So you have found your dream rental, but how do you as a tenant stay in the good books of both the owner and the rental property management team?
We asked Tori Austen, property manager at Place Graceville, how a tenant can be desirable.
Pay Rent on Time
As a tenant, the easiest way to keep your property managers happy is to pay your rent on time.
It may seem completely obvious, but Tori advises many people fall behind in rent payments after becoming complacent. Some people simply forget what day their rent is paid.
If you are ever unsure, the tenant can always get their rent ledger at any time by giving their property manager a call.
“If you do not pay your rent on time we will send you a courtesy reminder. If you get beyond eight days, you will get a breach. Those breaches can stay on your file and potentially jeopardise future renting chances if you get multiple breaches,” Tori said.
“By not paying your rent on time, you impact other people’s lives and their financial situation. The owners of the property need to make sure their mortgages are paid.”
“While the tenant will not be the person who has to answer to the bank, the owner does, so you not paying rent creates a big domino effect.”
To make it easy, Tori recommends setting up a direct debit when you get paid. Say if payday is Thursday, set the direct debit up for the Friday. Other options include setting up a phone reminder or writing it in a calendar.
Report maintenance immediately
Tori recommends reporting maintenance issues as soon as it happens, otherwise the issues can get worse and become more expensive to fix.
“If you notice the carpet near the shower is wet, tell us that, because if the shower continually leaks from behind the wall then that can result in thousands of dollars' worth of damage,” Tori said.
“As soon as you know about maintenance, just send a quick email and let us know. Even if it does not need to be fixed immediately, give us a call just so we can keep it on file,” she said.
This eliminates any doubt and covers the tenant in the future against any accusations or costs they may incur. It means everyone is on the same page, and it reduces potential disputes.
Keep the house clean and tidy
Tori keeps this advice simple, “anything that can be cleaned, should be cleaned for a routine inspection.”
“It is hard because my definition of clean, other people might not consider clean. For someone else, my idea of clean, other people might think it is overkill and too clean.”
“If you owned a property, how you would like it to be kept by tenants is how you should keep your property,” she said.
A tip from Tori is, if you have a routine inspection make sure the property is cleaned, neat and presentable. Owners see the photos taken during the inspections.
Just because it is a rental property, it does not mean it should be kept at a lower standard to what your own property would be.
Be polite to Property Managers
Property managers are sometimes known to be “the mean guys,” however the property managers are here to help, not hinder.
Sometimes the property management team will accidentally get things wrong.
“We might send an invoice to the wrong tenant. People might quickly get angry at us but we all make mistakes,” Tori said.
“We deal with so many properties, so before you jump down our throats take a second to remember we are people too.”
“Sometimes things are out of our control. For example, if a trades person cannot come immediately or we have to deal with a body corporate, we cannot control those situations, so there is no point becoming enraged about it,” she said.
Tori says, ask a question before getting angry, because chances are the property management team have already started the process the client has requested.
Building respect with the property managers, will make everyone’s lives easier.
Approved extra tenants
If there are extra people who want to come and live in the residence, who are not on the lease, it is essential to put in an application and get them approved before the person starts living in the precinct.
The property manager needs to know who is living there for safety reasons.
“If you have someone who you want to move in with you, give us a call or send an email asking for an application,” Tori said.
“The only situation where the extra application will not get approved is when potential tenant is blacklisted or it is deemed the house is not suitable for an extra tenant. For example, there is only two bedrooms but five people in the home,” she said.
Telling the property managers who is living in the property keeps everyone involved on the same page and it keeps the tenant in the good books.
If you are interested in finding your dream rental, contact Place Graceville’s property management team. They are happy to inform you of the process and happy to help make the process easier.
