There are several aspects to Property Management and if you ever have any questions you are more than welcome to reach out to our PM department.
Below are a little overview of some of the most commonly asked questions for landlords and tenants;
Upon securing your management, we will discuss your ideal marketing date as well as the date your property is going to be available for a tenant to move in. We will then discuss organising a professional photographer to come through and take photos of your investment which will increase the appeal to a quality tenant. Marketing to our internal Ray White database, as well as promoting to leading websites such as realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and onthehouse.com.au will provide you as much exposure as possible, giving you shorter days on market with a selection of quality tenants.
Yes we do! Tenants are asked to apply using our online application programme called 2Apply. This requires them to fill in as much information on their application as possible, including rental/living history, current employment, personal references as well as a little story about them. They are also required to submit 100 points of ID to verify who they are, including pay slips/bank statements and photo ID. Using this online system allows their references to submit an emailed reference straight away, we will then generally phone select references to discuss further and/or verify the reference did infact come from them. We also recommend our tenants to do their own database checks and submit this with their reference, however we also have access to check this as agents for a small fee.
The owner will always make their selection of tenant based upon the information summarised by the agent. We will do all the leg work for you, obtaining references and information, then summarise all applications to you for consideration. We will always talk you through the applications, so we are able to answer your queries or concerns straight away with the information provided.
You leave the rest to us. As we have a signed management agreement from you, we are authorised to let and manage your investment on your behalf. This means that we will draw up & execute the lease agreement with the tenant on your behalf, lodge the tenant bond and sign off on the condition of the home using an initial inspection report and subsequent photos documenting this.
Absolutely! We will always conduct an initial inspection report prior to your tenant moving into the premises. This is a thorough report of the home inside and out, and we also take photos for our records – we can take up to 800 photos at the home to ensure all aspects are documented! We will conduct routine inspections throughout the tenancy every 12 weeks – if we are unhappy with the presentation of the home we will reinspect where necessary (every 28 days in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act). At the end of a tenancy, we will conduct a final inspection which is utilising the initial inspection report and photos, and ensuring that the home has been returned to its original condition – taking into account fair wear and tear.
All these inspections are documented on your online PropertyMe owner portal, and accessible at any time!
We will disburse your funds to you twice a month – on the 15th and the 30/31st of every month (or the last working day if these dates fall on a weekend). On the day of disbursement you will receive a detailed statement from us which will outline money in, money out and the final payment to you. It will also include a copy of any invoices paid on your behalf during that disbursement period.
At the end of every financial year, you will received a detailed statement outlining all the ingoings and outgoings for the last financial year – very handy for your accountant.
Of course! To make it easy at tax time, we can redirect any of your accounts to our office for payment. We highly recommend that the water rates comes to our office so we can invoice your tenants as soon as possible for their portion of the account. We can pay council rates, gardening bills, Revenue SA accounts, insurances, anything you need.
Unfortunately our state legislation does not allow us to change the SA Water account into a tenants name, it must remain in the owners name. The tenant is liable for their water usage & quarterly supply charge adjusted from the commencement of their tenancy, and if there are any other parts to the SA Water account (IE; sewerage levy) then the owner is responsible for this portion. We recommend having the accounts come to our office for payment before the due date using your rental funds, and we invoice your tenants at the same time as paying the account for them to reimburse you.
We are firm but fair with our rent & water arrears, as we understand that sometimes situations arise that are out of tenants control. They get a friendly email from us on day 1 of arrears, and after this they get some form of communication every 2 days as a reminder. We are in constant contact with landlords during the arrears process, and are checking daily to ensure that arrears are caught up and managed regularly. If landlords aren’t receiving their normal mid or end of month disbursement, we will communicate this with you prior to the disbursement. We ensure that our communication is open and honest with both parties.
Yes you can, we have a selection of reliable trades that we have created a business relationship with over the years but this isn’t to say that you have to use them. When maintenance is reported, it is always discussed with you first on how to proceed. At this time, you can advise us of your preferred trades to attend, we can then send them a work order with tenant contact details for them to liase direct with the tenant. You are also welcome to attend to the maintenance yourself. We run a cloud-based program that keeps your portal up to date with jobs/maintenance and shows you what stage it is at.
Absolutely. You will need to have building insurance for your premises (unless you are a strata titled unit, where there will be building insurance through your corporation) and we highly recommend Landlord Protection Insurance for any tenant-related events. Click here to view more information on insurance.
Of course you can! We would love to help you with this. You will need to check on what your terms are on your current management agreement with the agent – we can help with clarification on this. You will then need to give notice in writing to your current agent. Once you have given this notice, we can handle the rest! You can put your feet up, knowing your property is in safe hands with our PM department.
