Renting

TAYLOR’S FIRST NATIONAL are recipients of a
“Best Practice Gold award Certification”

We can proudly boast as being recognized as one of the few Real Estate offices who have implemented a quality assurance system that is aligned to ISO 9000 international standards.

Generally clients may not be fully aware that they are dealing with a Gold Awarded company. But they do recognize and praise the good service, effective communication, correctly organized marketing campaigns and careful attention to detail.

This might not seem much in itself unless you have previously dealt with other real estate offices who cannot guarantee these service levels. But it is the confidence in knowing that you are dealing with a company with a dedicated customer focus and a system that is driven by continuous improvement. If you need a quality property manager to handle your investment property, you can be assured of receiving the highest possible standard from TAYLOR’S FIRST NATIONAL.

BEST PRACTICE PROCEDURES FOR EFFECTIVE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

1. Advertising/Letting Procedure
2. Property Inspection Procedure
3. Collecting Rent Procedure
4. Rent Arrears Procedure
5. Maintenance Procedure
6. Key Control Procedure
7. Lease Renewal Procedure
8. Rent review Procedure
9. Vacating Tenant Procedure
10. Landlord Payment and Statement Procedure
11. Privacy Statement

The Rental market is no different from any financial market in that it is driven by supply & demand.

The experience property investor understands that a cost effective but quality marketing program will more likely generate a higher level of tenant enquiry, provide a greater selection and higher quality of potential tenant, and assist in maximizing the rental income by minimizing the vacancy time.

Our expertise in marketing investment properties enables us to make them stand out from the myriad of other rental properties that are available.

WHERE SHOULD YOUR PROPERTY BE ADVERTISED
- Saturday Advertiser
- Messenger News Review (Photographic Advert)
- Weekly Property Guide
- Internet:   www.realestate.com
                     www.taylorsrealestate.net.au
                     www.firstnational.com.au
                     www.rent.com.au
- First Priority Tenant data base email/SMS alerts
- Window display in our high profile office
- For Lease sign
- Details circulated to local corporate business

Prior to renting your property we suggest you consider
attending to any minor maintenance issues that may need
attention. 

The better your property is presented the easier it will
be to rent, and you are more likely to attract better
quality tenants.

As part of our pre leasing procedure our property
management department inspect all properties and
then discuss any areas of maintenance we feel may need
attention prior to renting with landlords.

Particularly with health and safety issues we believe it to
be wise to rectify any of these potential hazards.

PRE-LEASING MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST

- Are gardens neat & tidy
- Fix leaking taps & toilets
- Fix sticking doors
- Floors must be mopped & clean through out
- Have cupboards been cleaned
- Bathroom & kitchen thoroughly clean & free of mould
- Have carpets been professionally cleaned
- Remove & dump all rubbish
- Are their any lifting floor coverings that could be a tripping hazards
- Are the smoke alarms hard wired
- Is a safety switch fitted
- Are there any other potential health & safety issues

Selecting a suitable tenant for your property is possibly the most important aspect of property management.

Get it right and you will enjoy the long term benefits that owning investment properties can provide. However, selecting the wrong tenant can cause hardship, frustration and have you questioning the validity of owning
investment properties.

As such we require all potential tenants to complete a detailed application form, provide proof of identity along
with details of their past and present employment history, current income to debt levels, and previous rental history
with contact details for those landlords.

If an applicant doesn’t meet our stringent leasing criteria our recommendation is not to enter into a lease agreement with them.

A written tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant is
essential when leasing a property and specifies the rights and obligations of both parties.

It is a legally binding document but can be open to interpretation and it is therefore vitally important to have a good working knowledge of the “Residential Tenancies Act”.

All our property management staff are familiar with the various sections of this act. They regularly prepare lease agreements on behalf of landlords and note all the relevant terms and conditions of that rental agreements. These terms and conditions along with our other expectations are then discussed in depth with the tenant at the point of signing the agreement.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS CHECKLIST
- The rental amount & initial payment dates
- The lease term
- The bond amount
- Water usage payment arrangements
- Lawn & garden maintenance expectations
- Carpet cleaning requirements
- End of tenancy requirements
- Lost or misplaced keys
- Maintenance request procedure
- Rental payment methods
- Our ZERO tolerance to rent arrears policy
- Inspection frequency & access arrangements
- Prior approval is required for keeping of pets
- Consideration to noise levels for adjoining neighbors
- Home business activities are not permitted
- Our expectations on how the property is to be maintained

Our property management department takes their responsibility
To ensure tenants pay their rent on time very seriously.

Our ZERO RENT ARREARS POLICY is discussed with all tenants at the time when they sign the lease, and as such we expect that policy to be adhered to.

Legally a property manager or landlord cannot take steps to evict a tenant for non payment of rent until the rent is 14 days in arrears. This means on the 15th day we may issue the tenant
with a “FORM 2  - NOTICE TO REMEDY BREACH OF AGREEMENT” which allows them a further 7 days to remedy the rent arrears breach from receipt of the Form 2 notice.

Should the tenant fail to pay the full rent owing by this deadline a
“FORM 7 – APPLICATION TO TENANCIES TRIBUNAL” is
sent to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal applying for an order to have the tenant evicted from the property and balance of all rent money owing paid in full to the landlord.

Prior to the issue of these notices our property management
department will have attempted to contact the tenant on a number
of occasions by sending reminder SMS messages along with the
posting of a variety of  letters in an attempt  to try and ascertain
why, and how they intend to remedy the breach. 

