About Peter O’BrienOver the years, our State Governments have set up residential tenancy authorities to protect the rights of both the landlord and the tenant.
While in the past, many tenants thought the landlords had unreasonable rights, now the pendulum has swung in favour of the tenants and many landlords feel their rights have diminished and their responsibilities have been increased.
As a landlord it is important for you to understand your “rights and responsibilities” so that you don’t fall foul of the legislation.
If you do, you may end up finding yourself facing a hefty fine.
While your property manager will advise you and act on your behalf, as a property investor, it’s a good idea to understand the rules setting out your obligations as a landlord.
Unfortunately many landlords managing their own rental properties are not familiar with the regulations and become disgruntled with owning an investment property because “the tenant is being difficult”. Rest assured tenants know their rights; the problem is many landlords don’t and the rental process becomes all too hard.
Let’s look at a few facts to help you understand your rights and responsibilities…
The Bond
All landlords should take a bond from their tenants as a security deposit. If tenants fail to keep the premises clean, damage the property or don’t pay rent, the landlord or their agent can claim some or all of their bond at the end of the tenancy.
What some landlord don’t understand is that this bond must be forwarded to their State’s residential tenancies bond authority who will hold the bond on behalf of the tenant and landlord during the tenancy.
In most cases the bond is equivalent to one months rent but this may be increased for some expensive properties or if the rental property was previously the landlord’s own home.
Even if your rent increases during the tenancy, unfortunately you cannot increase the amount of the bond accordingly.
At the end of the tenancy, we occasionally find that the landlord believes he can claim on the bond because the premises is not in the same condition as it was at the beginning of the tenancy.
Whilst costs of rectifying what is commonly called “fair wear and tear” cannot be claimed, as a landlord you can make a claim on the bond for:
- Damage caused by the tenant or the tenant’s visitors
- Cleaning expenses
- The tenant abandoning the premises
- The tenant leaving the landlord to pay bills that the tenant should have paid
- Loss of the landlord’s goods
- Unpaid rent
If there is a disagreement about the division of the Bond, or the landlord wants to claim compensation over and above the bond, the landlord must apply to the Tribunal within 10 business days of the tenant vacating the premises.
This is where having a comprehensive Condition Report at the beginning of the tenancy, together with photographic evidence, is an extremely important. It can be used as evidence helping the landlord or their agent claim all or part of the bond for cleaning, damage or replacing missing items at the end of the tenancy.
The Rent
Rent can be paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly however, if rent is paid weekly, the landlord cannot ask for more than 14 days rent at the beginning of a tenancy.
Utility and service charges
The landlord must pay all installation and initial connection costs for electricity, gas and oil supply.
Your property
As a landlord you must;
- give the tenant a copy of the booklet relevant to their State outlining their rights on or before they move into your property
- make sure the premises are vacant and reasonably clean on the day the tenant is due to move in
- keep the premises and common areas in good repair during the term of the tenancy
- if you need to replace any water appliance, fitting or fixture, ensure they meet Standards Australia ‘A’ rating
- pay all installation and initial connection costs for electricity, gas and oil supply. If there isn’t a separate meter to the premises (in the case of some units), the landlord must pay all other charges
- reimburse the tenant if the tenant has paid the costs of any utilities for which the landlord is liable. If bottled gas is provided, the landlord pays for the supply or hire of bottles
- make sure all external doors have locks and windows can be secured
- give the tenant a key as soon as possible after changing any lock
- let the tenant have peace and quiet enjoyment in the premises
- not enter the premises to carry out a general inspection until after the end of the first 3 months of the tenancy and even at this time, follow the rules regarding proper notice periods.
When can you visit your property?
While you may feel like checking on how your tenant is looking after your property, you can’t just pop in whenever you feel like it. Local legislation will stipulate how frequently you can do this and how to go about it.
For example, in Victoria, a landlord may enter the premises as long as the tenant agrees to the time and was consulted within the last seven days.
Occasionally you may need to enter your property on short notice. In Victoria, a landlord has the right to enter within 24 hours after having given written notice to the tenant in order to:
- Carry out duties under the Residential Tenancy Agreement’ the ‘Residential Tenancies Act 1997′ or any other Act.
- To value the property
- Show prospective buyers or lenders through the premises
- Show prospective tenants through the premises
- Verify a reasonable belief that the tenant has not met their duties as a tenant
- Make one general inspection in any 6 month period, but not within the first 3 months of the tenancy.
Under these circumstances, the landlord is allowed to enter the premises if the tenant is not home providing the requirements regarding written notices have been met. The landlord does not have the right to enter in an unreasonable way or stay any longer than necessary unless it is with the tenant’s permission.
Repairs
Occasionally you will be contacted by your tenant or property manager advising that you are going to have to repair an item in your rental property. While some of these may not be urgent, there are others than will need to be attended to promptly.
You will need to respond to urgent repairs without delay.
If nothing is done, your tenant has the right to arrange for these repairs to be done up to the value of $1000 – at your expense.
If you are unsure of what is classified as an “urgent repair”, consult your property manager or your local Consumer Affairs office.
