We Think Melbourne Tenancy Laws are Tough

Having been involved with property management in the United States for over 15 years, I believed that although their tenancy legislation was primarily ‘landlord friendly ‘in most States, there were problems with lead-based paints. The following article was posted on Boston real Estate Now on 15 June 2011 by Rona Fischman.

"Earlier this year, the Attorney General sued a Metro-Boston landlord for evicting or threatened to evict tenants with young children, renting apartments containing lead paint to tenants with young children, failing to abate lead hazards in those apartments, failing to provide proper notice of lead hazards to his tenants, and making misrepresentations regarding the presence of lead paint in his apartments. The complaint further alleges that the landlord retaliated against tenants when they reported him for violations of the law.  

Buying Opportunities Increase as Australian Housing Market Slows

Investors on the hunt for properties around the country might now have the chance they dreamed of for the past few years. 

It's well and truly a buyers' market out there, with the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) releasing figures for the March quarter that show declines in property values across most cities.

President David Airey says the housing market has slowed slightly, due to cyclical changes.

"Both house and other dwelling median prices decreased by 2.5 per cent to $532,695 and 1.8 per cent to $422,947 respectively," Airey says.

"This represents a deceleration in property prices after a period of solid growth in previous quarters. We're witnessing the impact on prices of increases in cash rates during the second half of last year, rises in the cost of living have restrained household spending and the natural disasters in Queensland have also significantly affected the property market.”

Property Managers = Equal Partnerships?

I never have been able to figure out whether the Lone Ranger and Tonto were equal partners in the business of fighting against man’s inhumanity to man. There was the Lone Ranger riding Silver merrily along the trail with Tonto doing the bush-basing through the long grass of the prairie.Was that an equal partnership? And any time a ravishingly beautiful blonde damsel in distress popped into the drama, poor old Tonto never got a look in. Was that fair?

For whatever obscure reason, the Lone Ranger and Tonto always make me think of real estate principals and their property managers. Damned good question you ask….why?

You never get to hear when, why and how this mysterious partnership was formed so I’ll let you into a secret. When Tonto was just another troubled Comanche youth, his village was raided by the Mohawks and he was left to die alone on the prairie. A young Lone Ranger happened by and nursed him back to health and for ever after, Tonto was deeply indebted to the masked hero.

Still can’t see the connection?

How many property managers do you know who, fresh out of school, are employed by some Flash Freddie estate agent as a receptionist and as the business grew, was promoted to the heady heights of property manager? How grateful is that young property manager to the kindly principal who provided the opportunity for a ‘career’ in real estate ‘managing ’a property portfolio worth millions of dollars? Eternally!

Yesterday's Rent Collectors are Today's Property Managers

I have the distinct feeling that the business of property management is regressing.…going back in time to the dark ages, that is pre-computer. Now there are some who may be reading this post who do not know of a time when there was no email or the Internet or even Facebook.

A little bit of history….

When I started in real estate it wasn’t property management per se, it was ‘rent collecting’ and you were the rent collector. At that time, properties were advertised in the newspaper and prospective tenants would call by the office, leave a deposit and collect a key to view a property. ‘Rent collectors’ worked a 5-day week and properties were never open for inspection at set times. Property owners or tenants could not contact you after hours as mobile phones had not been invented (imagine that) and you certainly didn’t give anyone your home telephone number. You were paid a pittance but you had no involvement with the business outside your allocated 40 hour working week.

With the introduction of mobile phones, email and the Internet things began to change. In the early 90’s ‘Communication’ became the catch-phrase of the day and rent collectors became property managers with some even reaching the dizzy heights of ‘Asset Managers’, whatever that meant. Properties were marketed on various websites and the response from prospective tenants to this 24/7 availability of information was astounding.

We then progressed to on-line tenancy applications and maintenance requests. Some companies even provided on-line access to their property owners and tenants to view controlled areas of information regarding their property or tenancy.

Furnishing your Investment Rental Property - Do I, Don't I?

You have purchased an investment property.  After a quick tidy up you are ready for your property manager to list for tenancy.  Question is, do you furnish?

As part of the marketing strategies and business planning, landlords must determine whether to rent out their residential properties as fully furnished, partially furnished or as empty and unfurnished unit. Each one of these options has its own set of pros and cons which landlords should weigh very carefully against each other, against the current rental market, against the functionality and purpose of the property itself and finally, against the targeted tenants.

Fully Furnished Rental Units

Understandably, furnished units charge higher rent and they have little to no competition. However, landlords will need to invest more in maintenance and should also realise that the pool of tenants is fairly limited.

Join us Socially!

Visit our True Property Company page on Linkedin or connect with Anne Warren in person for her insights into Property Management.

True Property Victoria is also on Facebook.  "Like Us" to take part in our polls, discussions and view our latest rental listings.

We can also be reached on Twitter where we share with you the latest news and feeds on investments, property updates and local Melbourne news.  Follow us @TruePropertyVic

Last, but by no means least is our website where we provide tools for tenants and investors alike.  Signup for our monthly newsletter "too true" for more great tips at http://tiny.cc/ufonf.

Australian Property Market Overview

APRIL 2011

The first two months of 2011 saw a slow start to Australia’s capital city property markets, with the majority providing negative growth in the first two months of the year. The exceptions were Melbourne and Sydney houses which continued their growth from the previous year, though only posting moderate gains in January and February 2011.

In the year to 28 February 2011, the Melbourne house market maintained its position as the nation’s top performing residential property market, followed by Sydney units, Canberra houses, Sydney units and Hobart houses. Returns from these property sectors ranged from 9.2% (Melbourne houses) to 6.3% (for Sydney and Hobart houses). Returns were positive in most other sectors for the year, except Brisbane houses, which fell 3.9% and Perth houses down a more moderate 0.3%.

Federal Government Announcements to Impact Australian Housing Market

Over the last two weeks there have been four significant strategic announcements from the Federal Government that are likely to have a profound impact on the Australian housing market.

1.             The new membership of the National Housing Supply Council were announced and their first meeting will be held in June of this year with the key objective of undertaking and releasing the third ‘State of Supply’ report which is widely regarded as the bible for measuring the level of housing supply in Australia.  The most recent report, which highlighted a housing under-supply of about 180,000 dwellings, was released just over a year ago.  You can view the most recent report here and view the media release announcing the new council members here.

Natives Gone Mad in Melbourne

No, this is not a story about rabid Collingwood supporters or even the Melbourne Storm ones who can now see their team playing for points…..it’s about gardens.

Over recent years, local Councils in the newer suburbs have decreed that developers in those areas must landscape their new properties using native, drought resistant plants.  This was an initiative that would see less water being used to water gardens and in the drought that Victoria was suffering from at the time, a very sensible move.

When opening new properties for inspection two summers ago (you remember summers) in 40C+ heat when no-one would turn up, we would fill in our 20 minutes at each property doing the normal property manager thing by pulling out the weeds that seemed to grow before our eyes.  Nothing else was growing, just the weeds.

Property Condition Report

Condition Reports protect both landlord and tenant in the event of future disputes.  This post uses information from Consumer Affairs Victoria, check with your own local body for specific legalities in your area.

What is a Condition Report? 

When a bond is paid, a landlord or owner must prepare a Condition Report for the tenant or resident, which notes the general condition of the property, room or caravan, including fittings and fixtures.

The Condition Report is important because it can be used as evidence if there is a dispute about who should pay for cleaning, damage or replacement of missing items.

Tenants and landlords, or residents and owners, should agree on the contents of the Condition Report before signing it.

Even if no bond has been paid, Consumer Affairs Victoria recommends completing a Condition Report.