Retained Managements

In 2018, a review of the current Residential Tenancies Act 1997 was completed and a number of draft reforms were proposed. On the 29th March 2021, 130 reforms were formally introduced into the Act and now provide for a clear set of minimum standards rental providers must meet to offer a property for lease on the rental market. Of these reforms, the ones you need to consider prior to entering into a rental agreement are:

1. Understanding the Rental reforms and how they will impact your tenancy. You can also see the answers to our most frequently asked questions.
2. Know your obligations for gas, electrical and smoke alarm compliance. Choose from four of our preferred suppliers, the pricelist is available here for review
3. Does your property meet the new Rental Minimum Standards? Access a Rental Minimum Standards checklist here.

On the 21st March, the Allan Labor Government announced they were establishing a new renting taskforce to crack down on non-compliant properties. This includes any properties that may not meet the Rental Minimum Standards. You can read the press release here.

With the annoucement of the Consumer Affairs Renting Taskforce, we are reaching out to any Rental Providers that have outstanding compliance or rectification works to ensure these are actioned promptly to avoid fines for non-compliance. Letting a renter move into a rental property that doesn’t meet these minimum standards is a criminal offence, with maximum penalties of over $11,000 for individuals and $57,000 for companies.

To have your compliance inspections completed prior to your renter’s occupancy, we will need to arrange to have gas and electricity temporarily connected to your property. we can help you arrange this through our service partner, Connect Now.

Rental provider Insurance, comparing the different policies available to you.

No one particular Insurance policy is going to be the right fit for all rental providers, so we do encourage you to shop around, speak to a few different providers and make an informed decision about which policy best fits you, your investment property and your budget. It is important to review the product disclosure statement for all available policies as knowing what you are and are not covered for is important.

Whilst we don’t preference one policy over another, we do recommend you speak to the following insurance companies as they are rental provider specific providers. In our experience, generalist insurers do have a lot of loop holes that, whilst cheaper options, can leave you uncovered in the event you need to call upon your insurance provider.

1. Terri Scheer Landlord and Building Insurance
2. Property Insurance Plus
3. EBM Insurance Providers

Ensuring your property is ready to move into and a full set of keys for each renter are available.

Section 68 of the Residential Tenancies Act now provides for a clearer understanding of what is expected when a renter moves into a new home. This includes ensuring that the rental property is reasonably clean and tidy, all maintenance is attended to and a full set of keys are made available to each renter over the age of 18 that is named on the rental agreement.

Your property manager will be completing a full Condition Report for your property in the days leading up to the commencement of your new tenancy and it is important that all works, cleaning and keys are made available for testing a minimum of three business days prior to the rental agreement start date. This allows the property manager time to complete the report, which can take anywhere up to three hours to complete, test all keys and complete a tenancy induction with your new renter.

What happens next?

Your property is ready to hit the rental market. Our team has been busy in the background preparing to launch your investment property online. By this stage, Hayley and Georgia have arranged professional photography to take place, your advertising copy has been written and your launch date has been set.

Your final photos and advertising copy have now been sent through to you to approve. At this time, we are also confirming your advertised asking price, main point of contact for all leasing feedback and who will receive the update reports which are sent through weekly from realestate.com.au. Once you have given us the tick of approval on your proposed advertising schedule, you can expect your property to appear online within 24/48 hours. Please note we do not load new listings online over the weekend.

Let’s talk leasing.

Once property is loaded online, it will be available for the renting public to view on all of the major websites including realestate.com.au, domain.com.au, rent.com.au and of course, raywhitefrankston.com.au. If at any time, you wish to make any changes to your advertisement online, please reach out to Hayley and Georgia for assistance.

James and Georgia in our leasing department will be conducting your open for inspections, meeting your prospective renters and processing rental applications as they come in. You can expect to receive an update from our leasing department on Mondays and Wednesdays. Fridays and Saturdays are our inspection days. The team will be out on the road meeting and showing your property.

Applications are processed on Sundays, Monday’s and Tuesday’s. Shortlisted applicants will be processed and you will be contacted to review the prospects. Once a decision is made on your preferred applicant, our leasing team will coordinate a move in date with your property manager and new renter, arrange for rental agreements to be signed and first month’s rent and bond to be transferred through to our trust account to secure your new tenancy.

What do you need to do in preperation for your new tenancy?

At this point, we need to ensure all paperwork is finalised and entered in and your property is ready for the new tenancy to commence, things to check off the list would include:

1. Ensuring the Instructions to Managing Agent are completed with your banking details for the swift disbursement of rent
2. Your preferred insurance policies are set up and ready to commence
3. Any final trades have visited the property, the property has had a wipe over clean as required and a minimum of three full sets of keys, remotes and fobs have been dropped into our office
4. If applicable, any of your belongings have been removed from the property and sheds and any hard rubbish collections have been paid for and organised
5. You have arranged a final meter read for any water, gas and electricity you have had connected to the investment property.

Congratulations, your property has been leased!

As soon as consideration and rental agreements are signed, it’s a done deal! You’ve leased your investment property.