Non-urgent repairs must be carried out within 14 days, but obviously I would recommend you do it sooner. If not non-urgent repairs are not attended to, your tenant may apply to the Tribunal for an inspection and subsequent report.
After 60 days, the tenant can apply to the Tribunal for a repair order.
Even though they may feel like it, legislation prevents tenants from withholding rent while waiting for repairs to be done.
When can I increase the rent?
Tenants always think their rent is too high but most landlords are wanting to take advantage of the tight vacancy market to maximise their investment returns. The problemis you just cannot increase the rent whenever you want to.
For example, if you have a standard lease, you cannot increase your rent until the end of the fixed term unless your agreement states otherwise.
In any case, you cannot increase the rent more than once every six months and you, or your agent, must give the tenant at least 60 days notice of any proposed rent increase using the correct form.
How do I end the tenancy?
There are set ways of ending all tenancy agreements and these vary slightly from State to State.
Even if an agreement has a fixed end date, you will need to give notice to end the tenancy.
Because the tenants rights to remain in the property are protected, if you want to end the tenancy, you should check:
- The reasons allowed for giving a notice in your State to end a tenancy agreement
- Whether the notice needs to be given on an official notice or form
- How much notice you need to give before the end of the tenancy agreement
- Discrimination
As a landlord you have the right to choose the tenant you consider the most suitable for your property but the Equal Opportunity Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against or harass people. What this means to you is that you cannot select your tenant based on their age, race, religion, sex or a whole host of other discriminatory reasons. If you do, you could be liable to pay damages or fines.
This is only a short summary of your rights and responsibilities of a landlord and that is why to maximise your investment returns and to minimise your headaches, you should have a professional property manager manage your assets.
That way, all contact with the tenant should be through them shielding you from the day to day hassles finding tenants, completing agreements, organising maintenance, and if necessary, sorting out problems at the Tribunal.
Go Pam, great article! How are you? It was really nice to meet & spend time with you & Michael in Fiji. It looks like you have both “hit the ground running” since your return. Chat soon.
great article…….clear, concise and to the point.
thanks
just 1 question: what are “landlord’s gods” ?? (like roman idols?) (ha,ha)
i found this article really easy to read and to understand….very informative…thank you
Yeah good article i am a renter and my landlord wont do anything at our rental house we have no gate and the house is falling apart the houseis only 6 months old and no side gate with a 15 month old son who is starting to walk i need a gate can anyone help me
fantastic article, this really helped me alot thx heaps
Excellent article. I am a landlord and I do try not to have headaches. Unfortunately my tenants are always behind with the rent no matter how many chances they are given and the promises they make…but I suppose that is life. Thanks for the easy to understand article.
my tenant has just told me that there is not sufficent air conditioning in the restaurant to do the job properly. i bought the property with these air cons in it. The evaporator cooling system were not working when we purchased the property as well. In regards to buliding codes do i have to make sure there is sufficent ventilation in the ceiling. Thanks Mike
Quick question: Im the landlord of a property in Victoria, since the law doesnt allow me to charge rent in advance (more than 14 days?), can i demand interest calculated daily for every day rent is late until it is paid?
As why should i be made to pay interest on the money i need to borrow to keep the mortgage going, just because my tennant is late in paying me.
How about actually owning your property before renting it out and not renting out the bank’s property.
Why should YOUR RISK be the tenants problem.
Sheesh. Amateur businessman.
I’m a landlord with a mortgage… I’m sure most people have mortgages, unless mummy and daddy helped them out. Don’t see a problem.
Quick question: Im the landlord of a property in Victoria, since the law doesnt allow me to charge rent in advance (more than 14 days?), can i demand interest calculated daily for every day rent is late until it is paid?
As why should i be made to pay interest on the money i need to borrow to keep the mortgage going, just because my tennant is late in paying me.
I have a question: Hope this is in the right place.
I have a tenant in my property (1 half of a duplex building) when I visited it the last weekend no lawn/yard maintenance has been done, the managing agent now tells me that I have to supply the equipment (ie: lawn mower/whipper snipper)to maintain the yard. I have rented a property for nearly 10 years and never heard of this before is this correct?
Your advise is appreciated thanks
I find it shocking that the RTA in Australian states prohibits landlords from charging a penalty or fee for late rent payments. I rent out properties in the USA and this is standard -$25 late fee. For repairs we also have a clause that states the first $50 is to be paid by the tenants – this stops ridiculous call outs (and fees) for blown light bulbs, dripping taps etc.
Can anyone tell me whose responsibility it is to clean and maintain the gutters on a rental property? Also, what about the presence of asbestos? I have seen some factsheets about lead on the tenants nsw website, but none on asbestos. The property we are renting is about 50-60 years old, has an asbestos roof and guttering (all in pretty poor repair) and we are on tank water…?
The retail tenant abandoning the premises:
how can landlord establish that retail premises are abandoned, and what are legal steps landlord should take, to get lawfull posession and to terminate the lease in such situation.
Hello Kate,
I am a lanlord also and recently cleaned out the roof gutters from leaves that had composted and also repaired worn out downpipes.
