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Hi Joe,
First question – did you sand back, properly seal and prepare the wall before using a mould / moisture resistant bathroom paint?
If no to any of these questions then do a repaint – make sure everything is prepared properly, you use a seal and proper paint on the walls and ceiling. If you repaint the walls you will likely have to do the ceiling too as this will start to peel and crack as well if the walls have already started.
Proper ventilation is key too – how old is the exhaust fan that is in there? Perhaps a new one is required? If you are getting a new one put in make sure it is connected to the light switch so when renting the property out tenants can't have a shower with out the exhaust fan on unless they want to shower in the dark
.Re-tiling shouldn't be required – perhaps get a handyman in to do the painting job as they often get jobs like this one!
Good luck!!
I know in VIC there has recently been an increase in "flat fee selling" perhaps look around for an agent who has a flat fee, no percentage rates, to help minimise the cost while getting a good price. Also, see if there are any independent agencies, sometimes these agencies are cheaper as they don't have to fork out for franchise fees from every sale
.Hey guys, You can't REQUIRE a tenant to pay more than one month in advance in VIC, however, if they WANT to pay the 12 months up front there is no problem with you accepting it.
If a tenant signs on to a fortnightly lease then you can still ask for a month up front (or four weeks which will be far easier to keep track of payment dates) and if they are on a weekly lease then you can ask for no more than 2 weeks up front.
Now days when you go to VCAT for rent arrears and a tenant is put on a payment plan, the order always states that the payment plan is to stay in place until the tenants rent is up to date and in advance
.You can't take a tenant for rent arrears until they are 14 full days in arrears so a lot of landlords find that tenants are the full required period in advance with them not being able to do a lot about it unless you want to go to tribunal over a general dispute for a compliance order.
Hope this helps!
PS – everything I've mentioned comes back to VIC laws, I don't know about other states as it does vary.
I'm always reading and not always posting
, as property managment is my area of expertise (in VIC anyway) there isn't always a query I can help with, I enjoy reading and learning though .I must admit these make me laugh a little – my recent favourite was "outdoor entertainment area which soaks up the evening sun"
I'm a PM and I understand needing to advertise the properties in a way that will get people through but I tend to use a bullet point approach listing the details of the house e.g.
*3 bedrooms with built in robes
* master bedroom with full ensuite
*2 separate living areas
etc. etc. etc.I find it very hard to get too …… flowery with my descriptions! Some times I wish I could because some of them are…. well… "amazing and exactly what you have been searching for" !!!!
Just in regards to how many properties a property manager can manage (sounds like a tongue twister), this varies depending on the area you manage in. I'm based in Carrum Downs, near Frankston in VIC. In and around Frankston I think that for a property manager to do a truely excellent job they shouldn't have more than 130 properties to manage on their own. Often though in this area they have closer to 250 properties to manage, it is an area which attracts a lower rent than closer to the city, lower management fees to compete with the 20 other real estate agencies on the block and so the companies can not afford to hire enough property managers to ensure the job is well done. When you move closer to the city and work in an area with higher rents that attracts a higher quality tenant / landlord, the amount of properties that can be managed well goes up (I previously worked in Mentone and so experienced this first hand).
In essence, this question is somewhat like, how long is a piece of string??
I'm a PM and actually went through this process with clients too! I work in an area where all PM's have a bad name and I wanted to stand out from the rest and make sure I was on the right track to keeping all of my clients really, really happy with my service! Obviously communitaction is important but I think the thing it really comes down to is be pro-active, not reactive. It's easy when in property managment to get into a situation where you are just reacting to everything which is happening, if you can get to a point where you are being pro-active half of the problems will be solved before they arise and you'll have some very happy landlords
. Just my thoughts on it!Look around for a good agent! Sometimes an agent a little out of area will do a better job than the locals, you said it was a small surfing town? Local agents may feel they don't have to fight for the work if it is isolated.
I am a little confused though, VCAT claim of $20,000? Max you can claim at VCAT is $10,000 anything more and it is a matter for small claims court.
If you can prove that the agent has been negligent then yes, you should receive some compensation from the agent. You obviously keep all letters and emails, is one sent after each inspection? Could you not talk to CAV about the time it would take for the damage to occur and compare that to the dates on your letters and emails? Have a trade attend and write up a report stating that it would take longer for that damage to occur than the time elapsed since the last inspection, forward that to your PM. See how you go from there
.The current agent should most definately not have started trying to find you a tenant without a signed authority, I myself will not do anything until an authority is returned. That piece of paper gives them the go ahead to do these things!!
What sites are they advertising on? How are the photos, you say it is inline with other properties but is the presentation inline with the other properties??? when you say it is inline with others does that mean that others in the block are currently available? If so how long have the other properties in the block been vacant? Are there several agents working in that block or only the one? If you're asking the same as everyone else there but the other properties have been vacant for over 3 weeks because they're asking too much then being inline with them won't help!!!
Let us know how you go !
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