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Share and Multi-Let Tenant Information
Your first contact with our agency would probably have resulted from your interest in renting a property we have advertised as available.
You may not already know, we also provide services for our tenants other than the Conventional lease, such as fully-serviced share accommodation (Multi-Let) and also renting with an option to purchase (Let-Sale™).
If you are interested in a Multi-Let tenancy through AdProp, then please take time to read the following information.
Selection Process:
We only select well qualified tenants for our properties and our services. This is because we only want to deal with clients who will appreciate the quality services provided to them, not people who will abuse them.
Our selection process starts from our advertising. We advertise with a signboard, in the Saturday Advertiser, and on the Internet. From the signboard and the newspaper, you are given the Web ID, and can refer to the internet (www.realestate.com.au) for more pictures and floor plan (if available). From there, you can click on the link to our own website for information about our policies and procedures, and you can even download an Application Form to fill out, ready to bring with you to the inspection.
Once you have seen the home, and hand over the application form, we can complete our due-diligence checks on your past and present status. Our main pre-approval criteria will be your previous rental history, your employment, and your character references. These should always be filled out so that we are comfortable we have the whole picture. Once your application has been processed, we will notify you (via sms) whether you have our pre-approval or not. If not, your application will not go any further, and will not be presented to the landlord. We do not give reasons why your application has not been pre-approved.
If you are pre-approved, the next step is to present your application (along with others) to the landlord for final selection. If you are not the final selection, please do not take it personally. We will contact you again (via phone or sms) to let you know. All applications that have our pre-approval, but are not successful, will be held for one month if you choose to apply for another Multi-Let property we have available.
If you are the successful applicant, you will be required to sign the lease agreement and pay your bond (for a Multi-Let, usually the equivalent of two weeks rent) plus the first two weeks rent as a holding deposit within 24 hours of notification, even if you do not move in straight away. The bond is not lodged with the Residential Tenancies Fund under a Multi-Let tenancy arrangement. The payment options are discussed below.
Payment Options:
The standard rental payment frequency is fortnightly in advance. If you have special requirements as to the frequency of payment, such as weekly or monthly payment, please discuss this with us before you sign an application.
We are proud to be a technologically advanced agency, and as such, we promote the ease of payment via direct debit from your regular savings account every fortnight. You only need to set this up with your bank once, and it should continue like clockwork, each and every fortnight.
If this method is not suitable to you, our alternative method is payment via credit card facility. Again, this can be set up to automatically be deducted from your credit card each fortnight. Rental Rewards is the company who handles our credit card payment facility. Many people like to collect points on their credit card, or may have up to 55 days interest free that they like to take advantage of. However, please be aware that for credit card payments, there is a convenience surcharge of 1.32% added to the rental amount for use of this service. If you think you will pay this way, please also download a Credit Card Application Form to fill out and forward to us with your Application Form. If you would like the convenience of credit card facility as a once-off payment (ie. for your upfront bond and first two weeks rent payment), please download and fill out the Credit Card Authority Form, so we can process your payment at the time you request.
If you can not pay your rent using the above methods, again please discuss this with us before you sign an application, so we can negotiate a payment plan to suit your specific needs.
Handover:
When you have been notified as the successful applicant, you will make your payment of bond and first two weeks rent, and sign the lease agreement. The day your lease is due to start, we will meet with you to hand over the keys, two copies of a pre-completed Tenancy Commencement Inspection Report, and a Key & Report Receipt.
Multi-Let tenancies are governed by the Residential Tenancies Act 1994 under a Rooming House Agreement. If you are not sure whether you have been treated fairly, you can contact OCBA for more information. It is our company policy to provide every tenant client access to the OCBA Residential Tenancies website from our website, to ensure they are aware of their rights and responsibilities. The OCBA website outlines tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities.
Inspection Report:
You are asked within the first week (but ideally on the first day) of your tenancy to look through your room and the common areas of the home and confirm the Inspection Report is accurate. Each tenant is individually responsible for their own room, and everyone is jointly responsible for the common areas. Make any changes or additional comments where required, then sign at the bottom of both copies, and forward one copy back to us within 14 days. This is very important for your protection as a tenant, because if you do not, the original unsigned Inspection Report will become the Benchmark Inspection Report. Any future inspections will be compared against this Benchmark Report to ensure that you (and all the other tenants) are maintaining the property’s condition.
We complete quarterly inspections on all of our properties. This is not to deliberately inconvenience our tenant clients, but to ensure that any required maintenance is brought to the attention of our landlord client, and completed in a timely manner. We do not need to give you notice to inspect the common areas of the house, but we will give you notice to inspect your private room. You will be notified by mail within 7-14 days prior to an inspection appointment. This time can be changed if unsuitable, but only if the agency has been contacted at least two days prior to the inspection date. If the agency has not been contacted prior, and there is limited (or no) access on the scheduled inspection date and time, another inspection will be re-scheduled at the cost of the tenant.
