Understanding Your Rights and Responsibilities As A Landlord

Being a landlord isn’t as easy as just leasing out your property to tenants and collecting rent payments each month. In fact, being a landlord is a serious matter that comes with an important set of legal rights and responsibilities you must abide by.

So before you jump too far ahead into the whole renting game you may want to understand what your rights and responsibilities are first. Many landlords end up becoming frustrated with the whole renting process, but it’s mostly because they don’t know their rights and responsibilities beforehand.

Understanding Where You Stand With The Bond

This is pretty common knowledge but all landlords must collect a bond in advance from tenants. Typically, it’s four weeks rent in advance. A bond is a security deposit that guarantees the safety and condition of your property.

What many landlords fail to realise is that the collected bond must be stored with the state’s residential tenancies bond authority. They will then hold the bond for the landlord and the tenant.

Before leasing out your property it pays to take photos of your home so you’ll know what condition it was in before you rented it. This gives you a lot of leeway if there are any disagreements regarding the bond money at the end of the tenancy.

Understanding Where You Stand With The Property

This is the part that can get tricky for many landlords. However, it’s quite simple as long as you know in advance what your obligations are.

As landlord must decide how frequently rent will be paid. Most common is weekly, but fortnightly and monthly are also options. Keep in mind that you can’t ask for more than 14 days rent at the beginning of a tenancy.

Finally, you have responsibilities regarding the property itself, which are as follows:

• Making sure the property is vacant and clean on the day the tenant moves in
• Not disturbing the tenant unnecessarily – they are entitled to peace and quiet like anyone else
• Making sure everything works properly including kitchen appliances, locks on doors, electricity, and plumbing before the tenancy begins.
• Providing the tenant with a full and complete set of keys as soon as they move into the property
• Ensuring that the tenant knows their rights and responsibilities as a tenant prior to moving into the property.
• You’re responsible for the physical installation of any electrical services like air conditioners, heaters, and this also includes plumbing unless otherwise stipulated in the lease agreement
• Carrying out inspections only after the first tHicks Real Estatee months of the tenancy have elapsed

Undertaking Repairs

Repairs are the responsibility of the landlord and must be carried out if the tenant specifies something in the property needs repairing. If it’s an Emergency repair you must repair it as soon as possible or the tenant can arrange the repairs at your expense.

In most states and territories, if it’s a non-urgent repair you have up to 14 days to carry out the repairs. The most important thing is to just make sure repairs are carried out as soon as possible to avoid any potential future problems or disputes with the tenant.

Want to know more about your rights and responsibilities as a landlord? Perhaps you are after a reliable and trustworthy property manager who can look after all the above for you? Then give us a call today on 07 3355 6845 and speak to an expert real estate agent.

For more information regarding this article check out ‘10 tops tips for preparing your property for rent’ in our Ebooks

For more information regarding tenants and landlords, check out the RTA’s Website