Real Estate & Managing Rental Property WA
Everything you need to know about the WA real estate market - how to start a lease, lodge a rental bond and more.
Get To Know The Rules & Regulations In Western Australia (WA) Before Renting Out Your Own Property
Many property owners prefer to cut out the real estate agent (and their fees) and simply self-manage their property themselves. Renting out your own property is certainly not rocket science, and can be an extremely rewarding experience (both financially and personally) but it is worthwhile getting the basics right so that you and your tenant are set up for success. You can also register for a demo of the RentBetter Platform and see how it can help you through the process
This article aims to provide readers with a quick reference guide on where to go and what to do when starting out.
- Know The Real Estate Market
- Pricing Your Property
- Starting a Lease
- Get Started With RentBetter
Know The Market
When preparing to rent out your own property, it is important to familiarise yourself with similar rental properties in your area. WA is a large geographic area and the property market can seem complex, so we have compiled a summary of 'Fast Facts' that will help you understand the rental landscape.
There were 2,474,410 people in WA as of the 2016 census, and here are the key figures to know:
- 50% female and 50% male
- Average weekly gross household income increased from $1,415 in 2011 to $1,595 in 2016
- 7% of the population is aged between 6-15 and only 14.0% is over 65
- Of occupied private dwellings in Western Australia: 28.3% rented, compared to 39.7% mortgaged and 28.5% owned outright
- Of occupied private dwellings in Western Australia, 79.1% were separate houses, 14.1% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 5.7% were flats or apartments and 0.7% were other dwellings.
- In Western Australia, of occupied private dwellings, 3.5% had 1 bedroom, 12.3% had 2 bedrooms and 37.8% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.3.
- The average household size was 2.6 people.
- In Western Australia, of all households, 72.7% were family households, 23.6% were single-person households and 3.8% were group households.
- In Western Australia, 31.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 38.9% had two registered motor vehicles and 21.5% had three or more registered motor vehicles.
Knowing The Right Time To Increase Rent
Most State governments have rules about when a landlord can increase the rent on their investment property. The restrictions only apply where there is an existing tenant in the property, so if you are looking to sign on a new tenant you can just change the asking rent when you advertise.
- Fixed-term lease: Cannot increase the rent during the fixed-term unless the terms of the lease specifically allow for it and define the amount (in this case, give tenant 60 days written notice)
- Periodic (continuing) Lease: Can increase the rent by giving at least 60 days' notice in writing but can do so only once in any 6 month period and not during the first six months of the tenancy
- Notice Form: Must use Form 10 or Form 11 to give notice
- Tenant’s rights: the tenant can apply to the Magistrates Court requesting a reduction or to argue against the proposed increase if they think it is excessive
Starting a Lease
Starting a lease typically consists of 4 key elements, which have slightly different names depending on which state you are operating in, but ultimately have a similar intent and outcome. The ‘big 4’ are;Starting a lease typically consists of 4 key elements:
Department of Commerce – Phone 1300 304 054
- Guide (click here) – Landlord and tenant guides for Western Australia
- Lease (click here) – Residential tenancy agreements
- Condition report (click here) – to be completed at the start of the tenancy
- Bond (click here) – All rental bonds for properties in WA must be lodged via the BondsOnline system
More information on lodging bonds in WA: All rental bonds for properties in WA must be lodged via the BondsOnline system.
1. Register for Bonds Online
The bond lodgement process in WA has been made a lot easier with the bonds online system. Follow this link to register your property, lease and tenant details through the local bond authority.
2. Complete bond lodgement form
Complete this bond lodgement form online and then send it to the tenant to be signed prior to the lease start date.
3. Lodge the bond
You will have to collect the bond money from your tenant directly by entering their bank account details on the last page of the bond lodgement form. The bond will then be Direct Debited from the given bank account and lodged with the Bond Administrator WA.
The bond will need to be lodged within 14 days of receiving it from the tenant.
How Can RentBetter.com.au help?
Of course, at RentBetter.com.au our aim is to make this a seamless, frictionless experience for you and your tenant by including the necessary documents and compliance into our process – you can click here to sign-up and get started.
RentBetter is designed to help you find and manage tenants using the RentBetter Platform. Our customers use RentBetter to advertise their property on the major property portals (Realestate.com.au and Domain.com.au), and our platform can help with enquiries, applications, tenant checks and lease documents to assist you in finding a high-quality tenant for your property.
The RentBetter platform can also help to onboard your tenant to your lease, and automate the process of rent collection, tracking, receipts, maintenance, and reporting.