It is the landlords responsibility to maintain the building; the tenant has nothing to do with roofs or guttering unless for some reason they incur breakages and damage which then they are liable for repairs out of their own expense.
Thanks for your reply Jack. We offered to provide the labour to pressure clean the roof and gutters if the landlord went halves with us on the associated costs of hiring the cleaning equipment. We also offered to go halves on the cost of having the rainwater tank professionally cleaned out and the broken first flush fixture repaired. Seems this was a pretty reasonable offer after all! Disappointing then that we haven’t had a response in over three weeks….
I am a landlord living overseas. I recently had a request for a new antenna on the roof of property. I live on a complex & not sure if this is a communal arial. When I lived at property I was told that the area was not good reception, so just wondered where I stood with this, also had a complaint that garbage disposal unit was broken (only a couple of years old) is this the landlords problem & shower not draining (due to hair in drain) surely this is a cleanliness problem of the tennant? Anyone able to help me .
I am a renter, and in previous properties i lived in the landlord always paid the sewerage removal for the property and as a result my water bill was only ever for usage. In my current property my bills are for both usage and sewerage disposal.
Can anyone tell me who is responsible for payment of the sewerage disposal fee?
I am a tenant in a rental property. When we were shown the property by a property manager she stated that the air conditioner ‘didn’t work well’ (i have this in writing) and in the conditional report it states it is in ‘good working’ condition. When we filled in the conditional report i stated within that it was broken and needed repair. I would like to know if it is ours or the landlords responsibility to repair the air conditioner?
Hi, I have a quick question. I’m a renter and recently our dishwasher broke down. The landlord got a quote to fix it and it is going to cost quite a bit. Because a dishwasher isn’t a necessity, does the landlord have to fix it?
Very informative and to the point article by the way.
Hello great web site,im a landlord and last week my tenant vacated the propertyl eaving some damage,to the sliding door,the tenant attempted to fit a lock himself ,he is not a credited lock smith mind you,do i have the wright to with hold bond till the door is back to as i was? thanks for your help,is there a booklet on landlord wright i can purchase?
Hi Michael, we have a tenant who is seeking reimbursement from the landlord because at the beginning of her tenancy, the water tanks and bottled gas were not full. We are of the understanding that the landlord is responsible for the supply of the water tank and gas bottles and hire, but are they also responsible for having these items full for the tenant at the beginning of the tenancy? Your advice is appreciated.
Hi I am a landlord, i have been charged by a local electrician through agent manager to tune in the tennants tv, can someone please advise as to is this my responsibility as a landlord
I am a landlord. My tenant is oveseas but in the renting flat someone
else is living. It was arraged without my consent.
At this momet the who is actually staing in the flat does not let
buider to enter the flat to do repair storm water damage.
What should I do?
Hi. We have always made ourselves available to our tenant when she broke the oven door, needed the batteries changed on her smoke alarm, reconnected the electricity to her alarm (after she accidentally disconnected it) cleaned her rangehood because it was very greasy, fixed all of the fans when they seemed to break down at the same time, amongst other things. Our agent has now reported that the venetians and the rangehood are dirty/dusty amongst other minor things. It is becoming quite onerous and costly for us when things break down due to not being properly maintained. Should the tenant be responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of these things? Thank you for your assistance.
I’m a landlord and tenant happens to be a property manager. Tenant said she would deal with sending bond off to RTBA. 6 months later and bond still not lodged. Electrical works were carried out as we agreed but she ignored our request of having the works invoiced in our name and instead had it in her name. The electrical company were rather non-compliant with our queries concerning invoice and basically gave us the run around. Same company she calls on to do work elsewhere apparently. Whilst we were trying to get to the bottom of the invoice business, she emailed informing us that she had paid electrician and that it has come out of the rent. Always 14 days arrears with rent. Is very hard to contact and has stated that she will only correspond by email. And it’s only been 6 months into a 12 month lease!
hi i’m renting i have move into this house just over 12 months and from day 1 i have ask for the fence to be fix it has not been fix due to costs i have a small dog and child is there anythink i can do to get somethink done about it i have no fence out all and it will cost the owner $4000 dollars but he wont get it done because it cost to much is there anythink i can do to get it done
Hey all, i have just left a property and have done all required of me by the landlord to suffice return of the bond. Two weeks later, one week after i was due to recieve return of the lease, i get a phone call from the realestate saying that i must pay the for garden to be weeded (not mowed) and all three weeks after i left the property. Do not plants continue to grow after tenants leave? I have resigned to the fact i’ll probably have to do it but i believe this request is not of the landlord but one requested by the real estate. Ps. When the landlords change agents mid lease, read everything.
Hi there, we have just moved into a flat that has no curtains. Is it part of the landlords responsibility to provide curtains?
I would have thought this should be provided as part of the flat. Any ideas?
Eileen. What was the condition of the property when you inspected it?
Have you asked the property manager about the curtains? What did they say
how much time must I give my tenants notice of vacancy- I am in victoria and the 12 month contract has finished
Also they have completely cleared the front yard of all my plants where do I stand – can i take the cost of this from their bond?
thanks marian