Residents Welcome Guide

The rental bond is a compulsory requirement by the Lessor agent at the commencement of a tenancy agreement. Your rental bond is lodged with the Residential Tenancy Authority and held as security against the property for any property damage, undue wear and tear or if you are in breach of the agreement and the Lessor suffers financial loss because of your breach. The bond amount will be refunded at the end of the tenancy by the Rental Tenancy Authority. The amount of the bond is specified in the Tenancy Agreement document.

Your tenancy agreement is an important document. It is a legal contract between you as the resident and your lessor/rental agency. By signing the lease agreement, you are legally committing to what is stated on the agreement. Make sure you read and understand the agreement before signing and always keep a copy of it in a safe place.

It is your legal obligation to pay rent to the lessor/rental agency on time and ensure your payments reach us on or before the due date. There are several options you have to pay your rent; these options are provided to you through your tenancy sign up appointment.

At Arrive we have a zero tolerance with rent arrears, if you have any concerns with your rent payments; we ask that you please notify your Property Manager as early as possible. If you fall into rent arrears, we are obligated to follow the procedures outlined in the Residential Rooming and Accommodation Act to collect the rent on behalf of our landlord.

The Entry Condition Report is provided to the ingoing resident/lease holders at the beginning of their tenancy start date. This report is created by the property manager doing a thorough inspection on the property and noting any defaults the property may have, with photographic evidence. As a resident you have 3 days to note any defaults with the property that have not already been mentioned on the Entry Condition Report and return it to the agent.

At the time of vacating the property you are provided with the Exit Condition Report, which is the same as the entry condition report provided by the property manager, for you to note any defaults with the property that were not previously noted or that may have occurred during the tenancy that is general wear and tear only.

Your first Routine Inspection is usually carried out within three (3) months of moving in. The inspection will take approximately 30 minutes to complete, if you are not home for the inspection our office will complete the inspection using our spare keys. The owner may also attend the inspections & our office will from time to time conduct drive by inspections of the property. We regret that it is not possible to re-arrange an inspection date or time as our inspections are booked into relevant areas. Furthermore, routine inspections will only be carried out Monday to Friday between 9.00am & 3.00pm. The main reason for routine inspection is to ensure all the fixtures are in good/working condition. The landlord also receives a report on how well you are keeping the property with regards to general cleanliness & tidiness.

As a resident under the Residential Tenancy ACT you are responsible to ensure the property is kept clean & tidy at all times. You are also responsible for reporting maintenance as soon as it is noticed to ensure we can resolve the problem as soon as possible. This can be done in writing using the Maintenance request forms we gave to you upon entering the property. These can be faxed, posted, emailed or hand delivered to the office.

Part of keeping the property clean & tidy means that you are also responsible for mowing, edging and garden maintenance on a regular basis and not just for the Routine Inspections.

On the lease agreement it notes all listed residents and the total number of approved residents/occupants allowed to reside at the property, only these people are permitted to reside at the property. Should a resident wish to vacate the property, the agent must be notified in writing as a matter of urgency – the owner will then make the decision on whether they allow the lease to be amended.

If another person (other than a listed occupant) wishes to reside at the property for a period longer than 4 weeks, you are required to seek permission from your agent.

The ingoing resident is required to submit an application form, this application is treated no different to any application and will be processed by the agent and then submitted to the lessor for their approval. If approved the ingoing resident will be entering into legally binding agreement and assumes the responsibility of maintaining the property and paying the rent.

A form 6 (Change of shared bond) is required to be signed and completed this time if the new resident is contributing towards the bond.

Once the resident has signed the lease agreement it becomes a legally binding agreement. By signing the agreement, the resident agrees to reside in that property and pay rent until the end of the agreement. Should you wish to vacate at the end of the lease you must provide a minimum of 2 weeks written notice using a Form 13 – Notice of Intention to Leave.

If the expiry date on the lease passes and a Form 12 – Notice to Leave or Form 13 – Notice of Intention to Leave hasn’t been issued/received and a new lease agreement hasn’t been signed your lease will become a Periodic Agreement (week to week) This means you can vacate the premises at anytime by providing two week’s notice in writing to the agent. It also means that the agent/lessor can ask you to vacate the property at anytime with 60 days notice in writing.

Should you decide to vacate the property at any time before the lease agreement end date this is a ‘break lease” situation. This means that once you have given us written notification we will re-list the property on the rental list/internet and will endeavour to secure a new resident as quickly as possible. You will be responsible for rent until such time as a new resident is secured and up to and including the day before they move in or until the expiry of the lease agreement whichever is sooner.

