rikyuu Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 absolutely spot on, it's exactly the same here in Melbourne, except that far out of the city, you can get a new 4 bed house for $340pw. I rented many places in the UK for over 10 years and finding somewhere was never an issue, not because of what was available, but because it was an easy process in most places ie. first come-first served (as long as you met reasonable checks). A few points missed; 1) as well as losing your application deposit, you sign an obligation to take the house if offered it 2) you sign an agreement that the landlord doesn't have to let you move in on the agreed date (you can turn up and be legitimately turned away) 3) you can't apply for anywhere more than 2 weeks before you want to move in as they'll be even less likely to offer it to you, yet you can only apply for 1 at once and it can take 1-2 weeks for them to make their minds up, so you have to hope you get it else you'll have nowhere to live. 4) when you move in, you'll receive a check list which the agency has completed stating everying is fitted and in as new condition. You have to spend hours going though the house to find every last defect, mark, hole, scratch etc as they won't have noticed these until you move out and try to claim your deposit back, which is when they'll actually do the check and try to charge you for everything that is not 'as new'. 5) (In my case), at the end of your 1st year, they'll give you 3 months notice to move out because of 'tax reasons', which is no help what so ever due to (2), then a week before you move out, they'll tell you that you don't really have to. 6) Rubbish and belongings from the previous tennant will be left in the property, which the agency will refuse to remove, so you'll have to document and photograph all of it, unless you want to be responsible for removing it at the end. 7) If it's a new build, no-one will have checked it before yo move in. They'll try every excuse in the book to justify why you haven't got a post box and fence panels are missing etc, so you have to pay for it. 8) You'll get endless post for the previous tennants for all the bills/fines etc they've racked up. None of the utility companies will realise that because you live there and now have accounts with them, that the previous tennants no longer live there and so will continue sending bills for them. The agency won't help. 9) You'll continually get unpaid bills for the landlord, eg water rates, again the agency won't help. The whole process is designed to extract the maximum out of the tennant whilst the agency does almost nothing. Group viewings are to ensure that you feel in competition with others and make the appearance of a housing shortage, when actually there's 1000's available. Tying you into only making an offer on 1 property (and having to be successful as you'll not have time to apply for others) ensures you offer the maximum amount. Yep, it's all about landlords and agencies, tennants are just trash, which is amazing really because most landlords out there can not afford these houses and without tennants, they would go bankrupt (in fact most rents don't cover the mortgages, but the government gives tax incentives for loss making housing investments so it works out), so you'd think they would be nicer to tennants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rikyuu Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 So funny, yet your correct! We searched a long time before finding the right home in our price range...Some of the homes we've seen I wouldn't keep a dog in or be able to swing a cat in..Honestly makes you wonder how these people make a living from the rental market, but then again I spose if your despo enough you'll take what you can..All I can say is I love my house and thank God for our fortune in finding it lovely place, is it more than $400pw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErmintrudeMcMoo Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I know it works both ways - I`ve heard of some rentals being trashed by tenants but you`d think the agents would go out of their way to look after the good tenants. I thought I had a good relationship with my rental agent - I`d always got good reports at every inspection, however I realised how niave I`d been when it came to moving out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landv Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 northshorepom...the rest of the pics are worse... http://reiwa.com.au/Rental-Properties/Hazelmere/3111435 Modern gourmet kitchen... LOL, they could have at least changed the tiling when the new units were put in. We can laugh about it, but sadly it's true, the standards here with regards to property (especially rental) are just simply shocking. Have you found a nice rental yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiara Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 I have tenants back in Ireland, they pay 650 euros a month (that's about 780 dollars) for a two story, four bedroom house on .7 of an acre. The house has four large bedrooms, massive kitchen etc etc. fully furnished, right down to red smeg fridge and matching curtains and scatter cushions... if something goes wrong with the dishwasher, I pay for it; if they want to mow the lawn, I buy them a lawnmower; if they want a new microwave, I buy one... that's all fine if I am treated the same way here, but I'm not, so I lose out on both counts. That can be a bit gutting..particularly when the rent I get only covers half the mortgage. What's worse is that I can't even FIND a house here where we live. Houses in the hills come up so rarely that they are snapped up. The estate agent mustered up enough energy the other day to tell me that finding a house was unlikely since there was a waiting list for the area we want to live in, and with five kids we're way down the pecking order. Frustration!