The general rule of thumb is that all properties built since 1997 are compliant and have the appropriate insulation but if you want to be sure, you can check your R or EER rating in your sale contract. If you are still unsure, you can get an inspection report from our recommended specialists.

Steps to check if your property is compliant:

1. Check your contract for an R value of R2 or above

2. If your rating is lower than R2 we need to get you a ceiling insulation quote for an upgrade to level R5

3. If your rating is above R2 we will only need a certificate on file

4. If your property is a heritage property or falls under another exception a certificate to state this will be needed

Check out our guide, it outlines everything you need to know and do.

There is a bit involved in finding and setting up a new tenant in your property. As a result there is a combination of hard costs (costs we pay to external suppliers) and service costs (for the work we do).

Here’s an overview of the costs involved and what they cover.

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Advertising fee: $379 (inc GST)

To ensure maximum exposure, we typically advertise your property for lease across the 3 top real estate portals: Allhomes, Domain and  Realestate.com. We’ll also publish the listing on our own website.

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Letting fee: 7.7 days rent (inc GST)

To ensure we get the right tenant into your property and make sure they’re set up and feel at home we have a multiple specialists in our team work on various parts of this process. These activities include conducting open homes and managing enquiry. We’ll then vet applications, this includes chasing references, reviewing payslips and ensuring the percentage of rent verse income is manageable for the prospective tenant. We’ll then work with you to make the best possible choice of tenant, put together the tenancy documents, execute the lease agreement, and make sure the bond is lodged. Finally we’ll onboard your tenant by ensuring they are all over everything they need to know about your property and the processes and systems that will help them look after it and make them feel at home.

Remember, with any of our fees, you only pay when rent is being paid by a tenant. So there are no out of pocket expenses for you.

Yes, you can propose a rent increase over CPI if the tenant agrees in writing to the increase amount. The agreement is the part that can get tricky. Our advice is to negotiate where possible to find an outcome that works for both yourself and the tenant. It costs money every time a tenant vacates and if you have a good, long-term tenant, a dispute that results in them leaving will cost you more than you’d earn through a slight increase.  

Stick to CPI and the market as a guide for your rent increases. If you increase the rent excessively, and the tenant takes you to tribunal, the tribunal will rule in the tenant’s favour. And listen to and take your Property Managers advice. It's their job to provide guidance on what you should and can increase the rent by. They’ll make recommendations that will ensure you get maximum returns, and the tenant remains happy and in your property.

The landlord is responsible for this. If they are not attended to when needed, it can be costly. We’ve seen landlords pay thousands of dollars fixing leaks and flooding caused by leaves that have clogged up gutters and drains left unaddressed. Often landlords’ insurance won’t cover the costs for this kind of damage if you can’t demonstrate that you have been maintaining the property adequately. The best time of year to action this is July or August when the leaves have all fallen. We can sort it out for you, let your property manager know.

As a landlord, you are responsible for ensuring the smoke alarms meet the legislative requirements.  

In other words, they need to be in good working order. You can ensure this is the case by getting annual smoke alarm testing done. We’ll sort it out for you. Find out more and next steps here.

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The landlord is responsible for paying to set up any physical installation of services (e.g. water, electricity, gas, telephone line). The landlord is also responsible for paying the annual supply charge associated with the supply of water or sewerage. The tenant is responsible for setting up an account in their name and ongoing costs for services such as gas, electricity and internet.

No, we don’t charge to pay the bills for your investment property. It’s a complimentary service and we’re happy to take care of this for you. All you need to do to have us take over the management and payment of your bills is to fill out the redirect forms located here.

We need all of the info filled out on the forms, but most importantly we must have your Icon and Revenue office account numbers. We can’t request to have the invoices sent to us for payment without having this information. You can find the account numbers on a previous bill you’ve been sent, or if you can’t find one of those, simply contact them and they’ll be able to provide you with your account number.

Here are their website contact pages so you can get in touch:

Icon: https://www.iconwater.com.au/About-Us/Contact-Us.aspx  

Revenue office: https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/contact-us  

Once you’ve filled out all of the information on the forms, simply email them to your property manager. We’ll sort the rest from there.  
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There’s just one thing to note before you fill out the form - We cannot pay your bills of you if you have requested mid-month payments, we can only offer this service on end of month payments.

Here are two other things you need to do and know when you hand over your bill payments to us.

1. If you have direct debits set up for these bills, make sure you cancel them ASAP.
2. If you are receiving bills after you have provided us with the forms (particularly in the first quarter after the redirect request) it means that the redirect hasn't been applied yet or in time for that particular bill. Please email the bill to us to make payment.
   

There are regular bills that will come in that you are responsible for paying as a landlord. Knowing what they are and when they’ll be coming will help you better manage your finances so you can be all over what expenses are related to your investment property. Here is quick checklist of regular bills you’ll incur costs on as a landlord and their typical frequency. This is a good checklist that you can input the actual amounts against and get your annual investment property budget together.

Being able to get back to you as soon as possible is important to us.  But we might be out and about onboarding tenants, holding exhibitions, or at meetings. We may have an urgent maintenance issue that is causing damage to property or hardship to a tenant. Daily, we need to juggle what's most important on that day and time and action that one first. That’s how we make sure we are looking after everyone.  

This means that if you have contacted us, it could take us up to 48 hours to get back to you if it's not urgent. Pretty much anything that is not related to an urgent maintenance issue, is not urgent.  

For anything related to urgent maintenance issues, we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.  

In the unlikely scenario that you haven't heard back from us in those timeframes, feel free to get in touch. We may not have received your message.  

Otherwise, sit tight. We'll get you back, we promise.

If you have opted for mid-month payments, we’ll disperse your payment the next business day after the 15th day of the month. If you have opted for end of month payments, we’ll disperse your payment the next business day after the last day of the month.

On the same day that we disperse the payment to you, you’ll also receive your statement which will outline the payment amount and any deductions for bills etc. You’ll likely see the payment in your nominated bank account within 3 business days after the payment has been dispersed, not the day you receive your statement.

Need help reading your statements? Check out our guide below.

Management fees, money in, money out, folio numbers - what does it all mean! We know that end of month and year statements contain a lot of different terms and numbers, and can sometimes be hard to decipher. That's why we've put together a "how-to guide" on reading your statements. You'll learn everything you need to know so you are all over the running costs of your investment property.

It’s crucial that as a landlord, you’re well informed about your responsibilities for maintaining the property, including knowing what constitutes an urgent maintenance issue, the process once your tenant has reported maintenance and things to consider when it comes to choosing a landlords insurance policy.

Modifications can be an important part of making your house feel like a home to your tenant. As a landlord, you need to be informed as to the kind of modifications your tenant might request and what happens to modifications when your tenant vacates. Understand more by reading our modifications guide.

Maintenance responsibilities can vary greatly from property to property, depending on size, outdoor space and special conditions such as pets. Our guide to property maintenance from a tenants perspective covers all this and more.

Learn more about how we make sure we not only find a tenant, but find the right tenant for your property, including more about how we work with you to ensure you have absolute peace of mind, in our handy guide.