King Properties

How to Impress A Landlord

If you don’t have a rental history, a private landlord will look on you favourably if you provide as much information as possible – such as current payslips, bank statements, police check, referees, Centrelink entitlements, car registration, photo id. If you have owned your own home, then you could provide copies of utility bills and/or rate notices.

Benefits of Renting Directly from an Owner

There are many benefits in renting directly from an owner. Many people who will make good tenants find it impossible to secure a lease from a real estate agent because they do not have a rental history. This could be due to divorce or any other relationship split-up where you typically owned your own home but suddenly find yourself in the rental market, never having rented before. Other people who may find it difficult are those moving from interstate or finished school, leaving home and first time renters.

What if you’re a pet owner? Demonstrate that you are a responsible owner by providing a copy of your pet registration with the council, proof of vaccinations, having taken your dog to dog training school.

If you are looking for a private rental because you have previously of breaches to previous rental agreements, remember that owners are also able to access tenancy databases that list names of people who have defaulted, so being open upfront about this, rather than hiding it will be more favourable.

Why would an Owner Choose to Rent Directly?

You may be wondering why an owner would choose to rent directly, rather than through a licenced property manager at a real estate agency. There are some good property managers, but as owners who have used various different agencies in the past, we have experienced that agents have done little work to build up a relationship with our past tenants which has resulted in the Property Manager causing our tenant to vacate.

One Real Estate Agent was slow to organise maintenance and when following up on the status as the owner, was told that I could arrange the repairs myself. Another Real Estate Agent that managed our property for a 3 year period, managed to place a tenant that they started court proceedings for breach of rent after 3 weeks into the lease, and then charging the owner additional fees for the court attendance, making us wonder whether they did proper checks on the tenant, then at the end of the lease organised cleaning and repairs to be deducted from the tenant’s bond, but the services were expensive and they spent more than was available from the bond without asking permission from us as owners first. Then, when they placed another tenant into the property, the Property Manager didn’t do a thorough property condition report. Although the Property Manager had arranged the expensive cleaning and repairs, the new tenant reported on the entry property condition report things that were faulty and areas that were dirty. The tenant had an altercation with the Property Manager and intended to take us to Court for an alleged breach by the Property Manager, and the Property Manager refused to give us the details of the complaint, but said the tenant was difficult from the start, which is a ridiculous statement as we had paid them to check the tenant and advise us of any issues, before granting the lease. Furthermore, the neighbour had told us that the tenant was a good tenant – he was quiet and respectful to his dog.