That is great news! We will help you with your search for a rental property every step of the way. Firstly we recommend submitting an enquiry on the property, this will then pop you automatically into our database and set you against the property. Once there are open inspection times available, we ask that you register for the open inspection time that suits you and come along to the open. We have an office policy that we like all our applicants to view the property before signing a lease so this is your opportunity to see if you really love it!
In the meantime, you can submit an application online using our 2Apply program. Click here to view more information on how to apply.
Firstly, congratulations! And welcome on board to Ray White Morphett Vale! So once you are successful, we require a deposit equivalent to one weeks rent to be transferred into our account 24 hours after verbal confirmation. This secures your tenancy and will be taken off the first two weeks rent you require to collect the keys. We will also draw up your tenancy agreement and either email this to you for signing or meet with you in person. We also then recommend to get your utilities connection sorted – we can assist you with this. We will talk you through any queries or issues you may have in the meantime.
The bond amount is equivalent to 6 weeks rent for a property $250pw and over, and 4 weeks rent for a property under $250pw. There are two options for payment of the bond – this can be done via a transfer of your funds into our trust account, or utilising the government services of SA Housing (as a guarantee). Once a bond is paid to us, we lodge this with Consumer & Business Services who hold the bond in their trust account until a refund is submitted – we do not hold the bond in our account.
Firstly there will be an initial inspection carried out on the property which is conducted prior to your lease commencing. This report is a thorough report of both inside and outside of the property and also comes with supporting photos. This inspection is then provided to you on your lease commencement day, and you will have 14 days to return the initial inspection report with your comments back to us – in the event that you do not return the document, it is assumed you accept the condition of the home as the agent has reported it. Remember, two eyes over the property is better than one and this document is used at the end of your tenancy for any dispute resolution.
During your tenancy, periodic routine inspections will be carried out every 12 weeks. A report with photos is generated at each inspection and sent to you for your records, we will also address any concerns with you and these inspections are your opportunity to report non-urgent maintenance.
At the end of your tenancy there will be an outgoing (or vacate) inspection which is utilising the initial inspection report provided to you at the commencement of your tenancy. We use this document to ensure the home is returned to its original condition, taking into consideration fair wear & tear for the duration of your tenancy.
We ask that all urgent maintenance comes through to our office as soon as practical so we can organise the necessary trades within a reasonable timeframe. This includes items such as no hot water, electricity issues, plumbing blockages etc.
All non-urgent maintenance can be reported using your Tenant Portal – this allows you to submit as much information as possible as well as attach photos for our records. Click here to access your Tenant Portal.
You can also leave the non-urgent maintenance for the next routine inspection so that we can inspect and assist where possible, and take photos for the owner/trade.
Yes, in accordance with your lease agreement our tenants are required to pay all water usage & supply charge costs adjusted for their tenancy period. When you commence your lease, we will take a water meter reading and this will be used to calculate the first water bill that is issued to us from SA Water.
Water bills will remain in the landlords name and be issued to our office from SA Water. These arrive in our office every March, June, September and December. When we invoice the tenant, they will receive a copy of the SA Water bill for their records, however we ask that all payments come direct to our office as we pay the SA Water account in full from the landlords rental funds – you are simply reimbursing the landlord for your portion of the account.
We will provide you with our banking details at the commencement of your tenancy with Ray White Morphett Vale and you will use these details for the duration of the tenancy, to pay rent, water, bond or any other invoices that may be issued to you. You will be provided with a unique reference number associated with your tenancy which we recommend saving into your banking details.
Short answer – yes. You will need to connect electricity, gas, internet and/or insurance into your own name. Water is the only utility that will remain in the landlords name. We highly recommend taking out contents insurance for your belongings as the landlords insurance does not cover for anything tenant-related.
We understand that people’s life circumstances change, and are sometimes out of your control. Just keep in contact with us. We have a firm but fair approach to arrears and are open to communication with our tenants to work together. Communicating with us will look favourably on your rental history and we are also then able to convey this to your landlord for peace of mind. Pick up the phone, we are here to help you.
Firstly this will depend on the type of lease you are on. For more information on vacating, please click here.
The bond that you paid at the commencement of your tenancy is lodged with Consumer & Business Services. A bond will not be refunded until the tenancy has ended, the property is vacant and keys have been returned. We then need to conduct a final inspection – only then can a bond refund be actioned. Both parties (agent and tenant) need to approve the bond refund and if there is a dispute on the amounts then it will proceed to mediation through the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT).