Becoming A Better Tenant
If You Want to Become a Better Tenant You Need to Know The Rules, we Will Teach You How.
How to Become a Better Tenant
Rental Inspection
Most Australians will rent a home at some point in their lives and, if you do, it’s inevitable that you’re going to experience a routine/ periodic inspection. Rental inspections can cause tenants a lot of unnecessary stress simply because many people don’t know what to expect or what’s expected of them.
Here are a few easy ways to prepare for your rental inspection, so you pass with flying colours and continue to impress your landlord.
Start Preparing Early
Landlords and agents are required by law to provide notice before an inspection, in most of the states the time frame is between one to two weeks’ notice.
As soon as you know when your rental inspection is booked in, start to do little things to prepare for it. Clean the shower one day, sweep the front porch another. It’s much easier to clean incrementally, rather than spend an entire evening exhausting yourself scrubbing the place from top to bottom.
Make Arrangements For Your Pets
Rental inspections can be very stressful for pets, especially if you’re not present while the landlord or agent is there.
Arrange for your pets to visit a friend or family member for the day and save them the stress of having strangers trampling around inside their house.
List Issues to Discuss
Rental inspections aren’t only for the benefit of the landlord, they’re also an excellent opportunity for you to let them know about any ongoing maintenance problems that you have that are not your responsibility.
For example, if the toilet keeps blocking or if there’s a dodgy light fitting that keeps blowing light bulbs – these are structural problems that need be taken care of by the landlord and, as a tenant, it’s your responsibility to inform them of these issues.
However, if you smash a window because you were playing indoor football, that’s your responsibility.
Clean Properly
If you like where you live, you’re happy with the rent and the landlords are practically non-existent (dream renter’s scenario) then you should be doing everything within your power to stay there – which means doing a brilliant cleaning job on the property you’re renting.
This means scrubbing in the corners of the shower screen, giving all the windows a good clean, spot cleaning the carpets and maintaining the garden. You don’t need to be on your hands knees scrubbing at the kitchen tiling with a toothbrush, but both a landlord and an agent will be impressed if you keep their property extra clean and it will certainly influence a decision to keep you on as a tenant.
Do Any Necessary Minor Repairs
This one is about dents in the walls, carpet stains or blown lightbulbs.
There seems to be a bit of a grey area with whose responsibility it is to fix things in the home but a good rule of thumb is that if it’s your ‘fault’ you need to fix it.
It’s not the landlord’s problem that you slammed your couch into the wall and it’s also not their problem that you spilled a glass of red wine on the carpet. These are your repairs to fix.
If There's a Garden, Look After It
Gardens and landscaping are a huge investment of time and money for landlords, which is why they’re often so strict about the maintenance of the gardens on their properties.
Landlords will strongly favour tenants who do a good job of maintaining the landscaping, so make sure you keep everything watered, fed, happy and trimmed so it looks good for the rental inspection.
Don't Freak Out
Rental inspections are not designed for the landlord or real estate agent to berate you and kick you out of their house.
Most rental inspections last about 10 minutes and consist of the agent doing a quick turn around the property to check for any major damage or potential problems.
It’s honestly not a big deal and not worth getting stressed over. Clean your place up, make sure they can get inside the property and just chill out.
Final/Exit House Inspection
As a tenant, there are several important things to keep in mind when it comes to the final/ exit house inspection.
Final/ exit inspections are conducted at the end of the lease term or upon vacating. The condition of the property is checked against the ingoing condition report to ensure that there has been no damage caused by you.
The inspection should take place on the following day of expiry date of your lease agreement. Once you’ve moved out and returned the keys to the property the property manager will schedule the inspection.
After the inspection you should receive a report or feedback from the inspection, please remember that the property manager has the right not to allow you back to the property to rectify any issues after you moved out. That is way you should be confident that the property is returned in a cleaned and undamaged condition.
Make sure to clean and tidy up the property inside and out, so that it is presented in the best possible condition. I hope you have your ingoing condition report provided to you at the beginning of your tenancy to serve you as a guide. In a nutshell the property must be returned in the same condition (apart from general wear and tear) as at the time you moved in.
The property condition report supported often with photographic evidence is crucial in case any disputes or claims are made. This can help to ensure that you are not held responsible for any pre-existing damage.
Check for any outstanding repairs: If there are any outstanding repairs that were previously identified, make sure to check that they have been completed before the inspection takes place. If they haven’t, bring them to the attention of your landlord or property manager.
Ask Questions
If you have any questions about the inspection process or the condition of the property, don’t hesitate to ask your landlord or property manager. It is important to have a clear understanding of any issues or concerns, and to ensure that you are not held responsible for any damages that are not your fault.
Keep a Copy of The Inspection Report
After the inspection, make sure to keep a copy of the inspection report for your records. This will be important if there are any disputes or claims in the future.
If the final/exit inspection has not been done within three business days after you have moved out, but one week later, and you receive complaints, you have the upper hand in this situation. The Property Manager has clearly not followed up the proper procedure accordingly to the legislation and has no right to expect from you to play by the rules. It is possible that in between the time you move out and the final/exit inspection was conducted someone else was in the property, in this situation you cannot be accountable for any damage.
Stay on my website to find out:
1. What the property manager is focusing on when scanning your application.
2. Which documents are best to be provided.
3. What is the landlord taking into consideration when making decision.
4. Everything you need to know about your references