A big question that many landlords and tenants have when owning or renting a property is “can a landlord sell a property during a lease?” The short and simple answer is yes.

Property owners are well within their rights to sell their property whenever they so wish. However, as a landlord it’s important you remember that you must stand by the lease that your tenants have signed. So what does this mean if you’re looking to sell your property to prospective buyers?

You can sell your property tomorrow if you wanted, but your tenant’s legal rights mean that they retain the right to continue residing in the rental property – even if you sell up. Basically, provisions are in place that means the new property owner will become their landlord until their lease is up – or if the lease allows for eviction upon sale.

Check your Lease Before Selling

A tenancy agreement lease is a legally binding contract. They are drawn up and signed by all parties to help ensure that there are as few problems in the future as possible. They protect the landlord by ensuring a minimum tenancy term is in place with acknowledgement of rental prices, payment dates and general conditions being agreed to by the tenant.

For the tenant, it ensures that rental prices cannot be raised without warning and that the property they rent is safe to call home. Without breaking the lease terms, there are very few reasons for eviction – even if you are selling it.

In some leases, it’s not uncommon to find a clause governing what happens in the event of a sale. This can make it easier to ask tenants to leave, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. A property manager will be able to find ways that keep everyone involved happy, usually acting as a mediator. However, the law is put into place for a reason and trying to force tenants out who are protected by a lease could land you in hot water.

Think From a Tenants Point of View

Telling your tenants about your intention to sell the property should be your first priority. Transparency and honesty can help prevent unpleasant situations from occurring. As the property owner, you don’t have to worry about finding somewhere else to live. Put yourself in your tenant’s shoes for a moment.

Imagine you’re browsing the local property listings, looking for a place for friends to move to nearby. You’re awfully scrolling through and suddenly you see your home for sale. Nobody told you about it and now you’re starting to panic. Do I have to move out immediately? What about my deposit? Is this even allowed? These are the questions that will be racing through the tenant mind – and yes, they are likely to be angry.

Before you even take that first step of listing it in a real estate site, talk to your tenants or have a property manager do it for you. Alleviate their concerns, answer their questions and let them know that they are safe in their rental property. If you do this, they will be far more willing to assist with the process rather than make your property as unsellable as possible.

What Happens During the Property Selling Process?

As we mentioned above, getting the tenant on side by keeping them informed is a priority. Trying to show prospective buyers around a property that is inhabited by tenants can be hard – and it can also be disruptive to the tenants overall quality of life. Can a tenant refuse to allow viewers to enter? No. Can they prevent you from showing it every day? Yes.

Here are a few simple rules to be aware of to keep things running smoothly and with as few issues as possible.

• As the property owner, you can request that the property is to be kept in good condition – as agreed to in the lease. However, you can’t request that the tenants make any changes or efforts to make the property more sellable.
• Tenants are to be given sufficient notice of your intention to show the property to potential buyers. However, you’re required to keep weekly showings to a reasonable level – meaning unless the tenant agrees, you can’t show people around every day of the week.
• You legally need to make potential owners aware of the fact that there are tenants currently in the property. They also need to know that once they purchase the property, the lease still stands and they become the new landlord.
• You can notify potential buyers that the lease can be terminated after the sale has gone through – but they must abide by the contract’s current terms and conditions. This typically means providing notice of either 30 or 60 days to leave the property.

So It’s Possible to Sell a Property During a Lease?

Absolutely! At the end of the day, you are well within your rights to do as you wish with your property. As long as you make it clear to potential buyers that you currently have tenants in situ and navigate tenant anxiety with respect, all is good.

It’s also good etiquette to let your tenants know of your intentions before advertising it for sale. This way, they’ll likely be much more cooperative and willing to assist you rather than go out of their way to hold things up.

If you use a property manager, they’ll take care of all the small details and keep tenants informed throughout the process so you can focus on your next steps in life.

Make the Change – Get Leased

Keeping on top of rental property sales, laws, regulations and codes of conduct can be tricky for many landlords. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming sale of your property and the best way to handle current tenants, contact Leased today.

For more great info and advice covering rental properties, property management and building your property portfolio, check out our additional industry insights. Everything you need to know in one smart little place.

Discover the difference. Make the change and switch to Leased today.

As a new landlord, or perhaps someone who hasn’t dealt with property management services before, you may be wondering ‘what does a property manager do?’ The easiest way to answer this is to take a closer look at the services provided and what to expect.

But to answer the question for those short on time, a property manager is a person hired to handle the maintenance, everyday running and administration of rental properties on behalf of the property owner.

For those with a little bit of time to spare, we’ll answer the question in depth below.

What is a property manager?