OUR ZERO TOLERANCE PROCEDURE

DAILY  
- Print all rent arrears report

DAY 9 
- Reminder call to tenant advising of their rental status
- Post letter if unable to contact them

DAY 15 
- Prepare and serve FORM 2 Notice on tenant by post

DAY 23 
- Prepare Form 7 and apply to Residential Tenancies Tribunal seeking eviction and a full payment of rent order
- Advise Landlord of status
- Send letter to tenant "Eviction Pending" your immediate attention required

NOTIFICATION OF HEARING DATE 
- Advise landlord of hearing date

DAY OF HEARING
- Prepare and attend hearing

RTT DECISION ADVISE
- Advise landlord

Possibly one of the most difficult aspect of property management is the
handling of maintenance issues.

Property managers can spend considerable time trying to co-ordinate the
various types of maintenance and repairs that are required to rental properties
during the course of a tenancy. They need a clearly defined and structured
procedure in place to ensure tasks are attended to in a timely fashion, and to
avoid the possibilities of a tenant taking legal action against a landlord for
breach of agreement.

1. Firstly they need to be able to determine the nature of the maintenance problem. Is it an:
- Emergency problem
- General problem
- Health & Safety problem

2. Next is to determine whether the responsibility to repair lies with:
- Landlord
- Tenant
- Strata or Community managers
- Insurance Company

3. From there it’s contacting the relevant party responsible for the repair and seeking their approval to attend to the repair work.

4. Then it is to determine, contact and book for the work to be conducted by a suitable tradesman. Does the job need a:
-     Licensed tradesman (Electrician, plumber etc)
-     Specialist tradesman
-     General handyman

5. Finally it’s contacting the tenant to advise the day and time that the work will be carried out, or details of the tradesman who will contact them direct to book a suitable time.

Here at Taylor’s First National we have developed our systems and procedures over the last fifteen years. We now employ a designated maintenance officer who attends to all repair issues, and have developed our own maintenance division “Combined Home Maintenance Services”.

This has enabled our Property Management Department the ability to quickly attend to maintenance issues. It also has provide us with more control over the important aspect of minimizing the potential risk to landlords in relation to property maintenance and health and safety issues.

All money received by us in relation to managed rental properties is paid directly into our trust account. This account has strict guidelines in how it is to be managed, and we have an obligation to ensure we distribute those funds in the appropriate way.

Our policy is to reconcile our trust account on a daily basis to ensure it balances correctly, and all deposited funds are allocated to the correct landlord ledgers.

HOW DO WE COLLECT THE TENANTS RENT
When the tenant signs the lease they are given four rent payment options:

-  They are provided with a “Direct Bank Deposit Book”
   and can pay their rent at any Bank SA branch
-  They can make payment at our office by Money Order
    or Cheque
-  They can have their own bank directly debit their
    account and make payment directly to our trust account
-  They can transfer funds over the internet directly into
   our trust account

As part of our Best Practice Accreditation & for security reasons we do not accept or hold cash at our office.

WHEN DO OWNERS RECEIVE THEIR MONEY
Funds in our trust account are paid to landlords at the end of
each month by “Electronic Funds Transfer” directly into their
nominated bank account.

If these funds are being paid directly to a mortgage account it is a good idea to have that account paid several months in advance, in case the tenant is late with their payment, or the property becomes vacant.

MONTHLY STATEMENTS
Monthly rental summary statements are posted to landlords at the beginning of each month. These detail:

 - Landlords name and postal address
 - Date and time the statement was printed
 - Summary of all monthly income & expense
 - Address of the property
 - Tenants name
 - Management fee percentage
 - Weekly rent amount
 - Date to where the rent is paid up to
 - Date the lease is due to expire

All new landlords receive with their first statement a guide - “How To Read Your New Statement”

ANNUAL STATEMENTS
At the end of June each year, and to assist landlords with their end of financial year taxation reporting requirements, we provide all landlords with an itemized statement detailing total rent collected and expenses incurred through-out the year.
This statement along with each monthly statement should be forwarded to your accountant.

With most investments there is always a level of risk – the greater the return the greater the risk. Owning investment property is no different.

More than ever, landlords are at the risk of financial loss attributable to the actions of tenants, even when the property is professionally managed.

As such we strongly recommend all landlords take out both building and a landlord protection policy in order to manage this risk.

As we do not hold a Australian Financial Services License we are not able to provide you with advice on insurance, however we are able to provide you with general brochure information about the service available to you.

If you would like to receive a brochure about these types of insurance please contact our office.

Unfortunately selling and renting your property at the same time is not always a happy marriage. The fact is we are all protective of our individual rights and quite often unsure of exactly what they are.

Basically, you are entitled to have prospective purchasers view the premises at a reasonable time of the day and on a reasonable number of occasions upon supplying the tenant reasonable notice. The tenants also entitled to reasonable peace, comfort and privacy or the quite enjoyment of the premises.

Of course the question arises just “what is reasonable”.

TAYLOR’S FIRST NATIONAL are experts when it comes to selling and renting your home. So, what could make more sense than have us look after both for you.

The fine balance between the rights of both parties will be thoroughly
observed and at the end of the day you’ll have achieved the highest sale price possible in the shortest possible time whilst enjoying the benefits of a total property management package.

Everyone gives guarantees, but what do they really mean? In some cases very little.

That’s where TAYLOR’S FIRST NATIONAL is different. Being a Best Practice accredited office means we can guarantee our service to a predetermined and written standard for every part of our real estate business.

Only by establishing Best Practice standards can we guarantee to meet and exceed your expectations in the leasing and management of your investment property.

Should a problem arise, it will be corrected quickly and to your satisfaction.

Few real estate companies can genuinely guarantee this level of service. However you can be confident in knowing that you are dealing with a company that not only has a proven commitment to customer service, but a system that is driven by continuous improvement.

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