Looking for a rental property
Links to the numerous rental websites
Listed below are websites that might assist in locating your next rental property. Some homes for rent by owners can be found on alternate websites and hopefully you will find the right place for you and your family to live. Remember to download an application prior to inspecting any property and have it ready to give to the landlord at the inspection.
PLEASE NOTE: Aussie Renters has been structured around the rental property scene and the information supplied by Aussie Renters does not include rooming agreements or social housing agreements.
For the people that are sharing:
Consider a long term tenancy agreement
Depending on where you live, will depend on how difficult it is to find a property. There are many websites available for you to look for a home for you and your family to live in but not many will promote long term tenancy.
Have you ever thought of long tenancy, such as requesting a lease for more than a year? It comes with lots of benefits, like stability, security, savings from not moving as well as allowing your children to attend the same school and play with the neighbourhood friends. The benefits for families are enormous as well as the owner of the property.
When offering a longer term agreement, you offer a bit more security to the owner, as in, guaranteed rent for that period. It also saves them finding another tenant after a year. So if you are in a position to offer a long tenancy agreement, offer it as this may be the winning factor on your application that gets the place you want to call home.
Make sure you sign an agreement that does not include the wording for rent increases. Part of this offer of long term residency is to ensure your rent does not increase. If they write a formula or state the rent will increase on a specified date, request it to be removed. Rent does not automatically increase each calendar year. If for instance, the owner installed an air-conditioner then increase can be argued as you are now receiving an additional benefit at the property for the same rent.
If you do enter a long term tenancy agreement (more than two years) and the landlord increases the rent, you have the option to terminate your agreement.
Holding Deposits
If the property is not available for tenanting immediately then the landlord may request a holding deposit or fee. The fee is one week’s rent and it will be required immediately! Do not pay this holding fee, rent or rental bond until the tenancy agreement has been signed. Once signed, the fee cannot exceed more than 1 week’s rent and you must be given a receipt immediately and the holding fee must be paid towards rent.
If you do secure the property by a holding fee, please request a tenancy ledger or rent record within the first month to ensure the landlord has credited this to your rent.
STORY TIME: I was caught up in a roaring fiasco due to a previous real estate agent leaving the week’s rent in the holding section of their trust account system. After many months, the agent sent a Notice to Remedy Breach as my rent was a week behind. And I paid after being bantered enough to think I had missed the weeks’ payment from the beginning!
At the end of the tenancy we moved back to the Gold Coast and I requested a tenancy ledger (to supply in my next trillion rental applications) and discovered an oddity. The balances did not show the extra weeks rent paid, if you simply looked at the bottom figure, it balanced. No auditor could find this without being overly thorough however, I could tell it was wrong.
Many emails and phone calls were flicked back and forth until I became so frustrated that I produced an excel document with the dates clearly showing that I had paid an additional weeks’ rent. As the bond money had been refunded, I had to deal with the agent until my money was returned otherwise a smalls claim application would have been required.
There is legislation that covers this holding deposit/fee and its return to you or credit the rent. The landlord must return the holding deposit if you cancel the tenancy agreement due to the landlord not telling you the property is listed for sale or it floods regularly with every shower of rain. The Act states the landlord must return your holding deposit because of “a misrepresentation or failure to disclose a material face by the landlord or the landlord’s agent”.
If you change your mind, the same section of the Act protects the landlord allowing them to retain/keep your money. When placing a holding deposit, be sure you want the property and always sign the tenancy agreement before handing your cash over.