SimonInVIC Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Hi there, I have just moved to Melbourne from the UK along with my partner, we are currently renting in the city for the first month from our arrival date. We got here nearly a week ago and so far have sorted most things we can think of. This weekend we turned our attention to finding somewhere to live on a longer term basis. We have visited several estate agents in the areas that we have been looking at but it seems that we need references from people we know already in Australia. Something to do with the estate agents being able to contact our references to verify them. As we know no one in Australia as yet, (neither of us have jobs lined up as we are planning to have the first month or so as a kind of holiday / getting the know the city and surrounding areas) how do we go about getting a reference? I would love to hear from other people who may have experienced similar problems and how they over came them. We are having a hard enough time even reaching the required 100 point score to even be considered as although we have signed up for Medicare, we could be waiting almost a full month for our cards to arrive and even with that, our bank statements, passports, driving licences we are just under the required points total. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Your current short-term rental will count as rental history for references. Medicare cards usually turn up quite quickly, but you can print off a paper version until they arrive. 100 points of ID should be easy to reach. Passport, driving licence, a letterhead or something confirming your short-term let, Medicare card, TRN number confirmation etc. Undoubtedly having a job will make it easier to secure a long term rental. You need to show that you have the ongoing means to pay the rent. Create an info pack detailing everything about you, history, employment, how you are model renters etc. that's your chance to really talk yourself up. When you see a place you would like to rent, hand the completed forms and your info pack to the RE agent there and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonInVIC Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks Suzukiscottie, I have the details for the short term rental printed out so its good to know they will take that as rental history. The agents we were talking to claimed we'd need 3-4 references though which is what I'm worried about. I am going to contact the company we have rented from to confirm we are here but we have only done 6 days so far of a month so not sure how willing they will be to reference us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Being new to the Country, they must accept that you will have limited rental history. It's really up to you to be as enthusiastic as you can about your chosen rental. (love gardening, very house proud, excellent neighbour etc etc). We've been here almost 5 years and have only ever needed the one reference, and I think that was just a phone call from the REA to the holiday rental owner (if he even did that; I don't know?) and when we moved house 3 years ago the new REA only phoned the old REA. Simples. But then again, we had jobs and proof of funds, so you might need to prepare for some disappointment until you secure some work. Maybe not if you're loaded! [emoji3] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxlornaxx Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Yes some some estate agents would not accept us as we did not have aus references and it stated on their checklist this was required...I said this was discriminatory as our uk refs were contactable n even offered for them to phone aus....we made a complaint to aus discrimination ppl who agreed with us and we got apology n promise of change of procedures in future! But to get round it initially as we didnt have time we did find couple of agents who didn't mind which country refs were from and with another one we gave all UK refs except one personal ref from myself. ..I just changed my name slightly on application n confirmed I was a suitable tenant when they phoned..not ideal but it was a ridiculous requirment when you have just moved to the country...I'm sure they must have known it was me but it ticked their box n we got the house! Now we know ppl n have a few aus rental refs so it's not an issue. .so once u get your first one n good aus reference everything is much simpler. We never had any problem with 100 points of id even without medicare card...maybe your overlooking something and we were both working full time in good jobs so it wasn't funds they were concerned about just their tick sheet saying aus refs! But like i said not all agents have this requirment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonInVIC Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks, has put my mind at ease a bit. We will try some agents who may be a bit more flexible as to where the reference comes from and see if we can use our UK ones, that along with our short term rental reference we hope to get should see us alright. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Give them e mails for UK references and a covering statement explaining you have just moved. Your short term rental should give you a ref, also did you sell your house in UK. Give them the spec ( should be on the web somewhere) and how much you sold it for. Landlords like people who have been homeowners and kept their own home nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonInVIC Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks rammygirl, yes, we sold our home in the UK so we will get the info about the sale and save a copy of the web advert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winneth Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hi SimonInVic, definitely nothing to get worried about. Any rental agent who asks for Australian rental references from people who have none is wrong. I've submitted overseas rental references on behalf of my clients and they haven't been a problem. For others, it's either the sale of their property or a rental management agreement between my client and the property manager. In your case, showing them documents/proof of sale of your property is as good as a reference. Just attach it to the application form you are sending in and note it on the section where it asks for rental references. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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