You do not have to be present during an inspection, as we can use our office keys to enter the premises. If you do not contact us prior to the scheduled time and date, and you do not attend, you are accepting that we can enter the premises with your permission. We do not openly encourage this, so if you can’t make the scheduled time, we suggest you call us to arrange a time more suitable to you, or have someone you know show us through.
If something was found to be damaged in the common area, then if anyone knew who damaged it, that tenant would be responsible for the repair costs. If nobody knows how it was damaged, then everyone will be charged equal share to pay for the damage to be repaired. This makes everyone responsible to look after the house and common areas.
Photos may be taken during these inspections. These photos are not used in any other way by the agency but as a record of the condition of the property to present only to the landlord if requested. If photos are taken showing specific property maintenance issues requiring attention, action is more often taken by the landlord. Pictures can paint a thousand words. If you are not comfortable with photos being taken with your possessions in the room, please ensure we are aware of this before you sign an application.
Handback:
If the tenancy is coming to an end, we will arrange a Conclusion Inspection to take place, usually on the last day of your tenancy, so all possessions would have been removed, and all the required cleaning has been completed. We ask that you arrange to have any carpet professionally cleaned prior to the inspection, and can produce the receipts to us at the Conclusion Inspection. If there is any damage to the property, this will be deducted off the bond you will receive back, along with any unpaid rent. Please do not make this an excuse not to pay the last few weeks rent; otherwise, it will delay returning your bond money, and may be recorded on your file, which will affect future rental references. If there are going to be any deductions, your bond refund will need to be calculated after the damage has been repaired. This will usually take no longer than 14 days, but in exceptional circumstances may be longer. We will always request a forwarding address and contact number to arrange the refund of bond money.
Utilities Connection:
Generous usage limits of utilities are included in the rental price, and this differs to a Conventional tenancy. However, all tenants must be aware that if the usage is excessively past the budgeted limit, then all tenants must contribute equal shares towards the excess used. This should only occur in exceptional circumstances, and tenants should be careful not to ‘waste’ any utility service provided.
Arrears Process:
We must stress that we do not tolerate rent arrears. If you were making payments to the bank for your own home mortgage, it would not be acceptable if you just ‘stopped paying’. You would be heavily penalised with fees, and the bank would mark your credit report with a default and then sell your home on you. Your landlord no doubt has a mortgage to pay on their investment. It is very serious if you do not make your rental payments, as your landlord is counting on these to pay their mortgage.
Everyone has ups and downs in life. If you know you are going to fall behind on rent, then you are in a good situation not a bad one, as you can contact us and negotiate a payment plan to help you out of your situation. It only turns into a bad situation if you try to hide or ignore it, and do not contact us.
We do check that rent is paid on time. We accept that there may be a day or two delay occasionally, but after 4 days, we are going to remind you that you are late via a phone call or sms. Do not treat this as a reminder service; we do have a separate reminder sms service if you require it, just ask us how. If we are constantly reminding you of your rent, this will be recorded on your file. If you still have not remedied your rent situation within 7 days, we will send you out a letter to confirm your rent is overdue and ask that you contact us immediately or further action will be taken. At 10 days, we will remind you again via phone or sms. If after 14 days you have still not contacted us to arrange a payment plan and remedied the situation, we will record on your file that you are in default, send you out an official Multi-Let - Notice of Default. This is serious. It means we expect that you will pay your rent owing within two days or else you have to vacate the premises within that time. If you still do not remedy the situation either way, we will apply to the Residential Tenancy Tribunal to have you evicted. This will go on your record, and may affect you obtaining another rental property in the future. As you can see, it can get messy if left to exacerbate. You are much better off discussing the issues with us at the start, and we should be able to come to some suitable arrangements.
Complaints/Maintenance Process:
We have a formal process to handle maintenance or repair requests by tenants. The advancement of technology has made this easier than ever before for tenants also. A Repair Request Form can be downloaded from our website and filled out by the tenant, before forwarding on to us to process. In case of emergency situations, please do not hesitate to call us directly, but in other circumstances, all maintenance requests must be documented. This is to ensure they are followed up, and do not slip through unnoticed. The timeframe the maintenance is completed in will depend on the level of importance to the landlord. We will encourage the landlord most of the time to have the work completed. In some circumstances, photos may be of benefit to encourage them. Ultimately, it is the landlord’s decision whether to complete any maintenance repair work.
House Rules: