Real Estate & Managing Rental Property TAS
Everything you need to know about the TAS real estate market - how to start a lease, lodge a rental bond and more.
Get To Know The Rules & Regulations In Tasmania (TAS) 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. 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 509,965 people in NT as at the last census date in 2016, and here are the key figures to know:
- 51.1% were female and 48.9% male
- Average weekly gross household income increased from $948 in 2011 to $1,100 in 2016
- 9% of population aged between 15-6 and only 19.4% over 65
- Of occupied private dwellings in Tasmania – 27.3% rented, compared to 33.5% mortgaged and 35.7% owned outright
- Of occupied private dwellings in Tasmania, 87.6% were separate houses, 5.8% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 5.7% were flats or apartments and 0.6% were other dwellings.
- In Tasmania, of occupied private dwellings 4.7% had 1 bedroom, 20.5% had 2 bedrooms and 50.3% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.
- The average household size was 2.3 people
- In Tasmania, of all households, 67.1% were family households, 29.6% were single person households and 3.3% were group households.
- In Tasmania, 35.1% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 35.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 19.4% had three or more registered motor vehicles.
Knowing The Right Time To Increase Rent
Most State government 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.
Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading
- Fixed-term lease: Cannot increase the rent during the fixed-term unless the terms of the lease specifically allow for it (in this case, give tenant 60 notice in writing)
- Periodic (continuing) Lease: Can increase the rent by giving at least 60 days notice in writing but can do so only once in any 12 month period and not during the first 12 months of tenancy
- Notice Form: no specific form but must be in writing and specify the amount of the rent increase and the date from which it is payable
- Tenant’s rights: the tenant can apply to Residential Tenancy Commissioner if they think the rent increase is unreasonable
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:
Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading – Phone 1300 65 44 99
- Guide (click here) – The Rental Guide for landlord and tenant in Tasmania
- Lease (click here) – Ask us for a copy of a template residential tenancy agreement
- Condition report (click here) – to be completed at the start of the tenancy
- Bond (click here) – Bonds may be lodged in person or via mail using a paper-based form
More information on lodging bonds in TAS:
All bonds in Tasmania are to be managed online through MyBond.
1. Register
You will need to register for MyBond by clicking here, and once you have signed up you will be able to manage your bond online. Both you and tenant will need to create an account.
2. Create the Bond
Once the bond details are completed, the tenant will be notified by MyBond and request payment. The tenant will be able to pay the bond directly to the authority through their MyBond account.
All bonds must be held by the Rental Deposit Authority. The RDA holds the money until the end of the tenancy when the registered persons claim it back.Once the tenant has paid, you should receive a Bond Receipt Number which should be recorded in order to manage your bond in the future.
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.
