30 December 2015

Ask RiotACT: looking for rental advice

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Ask RiotACT

Hello Riotact. Does anyone have some advice on renting out a property in Canberra? Hopefully, we will be out by end of January and looking to rent out the property — but looking at returns (the agents are after approx. 10% and the land tax adds onto expenses), I’m unsure what is the best way to go. Can you help?

Alternatively, is anybody after a good sized, easy to maintain, 2 storey house with plenty of room down stairs to operate a home business?

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I suggest you should do it yourself. We have been doing so for years with no problems at all. You can usually find a draft lease online and just follow the guidelines on the rental sites that are specific for ACT rentals. Beware of the recommendations from rental sites that support the tenants not the landlords.

You can advertise on All Homes as was previously recommended by others.

FrankReynolds said :

If you do end up with an agent, make sure they are on top of things. I know of applications that have stalled for weeks at a time because agents have gone on holiday etc. resulting in properties sitting empty for an extra month unnecessarily. If I was the owner in these situations, I would have been livid.

+1 to that. When we’ve been applying for rental properties in the past, we’ve generally looked at 8 to 10 properties on a Saturday and lodged immediate applications with the ones that were livable and in an OK location. Sometimes agents wouldn’t get back to us until the following week – by that time we’d usually already signed a tenancy agreement with an agent who was quicker off the mark.

I advertised using Gumtree last time. It is free and I let the house within a week. As per the All Homes advice, clear photos and description are a must.
This is assuming you decide to manage it yourself.

Isn’t DH fussy? The house has to be fairly new and have an ensuite, etc? Not all houses would match their standards.

Hi OP.

Have you considered putting the property through Defence Housing? Aside from the fact that the tenants are going to occupy the house for 3 years or more, they also look after maintenance and repairs for you.

I have had a couple of friends who have gone through DH and they couldn’t be happier.

FrankReynolds2:10 pm 22 Dec 15

I would say that regardless of who you get to represent you, or whether you do it yourself, make sure you have a good posting on allhomes I know for many this is the only way rental adverts get seen.
Clear photos (good resolution, appropriate resolution and orientation) are a must. If you have it available, a floor plan is also very useful.
If you do end up with an agent, make sure they are on top of things. I know of applications that have stalled for weeks at a time because agents have gone on holiday etc. resulting in properties sitting empty for an extra month unnecessarily. If I was the owner in these situations, I would have been livid.

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