Generally, you can expect the lead time from leasing to move in date to be generally between 1 to 2 weeks depending on property availability. You’ve now been assigned your new property manager who will be reaching out to introduce themselves to you via phone (or zoom if you would prefer!) very shortly. This is when our new business team will prepare and hand over your property to your assigned manager. Any notes, required works, compliance certificates and leasing documentation will be loaded into our PropertyMe system which you will be able to see in your Rental provider portal. Any documentation that cannot be seen in the portal can be provided upon request to your Property Manager.

Tenancy Induction.

Your assigned Property Manager will also be reaching out to complete an in-depth tenancy induction with your new renter. These meetings are conducted either by phone or face to face and go through important aspects of the tenancy such as on time rental payments, how to report maintenance and what to do in the event of an urgent repair. Our full after hours maintenance procedure is available for you to review on our website and is updated regularly.

Ease of communication is what sets us apart.

Each Senior Property Manager within our team works to a high standard with checklists to ensure a seamless transition from new business to the property management team. We understand that communication is key during this transition and each property manager in our business has their own direct phone line so you can reach out to them to discuss your property, bypassing reception. Our property managers are also very responsive via email and will endeavour to return all calls and emails prior to 4:00pm each day or before 10:00am the next business day if after 4:00pm.

If you cannot get through to your property manager because they are in a meeting or conducting inspections, please feel free to leave them a voicemail and they will get back to you at their earliest convenience.

Meet our experienced team of Senior Property Management professionals.

Experience is another of our points of difference. Each of our team members have been in the property management industry for a minimum of seven years. We undertake regular inhouse and corporate training sessions to ensure we are up to speed on all the latest legislation and customer service techniques available to our industry. We are proud to be awarded the most highly reviewed agency in the Frankston area on both Google and Rate My Agent, both speak volumes of the care and experience our team can provide you as our valued client.

Let’s meet the team:

Jessica Davidson, Head of Property Management | Direct Line: 03 8763 9522 | Email: jessica.davidson@raywhite.com
Eloise Sweatman, Team Leader | Direct Line: 03 8763 9521 | Email: eloise_sweatman@raywhite.com
Laura Brockie, Senior Property Manager | Direct Line: 03 8763 9519 | Email: laura.brockie@raywhite.com
Lynda Jones, Senior Property Manager| Direct Line: 03 8763 9525 | Email lynda.jones@raywhite.com
Jack Limon, Senior Property Manager | Direct Line: 03 8763 9520 | Email: jack.limon@raywhite.com
Hayley Adams, Property Manager | Direct Line: 03 8763 9502 | Email: hayley.adams@raywhite.com

Now let’s get to the important stuff: Rental Disbursements, Bonds, Inspections and Reports.

Rental Disbursements | Ray White Frankston runs rental provider disbursements on Tuesday’s and Friday’s. Funds will generally clear overnight, however depending on your banking institution, this could be up to three business days. You can expect to receive a full statement emailed from our office on the day of disbursement and funds will clear through shortly thereafter. Rents are receipted daily. We offer three payment methods for your renters, Direct Debit, BPay or Centrepay.

Your first disbursement will come to you on the day the renter’s tenancy commences.

All rental bonds are lodged with the RTBA | By law, all bonds received, need to be lodged with the RTBA (Residential Tenancies Bond Authority) within 10 business days of the funds being received by Ray White Frankston. We will automatically lodge your bond through to the RTBA once it is received and this will be held in trust until such time as your new tenancy vacates. To the same effect, all bonds need to be finalised within 10 business days of the renter returning their keys at the end of the tenancy and your Property Manager will work through this process with you when the time comes.

Regular Inspections | The first inspection of your property can be legally completed after the first three months of your new tenancy. Your Property Manager will schedule all routine inspections in the first week of the month and will send you an invite to attend if you wish to do so. All inspections are completed by an experienced property manager and a detailed photographic and written report is supplied to you via email within 24/48 hours of completion of the inspection.

Our property managers will use these reports to give you updates on the tenancy, the condition of the property and make any recommendations for suggested maintenance, general improvements or upkeep to maintain your investment property. Maintenance specials are also available throughout the year through our preferred trade suppliers and these will be offered to you throughout the year by way of email communication.

After the initial three month inspection, you can expect routine inspections will be conducted every six months for the duration of your tenancy. We encourage rental providers to attend these inspections if you can.

Condition Reports | Once your new renter collects their keys, they are provided a digital copy of the Condition Report your property manager has compiled. They have five business days to review this report and add comments. Renters are asked to comment on damage, excessive wear items and any issues that may be deemed above normal wear at the end of a tenancy. Maintenance is reported separately to this report and a copy of your completed Condition Report will be automatically emailed to you upon completion by the renter or within the first two weeks of your tenancy if your renter has failed to return a signed copy.

Thank you again for choosing Ray White Frankston, we hope your leasing experience has been a great one!

Word of mouth is everything in the real estate industry and we are hoping you could take the time to review your experience with our agency on one of our many social accounts, Google, Facebook and Rate My Agent.

A referral from a satisfied client means the world to our team and we hope your words will help others choosing an agent in the Frankston area, consider our team for the leasing and management of their property.