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaelm0 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Perth is so expensive, we're looking at 350 for four bed south brisbane. How can they justify those prices! Love your writing, funny and very well written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keily Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 OK you are all shocked at that house. But are you telling me this is so unusual? OK yes I included this house in my blog because it was particularly vile, but in general many houses I've had to consider were certainly not what I would consider acceptable in Ireland. Maybe I'm spoiled, but nice interiors, clean walls, hard floors should be the norm... particularly with rentals. In the hills we're dealing with huts in the woods....it's depressing... i think the area u are renting is has a lot to do with it ...older style houses on big blocks of uncared for land ....can i ask is there any particular reason u are in this area ? ....maybe u could try a newer suburb where houses are of a much better condition .....luv the blog by the way and sooo true mrs keily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiara Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Hi Mrs Keily We chose the hills because, well firstly because I really didn't fancy the suburbs, felt they lacked any sort of atmosphere or character. Having said that, we did try to rent a property around Connolly, Quinns rock etc but every house we 'applied' for rejected us, time was running out, the temporary rental was drawing to a close, and a nice woman from pomsinoz contacted us about a house she knew was for rent in the hills (she had read on another thread that I had liked the hills). The landlady didn't require my birth weight or mother maiden name, just a bank lodgement and a commitment to keep the place nice. We knew it was too small but we were desperate. It was a no brainer really. And yes, perhaps at this stage we would consider moving elsewhere, but the children are now settled in school so we're constrained by that. And no not all houses are like that one, but the nicer ones get snapped up in seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lisa crowe Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 lovely place, is it more than $400pw? Hi rikyuu, This is 4 bed/ 3 bath...No pool, no garden (makes it better for me lol) $430, OH has to commute just over an hour into Frenchs Forest, but that's the price you pay for a house you want within your budget, I love it up here in Central Coast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lisa crowe Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I have tenants back in Ireland, they pay 650 euros a month (that's about 780 dollars) for a two story, four bedroom house on .7 of an acre. The house has four large bedrooms, massive kitchen etc etc. fully furnished, right down to red smeg fridge and matching curtains and scatter cushions... if something goes wrong with the dishwasher, I pay for it; if they want to mow the lawn, I buy them a lawnmower; if they want a new microwave, I buy one... that's all fine if I am treated the same way here, but I'm not, so I lose out on both counts. That can be a bit gutting..particularly when the rent I get only covers half the mortgage. What's worse is that I can't even FIND a house here where we live. Houses in the hills come up so rarely that they are snapped up. The estate agent mustered up enough energy the other day to tell me that finding a house was unlikely since there was a waiting list for the area we want to live in, and with five kids we're way down the pecking order. Frustration!! Same with us Chiara, we still own two house back in the UK, we receive £400 a month for one, and £575 a month for the other, this just covers the mortgages plus a bit left over for any repairs that might need doing, we take nothing from the monies for our selves to use over here in Aus. We've only been in this property 2 months and it's the first time we've rented, an inspection is due next week, and I know the house is being well kept by us, so what do I look for when the agents come a calling next week? I'll also be bring up with them that the list we gave them of jobs that needed doing when we first moved in still haven't been taken care of...As a first time renter over here its great reading old Aussie rental pros, who have been on the end of the Australian real estate and all the crap it brings...Cheers guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest karen561 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 We are in WA and the rental property is booming with very little houses to rent, we emigrated last nov, and found it extremly hard 2 find a rental property. We u turn up 2 view the propertys ther wer 20 to 30 people ther veiwing it as well. Only 1 gets the house. We did this day in day owt lookin at 4 or 5 propertys a day trying 2 get 1. finally we gt a house a day b4 we had no wer 2 live, looks like we wer bout 2 live in the rental car with my young son. Beware the rent is mega expensive, we pay 395 dollars a week, i cant beleive it. We have a house in England