Once the Notice of Intention to Vacate – Form 13/ Form 12 – Notice to Leave has been received/issued the agent will post you a “Vacate Envelope”, in this you will find; bond refund form, cleaning check list, exit condition report, copy of the entry condition report, a vacating check list and a letter explaining the process of your vacate.

If your contact details change at any time during the tenancy – this includes phone numbers, email address’s & employment details, you must advise the agent immediately.

It is the residents responsibility to organise the connection of utilities (gas, electricity, telephone, internet, pay TV etc.) at the property and disconnect upon vacating. If you are responsible for water charges you will be advised upon signing the lease. Please note you will be invoiced accordingly and will have 30 days to pay the invoice.

It is the landlord’s responsibility to have the property insured, however this does not cover insurance for the resident’s belongings. The residents are advised to take their own contents insurance.
Making Changes to the Property

As a resident, you do not have the right to make changes to the property, if you are wanting to make changes (nails, hooks, paint, flooring, etc), this needs to be but in writing to the property manager for them to discuss the landlord. If approved the products, costs and colours must be agreed between all parties before any changes can be made.

If you have a pet, this needs to be declared on the application at the beginning of the tenancy. The type of approved pet/s and the approved number will be noted on the lease agreement. If the property is damaged in anyway by the pet/s this must be rectified by the resident at the residents cost. The Resident must have the property professionally treated internally & externally for fleas, and provide a receipt to the agent at the time of vacating.

Residents are to only park vehicles in designated areas. Please ensure cars or any vehicles are not parked on lawns, grass gardens etc. All cars at the property are required to be registered. In the case of flats, units or townhouses, it will state in the body corporate by laws further information on parking. Should any stains occur on the ground from the car, leaking or dripping the residents is required to attend to cleaning this.

It is a requirement in your tenancy agreement that you as the resident have full responsibility to maintain the yard, i.e.; watering, weeding, mowing and maintain any trees/shrubs, unless otherwise noted in the lease agreement.

It is important that once a maintenance issues has been noted, you inform the property manager in writing (maintenance request form, email, fax or letter) as a matter of urgency. Once the property manager has received the maintenance issue they will then contact the landlord to seek approval to have the necessary maintenance attended to. Once maintenance has been approved the property manager will organise the specific tradesperson to attend, the tradesperson will contact your direct to organise a time to carry out the maintenance.

It states on your tenancy agreement the details of approved contacts for emergency repairs. We ask that you always contact your property manager first, however if the issue occurs after hours and you cannot contact the property manager, you are permitted to contact the emergency contractors directly, this needs to be followed up in writing to the property manager on the next business day.

The legislation is specific about what constitutes an emergency repair and it’s important that you know that should the issue not be deemed an emergency, you will be responsible for the account.

The resident is required to take care and avoid damaging the property. If damage to the property does occur you are required to advise your property manager as soon as you are aware of it.

The bond is a security for the landlord against the property, once the resident has vacated the premises, the property manager has 3 business days to carry out their vacate inspection, once this has been done, the property manager will contact the resident to discuss how the inspection went.

If there is missed cleaning or other issues regarding the inspection, the agent will contact the resident and give them a time frame in which they can go back to the property and rectify these. The property manager will then conduct a re-inspection to determine whether the works was completed and the premises is up to standard. The bond will then be refunded accordingly If no issues are found at the vacate inspection the property manager will refund the bond accordingly.

It is a requirement under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 that smoke alarms are to be checked within 30 days prior to a new tenancy agreement commencing and lease renewal. At the smoke alarm check the contractor will check and clean the smoke alarm. The smoke alarm should never be removed by a resident. The residents are responsible for changing the batteries during the tenancy if they are flat. If the smoke alarm stops working please contact your property manager as a matter of urgency.

If you want to erect a pool/spa at the premises you are required to put a written request to your property manager and certain legal council requirements must be met. If there is a pool/spa at the property, you must not leave the fence open, nor store/leave objects around the pool/spa or against the fence which could be climbed upon. For more information, please contact your Property Manager.

We will hold your details on file in line with the Privacy Act and you can be assured that your information will not be given to a third party unless otherwise stated by yourself.

If the tenant falls more than 7 days behind in rent, the property manager/owner can issue a Notice to remedy breach (Form 11), giving them 7 days to pay the outstanding amount.

If the tenant pays the rent within the timeframe their agreement will continue. Keep in mind, any new rent may also be due during the breach process.