Posted by admin on 5 April 2011
Any time a bond is taken for a residential property in Queensland the law requires those funds to be lodged with the Residential Tenancies Authority. As at December 31st the RTA was holding a whopping $550million from 454,000 tenancies. So it’s probably no surprise there’s more than 22,000 unclaimed amounts for bonds that the RTA’s tried to refund.
Bond refunds to individuals and companies are put into this group when the cheque remains uncashed after 15 months, and you can check if you’re on the list by visiting the website.
Out of interest the RTA invests a big chunk of those rental bonds through the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) in line with its own investment strategy. The income from those investments funds much of the activities of the RTA.
Tags: Bond Money, bond refunds, rental bond Queensland, Residential Tenancies Authority, tenants Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 January 2010
What do you do if you’re a tenant worried about some damage you’ve done to your rental home. You’re pretty confident you won’t get any bond back. Do you, A: give the agent a call to discuss? B: attempt to repair the place? or C: burn the house to the ground?!
Incredibly one Rockhampton tenant recently chose ‘C’ in an attempt to destroy evidence of his damage!
According to a report from EBM Landlord Insurance it’s alleged the tenant told a neighbour he was going to burn down the property because there was no chance of his bond being returned. Just hours later, neighbours heard smoke alarms and spotted smoke billowing from the house. Emergency services quickly extinguished the fire – luckily with little damage being caused.
The man claimed the fire was caused by his earlier attempts to burn his ex-housemate’s possessions, and he had been asleep in the property at the time – something fire-fighters could confirm, as they had to wake him up while the blaze was brought under control. The tenant pleaded guilty to wilful damage and received a fine in addition to one month’s custody served earlier, and was also ordered to pay $1,689 restitution.
We didn’t hear what happened to his bond!
Tags: bond refunds, landlord insurance, rental bond Queensland, tenant damage
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 18 January 2010
Our inner-city’s rental pool shrank again in 2009, confirmed by new data on Brisbane’s housing market. The Residential Tenancies Authority last week released their December quarter stats and the news for tenants isn’t good: the inner city has “lost” almost 500 homes.
First home buyers bought up rental properties and owner-residents continued the trend to move in from Brisbane’s outer ‘burbs.
These buyers have booted out tenants and without any new apartment projects completed the rental homes haven’t been replaced. When you have 500 homes disappear in 3 months it means tenants wanting to be amongst the action and lifestyle of the city now have less to choose from.
The RTA track all rental bonds and across greater Brisbane the total reduced by 538 in the December quarter. The inner city suburbs accounted for 490 of them.
And there’s no big additions to the rental pool on the horizon.
There’s just one big tower under construction in the CBD but it’s at least 2 years away. Across the inner city we have a couple of apartment buildings nearing completion but many of their sales have already been made to owner-residents. It’s going to be well into 2011 before we see any worthwhile increase in supply.
Despite this we’d suggest last week’s controversial Australian Property Monitors forecast for an 8% rent rise in Brisbane during 2010 is not something landlords should ‘take to the bank’.
December’s stats showed a 2 bedroom inner city apartment was now $440 per week, with that median rent not changing since March 2009. The RTA includes the CBD and surrounding 20 suburbs in their “city inner” category, and that area now has just 29,294 rental homes.
Read more on the latest stats on Brisbane median rents.
Tags: first home buyers, rental bond Queensland, rental supply Brisbane, Residential Tenancies Authority
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 14 May 2009
Okay so students, pets, children, males, teenagers, early 20’s – all cop the short end of the stick when applying for rental property. Some agents do discriminate rather than judge an application on its merits.
And while there are anti-discrimination laws, anti-sexism laws, anti-ageism laws etc, the unfortunate reality is that agents, by virtue of the law, do not need to give a reason why someone has been placed in the property over someone else.
The interesting thing about the executive market this year is that many of the higher-end properties are being snapped up by overseas students with very little/no rental history who are here on large government grants. And unfortunately there are very few corporate execs around, so landlords haven’t had the choice of tenants they’ve had in the past.
So, what’s the best way of dealing with this?
Well firstly if the rent is over $500 per week ($700 after July 1st 2009) you can nominate any bond you like! So take 6/8 weeks rent instead of just 4. Think outside the box – could you include a cleaner in the rent so there is another pair of eyes watching over the property?
I write this in genuine fear that I’ll be slapped with some sort of anti discrimination suit, but the fact is I’m trying to educate people that students/pets/children/young males can make absolutely fantastic tenants, just as females can be dreadful tenants. So don’t discount them but in order to be worry free just come up with a way to ensure that you’re protecting yourself while still giving someone their chance. They deserve it!
Tags: Brisbane executive property, rental bond Queensland, renting to pets Brisbane, student tenants Brisbane, tenancy applications Queensland, tenant marketing Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords | No Comments »
Any time a bond is taken for a residential property in Queensland the law requires those funds to be lodged with the Residential Tenancies Authority. As at December 31st the RTA was holding a whopping $550million from 454,000 tenancies. So it’s probably no surprise there’s more than 22,000 unclaimed amounts for bonds that the RTA’s tried to refund.
