Viral North Adelaide property with toilet in kitchen in receivership

After going viral for having a toilet in its kitchen, a multimillion-dollar Adelaide property has been seized.

Receivers have seized control of this multimillion-dollar property on O’Connell St in North Adelaide. Picture: Emma Brasier

After going viral for having a toilet in its kitchen, a multimillion-dollar Adelaide property has been seized by receivers as its ex-bankrupt owner is chased down over his unpaid debts.

Accountant Nicholas Birdseye, whos had a series of run-ins with the Australian Taxation over many years, has owned the building for close to 20 years.

But Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show his company that owns the property, Sinbird Nominees, is now in the hands of receivers after being engaged by commercial lender Maxiron Capital out of Sydney.

Mr Birdseye runs his accounting firm from the ground floor of the building, but it’s an upstairs studio that raised eyebrows in 2022, when it was listed for rent on realestate.com.au at $400 to $420 per week.

That’s the kitchen on the right and the “bathroom” on the left. Picture: www.realestate.com.au

Not bad for affluent North Adelaide you might think.

But step inside and there’s a unique feature that might not sit well with some looking for a place to call home.

The so-called bathroom is simply a glass box tucked in the corner of the 25sq m apartment – right next to the kitchen – frosted of course for at least a little bit of privacy.

Agents described it at the time as a “spacious, fully furnished upstairs studio that offers the lifestyle everyone deserves”.

It’s one of six apartments in the building, which Mr Birdseye bought for $1.05m in 2005.

Property records show that he looked to sell the property in 2022 but was unable to find a buyer.

Last year Mr Birdseye was fined $1000 in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after failing to provide documents to the ATO for an audit of his accounts despite receiving two warning notices.

It was revealed during the court proceedings that Mr Birdseye previously served a community service order in April 1995 for 10 counts of failing to pay payroll tax as an employer.

Nicholas Birdseye was recently fined after pleading guilty to failing to provide documents to the ATO for an audit of his accounts.

He was a registered tax agent from 1981 until 2020, when he was struck off following an investigation by the Tax Practitioners Board.

His firm at the time, Claim It SA, was later placed into liquidation with debts of $96,000, after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in April 2021 upheld the decision to terminate its registration, but lifted a five-year ban on re-registration.

Mr Birdseye later sued the ATO for defamation, claiming the ATO told his clients in September 2020 that his company’s registration had been terminated, despite the fact he was challenging the tribunal’s decision.

In January 2023, the Tax Practitioners Board rejected Mr Birdseye’s application for re-registration as a tax agent, in part due to what it described as a “lack of compliance to demonstrate a disregard for his obligations under taxation law and to fall short of the TPB’s expectations of a person seeking registration as a tax practitioner”.

Mr Birsdeye declined to comment.

Receiver Alan Walker from WLP Restructuring has been contacted for comment.