Property managers are specialists in real estate rentals. Unlike sales, their priorities aren’t to sell your property, but to maximise your ability to rent it out at the best rental prices – helping not only protect your investment; but to grow it.

Typically, the bulk of their tasks revolve around:

• Finding and screening suitable tenants
• Marketing the property to a larger audience
• Keeping rates competitive while covering overheads and taxes
• Maintaining the property on the landlord behalf
• Setting and collecting rental payments
• Resolving any tenant issues on the landlord’s behalf
• Covering those all-important rental laws and changes
• Ensuring the landlord’s investment is optimised

What do property management companies do?

A good property management company will be able to rent out your property reasonably quickly. An excellent one will do the same – but work to keep tenants in place for as long as possible. It’s no secret that happy tenants stick around for longer and are often prepared to pay more when they feel comfortable and secure in a property.

In total, there are five key areas that property management covers. Each of them works in perfect harmony with the next to provide a well-rounded service. The aim is to ensure landlords don’t have to deal with managing tenant issues, rent payments and maintenance and tenants are attended to when they need it.

Rental collection

Not only will a property manager perform a survey to understand local rental prices, property types and demand, they will also optimise your listing for maximum revenue. The idea is to discover that golden number. Low enough to attract potential tenants, but high enough to generate sufficient secondary revenue for the landlord.

As part of the process, property managers will also set up a payment system to collect rents as they are due. The payment dates are usually determined by the associated monthly expenses incurred by the property, such as local rates, taxes and insurance, etc. Late fees are often attached, encouraging tenants to pay up on time.

Tenant Screening

In a perfect world, every tenant would have an impeccable credit history and fantastic references. However, the sad truth is that many people don’t. Property managers use modern technology and access to data to verify a tenant’s past rental behaviours – minimising the potential risk of missed rent payments.

Screening also typically included references from past landlords. These give a better understanding of the tenant’s reliability not only with making rent payments on time but also how they treated the property. Chasing unpaid rent can be time-consuming. A property manager will take care of the legalities, helping to keep your finances flowing with as little disruption as possible.

Property maintenance

Property managers are responsible for keeping properties in a habitable and safe condition. They take care of the physical management of the rental property, ensuring that any emergency repairs and regular maintenance are completed properly and on time.

Depending on your requirements, they also include tenant responsibilities into the tenancy agreement. This could be that tenants are responsible for maintaining gardens or communal spaces, outlining who is responsible for what.

You can also expect your property manager to take action in the event of accidental or malicious damage; taking the appropriate steps to resolve any issues with the property itself. It can take a lot of time and effort to find trustworthy and reliable tradespeople and maintenance staff. Let a property manager do it for you so you can focus on other important life events.

Investment protection

Your property is an investment. And every investment needs proper care and attention. Accounting and budgeting are two vital areas to pay close attention to. Firstly, because financial responsibilities such as tax and rates require it. Secondly, because it helps you to see where you can make savings and what can be done to maximise your returns.

It’s for this very reason that any property management company you use should be well versed in proper accounting practices. Failure to do so could see you struggling when the time comes to prepare your books for tax filing or rebates. Everything from income to expenses should be included, including receipts, rental records, insurance claims, repair costs and maintenance costs.

Relationship management

This is probably one of the areas landlord’s dread the most – dealing with tricky tenants and undesirable situations. Keeping pets in a pet-free property, disruptive behaviour, poor property hygiene and late or missed payments can soon escalate into a battle between landlord and tenant.

A property manager understands how to mediate and manage the trickiest situations for the best outcomes all round. When you have a property management company on your side, you can say goodbye to any unpleasant and unwanted conversations should the issue arise. (Proper tenant screening can help prevent these situations from the get-go).

Make the Change – Get Leased

Keeping on top of rental properties can be tricky for many landlords, which is where Leased. comes to the rescue. Our real estate professionals are ready and waiting to turn your empty properties into secondary incomes by finding the perfect tenants, managing the everyday runnings of the property and ensuring everything goes as smoothly as possible. When it comes to property management, we’re the change you’ve been looking for.

For more great info and advice covering rental properties, property management and building your property portfolio, check out our industry insights today! Everything you need to know in one smart little place.

Discover the difference. Make the change and switch to Leased today.

If you own an investment property that you let out as a rental, you might just benefit from taking out landlord insurance. Landlord insurance keeps your income stream and your property well protected throughout the year, minimising many of the stresses associated with rental properties.

With so many different types of insurance available, we know just how confusing it can be for you. So to help clear up any confusion and point you in the right direction, we’ve pulled together this guide about why landlord insurance is so important.

What Exactly is Landlord Insurance?