and the morgage is only 300 pound a month. Plus the estate agents are so picky wen u av ur house inspection every 12 weeks. I hate renting. Just be prepared . good luck x:yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Sadly everything you said about the Perth rental market appears to be true ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolac34 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I think we have been amazingly lucky with both finding a rental and our landlords - we are in Perth too. I spent one day looking at ads on domain and realestate, sending of the 'enquiry' forms and also browsed Gumtree. We found the place we are in now off Gumtree direct from the landlords - they were holding their own 'open' on a Saturday morning (but scheduled in times for people to come rather than everyone show up at once). We trooped along, had a look around, chatted to the two landlords for a good half an hour (two Australian brothers who seemed to LOVE English people and England) about all things English and our plans in Australia. We filled in an application form, copy of our passports and off we went. Phone call the next day to say we'd got it (for the advertised price, we had no idea at this point that people even offered more for rentals....) and we could move in the following Friday. We've been there now nearly a year and we've had no rental inspections, the landlords were happy when we said we were bringing our cat over from England, they respond to my emails immediatley and sort anything that needs sorting straight away. We had someone in yesterday to paint the bathroom ceiling as it was a bit damaged by the build up of steam, we hadn't even thought it needed doing but they were right on it. They even paid to replace our bedding that got slightly damaged by a useless handyman spraying bleach on our ceiling without covering anything up (mould issue when we moved in). They've decided to increase the rent by $20 a week in September, but we aren't too bothered as for where we are we thinking it's well priced. Unfortunatly we weren't thinking 'long-term' when we rented it so will be looking to move after Christmas to somewhere bigger, but after the horror stories of renting in Perth we are certainly going to be looking at buying. So, just to say, try going direct (if possible) some landlords in Perth are nice! :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 We have nice landlords...have only met the father of landlord/lady as they live in Switzerland...they are coming to Perth for Xmas and would like to meet us....they are very good and attend to anything we need...we do repair basic things like toilet flush cistern problems etc...neither us or landlords like the new property manager but I don't want to be cheeky and ask if we could do it privately...we had a lovely manager before this one...the father always sends glowing reports to his daughter. It has been mentioned time and time again that it tends to be the real estate guys rather than the owners that are the problem. We are not in a position to buy for a few years and I dread the time we have to re enter the Perth rental race...:cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Maybe we have been lucky but we found somewhere in under a week, paying $650 a week though. It's nowhere near as nice as the house some lucky bugger is renting off us for our house back home but we will be able to save and buy quite quickly I hope and that'll be a whole new nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Sounds a total nightmare!!!!!! sounds like that we're stuffed either way though because it will be a nightmare finding a rental in NZ aswell, i think the rental situation is even worse in christchurch plus sooooooo many houses are even more horrid than the one in that pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosties Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Your blog makes me laugh out loud but nearly cried when I saw the pictures of the rental, I'm sure we'll see our fair share of horrors when we arrive in September, but I will not open the cupboard doors and will try not to look too desperate!!!:laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiara Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 absolutely spot on, it's exactly the same here in Melbourne, except that far out of the city, you can get a new 4 bed house for $340pw. I rented many places in the UK for over 10 years and finding somewhere was never an issue, not because of what was available, but because it was an easy process in most places ie. first come-first served (as long as you met reasonable checks). A few points missed; 1) as well as losing your application deposit, you sign an obligation to take the house if offered it 2) you sign an agreement that the landlord doesn't have to let you move in on the agreed date (you can turn up and be legitimately turned away) 3) you can't apply for anywhere more than 2 weeks before you want to move in as they'll be even less likely to offer it to you, yet you can only apply for 1 at once and it can take 1-2 weeks for them to make their minds up, so you have to hope you get it else you'll have nowhere to live. 4) when you move in, you'll receive a check list which the agency has completed stating everying is fitted and in as new condition. You have to spend hours going though the house to find every last defect, mark, hole, scratch etc as they won't have noticed these until you move out and try to claim your deposit back, which is when they'll actually do the check and try to charge you for everything that is not 'as new'. 