's office. Gosh the assessment for real estate tax was horrendous. I was pleading with the assessor to reevaluate to bring the fee down saying we took out personal and bank loans to finance and refinance the property. I even said that this financing was already on top of the mortgage that we already have. At that time, we only had a couple of tenants and there wasn't much rental income coming out from the apartment. Corz he wasn't convinced and I probly looked like I had oodles of cash. But after a lot of discussion and pleading they did reevaluate.

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