Landlord insurance is pretty much self-explanatory. Just as contents insurance covers content, landlord insurance covers all of those areas surrounding renting out your property to tenants. It’s a specific type of policy that covers property owners for a whole host of risks.

In a perfect world, tenants would always pay their rent on time and your property would be kept in an immaculate condition. To be fair, most tenants are respectful of payments and property, but there’s always going to be a small handful who don’t.

Think of landlord insurance as being a safety net that minimises the impact of missing rent payments and damage both from humans and natural disasters.best of all, it tends to be extremely affordable. For just a few hundred dollars a year, you can enjoy absolute peace of mind – which as a property owner is priceless!
Each insurance provider covers different things, but there are a few that are the same across the board:

Accidental Damage

It’s an unfortunate fact, but accidents happen. A glass of vino spilled on a carpet, a leaking washing machine or a burn in a countertop from a hot pan – all of these simple acts can destroy your property and its furnishings. Depending on the type and extent of damage caused, repairs can start to spiral. Carpets don’t come cheap – neither does a new ceiling.

Landlord insurance that includes liability cover and accidental damage can save you plenty of dollars in the long-term. Of course, exactly what is covered will depend on the policy provider. Not all of them will cover water damage or glass breakage, so make sure you read the small print and have all bases covered.

Some of the main things it will cover include:

• Broken windows and door locks
• Carpets and flooring
• Flooding from laundry machines
• Natural disasters such as flooding or fire

Malicious Damage

Luckily, the majority of tenants are reasonable people and don’t set out to cause damage and destruction on purpose. However, that’s not to say that everyone is made equal.

Miscommunication, reprimands and frustration can turn a level-headed tenant into a wrecking ball. From broken doors and windows to kids drawing and scratching on walls and surfaces – damage is never a good thing.

When looking for the best landlord insurance, take a close look at the policy disclosure statement to check if it’s included. Not every insurer is prepared to offer it while others may charge a premium for it.

Some of the main things it may cover include:

• Theft of property from the building
• Vandalism or malicious damage
• Legal expenses for evictions

Non Payment of Rent

Depending on the type of policy you have, some will cover rental payments in the event of damage repairs needing to be performed. Typically, this will leave the property standing empty for extended periods of time. If you’re covered, you’ll receive rent payment equivalents until new tenants move in – sometimes for as long as up to one year.

If covered, landlord insurance will also typically cover defaulted rental payments, court-ordered evictions and loss of rent due to the death of a tenant. It’s also not uncommon for representation fees and legal costs to be covered when pursuing a tenant for unpaid rent through the courts.

What Doesn’t Landlord Insurance Cover?

There are a few things that the majority of insurance policies won’t cover.

• General wear and tear to the property and its fixtures.
• Loss of rental income due to no tenancy.
• Tenant-paid repairs or replacements to damage.
• General or routine maintenance expenses.

There are also a variety of inclusions you should consider if you want to enjoy maximum protection. Some insurance policies will include these as standard, but they are often optional inclusions. Choosing to add these may result in higher premiums and payments but will often pay for themselves in the event of a claim.

• Property or equipment damage caused by a pet.
• Expenses for re-letting after making a rental loss claim.
• Changing of door locks are making a rental claim.
• Legal costs for making rental claims in court.
• Increased rental cost payment thresholds.
• Removing tenants possessions after a rental loss or a claim.
• Public liability cover for visitors to the property.

How Much Does Landlord Insurance Cost?

Asking how much does landlord insurance cost is like asking how long is a piece of string? The total cost will depend on the provider, the property value, whether you allow tenants to keep pets in the property and the location. Optional inclusions can push the price up, but in many cases, are well worth it.

To give you a better idea of what you’ll most likely need to pay, $400 a year is a good estimated average price. This may seem like a lot for some, but for the equivalent of $33 a month, the return coverage you get ensures you are well-protected and never at a loss in the event of a claim.

It’s important to remember that cheap isn’t always the best option. Unfortunately, when it comes to insurance, you get what you pay for. Is it really worth losing $1000’s in defaulted rent payments just to save $3 a month? How much would it cost to refit carpets in a flooded home? Weigh up your options, know what your biggest losses are likely to be and then take opt to add the most beneficial inclusions to your policy.

Make the Most of Your Rental Properties

Trying to manage your investment properties can be hard work – especially when you face issues with tenants. At Leased. our property management professionals take care of the everyday running of rentals and tenancy agreements so you don’t have to.

Issues with non-payment of rent? Struggling to find the right tenants to move in? Unsure of how to navigate recent changes to Australian rental laws? Let us help you get the best returns on your investment properties and enjoy a stress-free, streamlined experience.

Make the switch today and join Leased.