Renting property on a temporary visa

[elwoodthedog]

Hi there,

My partner and I are moving to Australia on a 417 working holiday visa from New Zealand. We will be in Melbourne for the entirety of that year. We also have a 186 visa in process: if it is not processed before the 417 expires, we'll hop onto a bridging visa and wait.

Has anyone had any experience renting a property on a short-term visa? We are worried that our one-year visa could create problems with letting agents, even though our intention is to remain indefinitely in the long term. (We do not want flatmates!)

Thanks!

Edited June 16, 2021 by elwoodthedog

[Marisawright]

Shouldn't be an issue.  However, do you have professional advice which says you'll be able to "hop on" to a bridging visa later?  Usually that's not possible.

[elwoodthedog]

Thanks!

Yes, our immigration lawyer said that a bridging visa would routinely be applied when our temporary visa came to an end, if our permanent visa had not yet been processed, though we may need to apply for it separately.

 

[rammygirl]

Mm not sure if that is the case if the visa was applied for offshore, I would double check.

Shouldn’t be an issue with the rental, just say you have a work visa, you will sign a contract for 12 months anyway.

[Marisawright]

44 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

Mm not sure if that is the case if the visa was applied for offshore, I would double check.

That's what I thought too - if a visa is applied for offshore, you can't come to Australia on another visa, and then get a bridging visa to stay.  If it was that easy, legions of parent visa applicants would be doing it.

That said, their immigration lawyer seems confident.  I'm thinking that with Covid, all kinds of rules are being relaxed for people onshore so maybe that will swing it.

Edited June 17, 2021 by Marisawright

[DrDougster]

Be prepared for estate agencies in Aus to excel at performing well below expectations in nearly all regards. Email responses, telephone calls, negotiation with owners, you name it, they're shit at it!

[Marisawright]

49 minutes ago, DrDougster said:

Be prepared for estate agencies in Aus to excel at performing well below expectations in nearly all regards. Email responses, telephone calls, negotiation with owners, you name it, they're shit at it!

To be fair, @DrDougster, how many Australian properties have you rented?  

My experience renting several different properties in Sydney was pretty good overall, and no different to what I experienced in the South of England.   I'm less impressed with my Melbourne agent, but that's partly because the owners are in Shanghai and don't speak English. 

I would agree that when it comes to buying, I don't trust any agent further than I would throw them, but that's a different story - there's usually no overlap between the "boring" property management side and the glossy real estate sales side of an agency.  I also don't know how that compares with British real estate practices these days. 

Edited July 17, 2021 by Marisawright

[JetBlast]

1 hour ago, DrDougster said:

Be prepared for estate agencies in Aus to excel at performing well below expectations in nearly all regards. Email responses, telephone calls, negotiation with owners, you name it, they're shit at it!

This doesn’t reflect my experience. Our agent has been great. 
 

OP - when I applied for my rental they didn’t even ask about my immigration status. 

[DrDougster]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

To be fair, @DrDougster, how many Australian properties have you rented?  

My experience renting several different properties in Sydney was pretty good overall, and no different to what I experienced in the South of England.   I'm less impressed with my Melbourne agent, but that's partly because the owners are in Shanghai and don't speak English. 

I would agree that when it comes to buying, I don't trust any agent further than I would throw them, but that's a different story - there's usually no overlap between the "boring" property management side and the glossy real estate sales side of an agency.  I also don't know how that compares with British real estate practices these days. 

Enough to make me never want to rent again - gathering deposit and stamp duty!

30 minutes ago, JetBlast said:

This doesn’t reflect my experience. Our agent has been great. 
 

OP - when I applied for my rental they didn’t even ask about my immigration status. 

These seem contradictory sentences.

OP - good luck with it. Take photos of ANY damage, no matter how small, when you move in. Normal wear and tear is an alien concept in Aus, Be prepared to shell out for a "bond clean" when you move out.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, DrDougster said:

. Take photos of ANY damage, no matter how small, when you move in. Normal wear and tear is an alien concept in Aus, Be prepared to shell out for a "bond clean" when you move out.

Good advice, but I’ve never had to pay for a bond clean in my life. 

The one time an agent tried it, I declined and said we could go to the tribunal - never heard another word 

[Raul Senise]

On 17/06/2021 at 17:53, Marisawright said:

if a visa is applied for offshore, you can't come to Australia on another visa, and then get a bridging visa to stay. 

Not necessarily true. You can sometimes get a bridging visa once in Australia, even if an application was lodged whilst off shore.

The Migration Regulations are complex and there is rarely a rule which is always consistent across all circumstances. 

[elwoodthedog]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. We're not super worried about the bridging visa - our migration agent has multiple "plans of attack" if we need them, so it doesn't seem like that will be a particular problem - but it's really helpful to hear your experiences with property rentals.