Five renter concerns addressed
Sometimes renting doesn’t get the best rap, but the reality is over a third of Australians rent the property that they live in and the majority do so while enjoying great relationships with their property manager and the rental owner.
In many ways, enjoying a stress-free rental is all about knowing your rights and your responsibilities, so with that in mind here are five renter concerns addressed.
Getting your bond back
At the beginning of a rental agreement, the rental occupier provides a lump sum of money that is held as a bond. All going well, this bond will be returned to them at the end of the rental period.
So how do you ensure you get your bond back? Well, just remember the following – the bond is held to protect the property against damage or financial loss.
As long as you ensure the property is returned to the rental owner in the condition that you found it, and all your rental payments are up to date, you’re likely to get your bond back.
We have some great tips on how you can ensure this happens here.
Something needs fixing
Every now and then, something in a rental property will require either repair or maintenance. The protocol for handling this is to notify your property manager who will have the repair dealt with.
It’s important to remember, as a rental occupier, you have a responsibility to notify your property manager if something stops working or if it needs repair.
If it’s something an urgent repair (like the stove or hot water system failing) those repairs will need to happen quickly, and the property manager and rental owner are obliged to ensure that’s the case.
You can read more about emergency and general repairs here.
The rental owner wants to sell the property
It might feel inconvenient, but in all states and territories in Australia, a rental owner is within their rights to sell a rental property that is occupied.
In New South Wales, however, you have the right as a rental occupier to leave if the owner didn’t notify you of their intentions at the outset of the rental agreement.
Meanwhile, a rental agreement continues as normal throughout the selling process. Even after the property is sold, the new owners have to adhere to the conditions of that agreement.
When it comes to open homes, it’s best if the rental occupier, owner, property manager and sales agent work with together to ensure viewings don’t cause too much undue stress.
You can find out more about selling a rental property that’s occupied here.
You want to sub-let
It might seem like a great idea to advertise for a room mate to help share the cost of your rental property. But don’t forget you need to ask permission prior to sub-letting any part of the home.
If you’re given the go-ahead by the rental owner, you should then document the agreement you have with your new room mate.
There are also a few other things you might want to keep in mind when it comes to subletting that you can learn more about here.
You want to adopt a pet
As cute as a four-legged, feathered or scaly friend might be, they too need permission to reside in a rental property.
Before you go ahead and adopt a pet, seek the permission of the rental owner through your property manager. Then ensure you adhere to any conditions the property owner has set, such as that pet being outdoors only.
You can learn more about renting with pets here.
How we can help
Our experienced property managers pride themselves on establishing great relationships with both rental occupiers and owners.
We manage every property as if it were our own and you can learn more about our property management services here.
Alternatively, if you are looking to rent a property, you can view the properties we currently have available here.
