These tenant tips are provided by Chloe Cleaver from Tim Manning
Look up your tenants on Facebook and Google to find out more about them. If they’re not private, of course.
Be careful not to make friends with your tenants. It’s important to hold a good relationship but becoming friends may cause for favours to be asked and one thing often leads to another.
A quick tip to see how tidy your tenant is – check their car out. If the car is kept tidy, most likely your house will be too.
To make sure you and your tenant are both aware of what you want done before them leaving, make a list. A month or so before they leave, give them a list of everything that needs to be cleaned before they leave. They might not think to clean things like light switches, skirting boards etc. And anything cleaning they can’t do will come off the bond.
Do a thorough reference check when looking for new tenants. Double check that their references are exactly who they say they are and not a friend playing the part.
Take photos of your property so when a tenancy is up, you know for sure if any damage was caused by the tenants or not. Request they do the same if they notice any damage. Then keep the photos on hand. Make sure to do this every time a new tenant moves in.
Also, take photos of your tenant if they will allow. Otherwise request a photo or scanned copy of their license.
Do regular check-ups of your property to ensure all is going well. Be sure to give your tenant at least 48 hours’ notice though.
Respond to tenant requests for fixes promptly. The longer they’re left, the more possible damage.
It is wise to compare the weekly rental rates against your similar properties in your area, see what prices the other landlords have set for their rental rate. Find out more about rental rates by looking at the latest suburb breakdown reports by asking your real estate agent.