5) (In my case), at the end of your 1st year, they'll give you 3 months notice to move out because of 'tax reasons', which is no help what so ever due to (2), then a week before you move out, they'll tell you that you don't really have to. 6) Rubbish and belongings from the previous tennant will be left in the property, which the agency will refuse to remove, so you'll have to document and photograph all of it, unless you want to be responsible for removing it at the end. 7) If it's a new build, no-one will have checked it before yo move in. They'll try every excuse in the book to justify why you haven't got a post box and fence panels are missing etc, so you have to pay for it. 8) You'll get endless post for the previous tennants for all the bills/fines etc they've racked up. None of the utility companies will realise that because you live there and now have accounts with them, that the previous tennants no longer live there and so will continue sending bills for them. The agency won't help. 9) You'll continually get unpaid bills for the landlord, eg water rates, again the agency won't help. The whole process is designed to extract the maximum out of the tennant whilst the agency does almost nothing. Group viewings are to ensure that you feel in competition with others and make the appearance of a housing shortage, when actually there's 1000's available. Tying you into only making an offer on 1 property (and having to be successful as you'll not have time to apply for others) ensures you offer the maximum amount. Yep, it's all about landlords and agencies, tennants are just trash, which is amazing really because most landlords out there can not afford these houses and without tennants, they would go bankrupt (in fact most rents don't cover the mortgages, but the government gives tax incentives for loss making housing investments so it works out), so you'd think they would be nicer to tennants. Rikyuu, also I forgot to add that one agent required the name and address of the estate agent in Ireland dealing with renting out our house over there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Made me laugh too! Although makes me feel relatively "lucky" in Brisbane. We got the rental easily enough, but the agents are an absolute nightmare and answer nothing. It's just depressing after owning your own house to have to ask to put a picture up - and not even get an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moven Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Rikyuu, also I forgot to add that one agent required the name and address of the estate agent in Ireland dealing with renting out our house over there! We had to email pictures of the interior of our house in Ireland & a letter from the estate agent. The visa process required less paperwork than securing the rental! Thankfully my oz company had an agreement with an estate agent in Perth, securing a long term rental before we arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halshaw Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Sympathise and empathise with all of this thread and won't bore people with our rental journey but we have had most of the experiences and on the story goes. I would venture to say that those infamous pictures were not 'too bad' after our latest hunt of the slim pickings in the SE suburbs of Melbourne at the moment. We are waiting to move into the ex-property of a hoarding tenant in the next 10 days. We were 'lucky' because she did not want anyone shown round her rental. Bizarre as the situation was the tenacious agent and I got in for a look. He stayed rooted to the spot in the vestibule area whilst I - kid you not- climbed over the detritus of this family's belongings to make sure the property was large enough and had a layout our goods could fit in. However we got it after giving our life story and ATM pin numbers (no not really but it felt like it!). At a mere 560 a week we have snagged ourselves a bargain but at what cost after all what lies beneath her crap? Would be poms be prepared to either be sorely disappointed by what you find to rent out here or alternatively dig deep and buy whilst the dollar is overpoweringly high. Its tough times to re-locate. Good luck out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PBrady Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Mods, I hope you don't mind, but my latest blog post is about finding a rental, and I though it might be of interest to your readers....:biggrin: http://www.chroniclesofatrailingspouse.com/2012/07/house-renting-nightmares-and-postal.html That put a smile on my face, not sure why though - we will be house hunting in Perth in the next few weeks and thats what we have to look forward to!! Yikes!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have just got a brand new 4 x 2 in Western Suburbs, Melbourne for $320 a week, only 45 minutes to get to city. Would rather stay here than pay the shocking prices for dumps just to be a bit closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiara Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 PBrady, it is painful!! The last house I applied for, I was advised to include a grovelling letter and photos of our family to assure the landlord we were 'respectable'. When I went into deliver these to the estate agent, there was a massive hamper behind the desk. Needless to say I didn't get the house!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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