 Hello, my name is Lynne Smith and I'm the Senior Community Education Officer with the Residential Tenancies Authority. The role of the RTA is to administer the legislation and help everyone involved in a tenancy understand their rights and responsibilities. As today's topic is about what happens before a tenancy commences, which is usually outside the guidelines of the RTA, we have invited an expert from the real estate industry to share information with us today. Nick Brown is a qualified trainer with the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and a licensed real estate agent with over 18 years real estate experience, including nine years as a trainer with the REIQ. So welcome today Nick. Thanks Lynne, pleasure to be here. Today we will be talking about key areas to know when you own or manage a rental property before the tenant moves in. First, when the lessor or the agent has a property available to rent, they need to comply with section 185 of the Residential Tenancies and Room Accommodation Act 2008. At the start of the tenancy the lessor must ensure the premises and inclusions are clean and the premises are fit for the tenant to live in and the premises and inclusions are in good repair and the lessor is not in breach of a law dealing with issues about the health or safety of a person using or entering the premises. Nick, what are the normal methods used to promote a rental property? We live in a modern world where the majority of people will go to the internet in the first instance. So generic websites, listing portals are usually the first port of call for tenant inquiries so a lot of agencies will focus on that. Another thing that we do see with agents particularly is that they'll have a database of prospective tenants so then we already have people that are ready to roll and ready to look at the property so that's always their first port of call. In the regional areas we do see local newspaper advertising and generally across Queensland signage is still very prominent but you do have to be mindful of any restrictions that that particular property might have on signage. In Queensland a property being advertised for rent must advertise a fixed price. They cannot put a property up for rent auction or ask for offers. If the property is advertised at a fixed price it does not stop a prospective tenant offering you more or less that amount. So let's talk about inspecting the property. How would a tenant inspect? Once you have inquiries from your advertising you can conduct a private inspection one-on-one or do an open house. It is rare these days to hand keys out. You do need to be mindful of security when it comes to the key sort of things and it's also a good opportunity to have a chat with prospective tenants about what they're after. Please note if the property is currently rented the less so all they're managing agent would need to give the current tenant notification of the entry to show prospective tenants through. You would use a form 9 entry notice and give the correct time frame. Under section 204 you would need to get the current tenants written permission to conduct an open house to show multiple prospective tenants through. It's always best to communicate with the current occupant about what your proposed inspection plan is. So whether the property is vacant or you've given notice to an existing tenant to show prospective tenants through what is the next step Nick? Once a tenant's viewed the property and is keen to move in it's recommended to have the tenant complete an application providing the less so all the agent information about themselves. Some of that information will include not just their name and current details but it'll also may be where they've rented in the past where they work sources of income and even some personal and character references. Often the agencies and some private landlords will ask for 100 points of ID. That can vary. So you do need to be mindful as a tenant of that but more importantly as an agent or as a property owner of letting the tenant know what you do actually require as part of that process. References are very important. As part of the application process this could be current and all the work references as I mentioned a moment ago. It's always wise to check out any references provided. Using a checklist in a standard procedure is always important going down that track because you want to make sure that you ask the same questions of each applicant when you're getting those checks back. I mentioned before copies of ID briefly and the 100 points of ID so from an agent's point of view we have to be able to prove to a property owner or a landlord that a prospective tenant has the ability to care and the ability to afford the property and we have to do that as best as we can. So that's where we will ask for that ID to support the application process. From a less agent's point of view also once we've collected that information we need to be very conscious that we can't just go and simply start making phone calls or sending out requests to other agents to confirm that information. There's a big piece of legislation we need to consider here and that's the Privacy Act. Part of the application process is that we should always be getting the consent from those applicants on not only the ability to collect that information but to use it to get those references. Without that consent technically we can't go and get those references and less walls and agents will touch on that if you request that information. Something else as part of the application process that we will touch on is making sure that you're getting an emergency point of contact or next to a kin or something along those lines because that's always an important part. Maybe not necessarily at the start of the tenancy but it could be helpful through the tenancy as well. When we're looking at the application process in its entirety one of the one of the most important things we have to mindful of as less walls and agents is considering the Any Discrimination Act. We always need to be very conscious that we can't decline or reject an application based on something that could be considered discriminatory under this law and we'll have a chat about that a little bit later on but there's certainly some very strict guidelines that we need to consider as part of that process. So quite often we are asked can we say no to a smoker or someone with a pet? Look overall a property owner has the ability to say no to someone who smokes or has pets and the reason for that is it's not listed specifically in discrimination laws as an attribute that we need to consider. If we are to go down that track though as an agent I would always educate my less walls in the importance of I suppose outlining any conditions or any obligations that a smoker or someone with pets may have as part of that tenancy process and we can include that in as a special term in the tenancy agreement. As a real estate agent we don't have the ability to draft any special terms when not qualified to do so under what they call the legal profession act so it's always recommended that you seek some independent advice on some appropriate wording and the reason that I touch on that is you might have something along the lines of the tenant might be responsible for having flee fumigation done at the end of the tenancy if they've had a pet at any stage or that smoking is only permitted outside the property and not inside so they're things to consider but certainly from an agent's point of view and even that as a lessor I'd recommend getting some independent advice on how they're appropriately worded. Before a tenet is committed into a tenancy the tenant must be given a copy of the tenancy agreement by being committed that means paying any money so that's whether it's a holding deposit, rent or bond money or signing an agreement or any other document that commits the tenant into that tenancy. The tenancy agreement for that particular property needs to be fully completed minus the tenant's name and a start date should have any special terms should be completed on the agreement and also to how you're wanting the tenant to pay rent. You cannot charge an application fee there are restrictions on amounts that can be taken from a prospective tenant the only money that you can take from a prospective tenant is a holding deposit, key deposit, rental bond or rent. Owners or their managing agents cannot ask a prospective tenant to pay any other fees there are rules around holding deposits and also the maximum amount of rental bond and renting advance amounts that can be charged so please refer to the RTA's website for more information. What happens if the application is not successful or you have multiple applications? The market changes from time to time so there's no right or wrong answer because it could vary depending on the property and the marketplace. We do need to be very conscious that there is situations where we'll have multiple applications and you can't put everyone in the property for obvious reasons. We do need to be really cautious of the language I believe in how we talk to prospective tenants if their application hasn't been successful. Saying something along the lines of your application means rejected or denied can be quite harsh and hard-hitting. Using something along the lines of your application hasn't been successful at this point in time. It's a little bit softer means the same things. You could also consider that those applicants might be suitable for other properties and it was just that they weren't lucky enough to get that particular property so having a chat with them about other potential properties that might be suitable is important there as well. Once an application's at an end and if it hasn't been successful as an agent and definitely as a less or as well we need to be conscious again of the privacy making sure that we secure the information or we destroy it appropriately that we don't just have that information out there available or where someone could pick up. Nick what would be your top five tips to share regarding today's topic? The five points I'd probably consider most important regarding today's topic would be first and foremost making sure the properties are ready that there's no breach of any health and safety laws. It's clean and tidy and it's ready to go even if it's still tenant it still needs to be ready to go on the date that you've advertised it's going to be available from. Have your property insurances up to date you're building your contents public liability and it's also recommended to have landlord's insurance as well. Hopefully never have to use it but in the event that you may need to make a claim down the track. Being prepared at your inspections and being able to help educate those potential tenants of what they do from there if they're wanting to apply. Having a copy of their application form letting them know what ID and 100 points proving address previous history those things that we chatted about a little bit earlier because that will vary from agency to agency or even landlord to landlord so tenants are expected to read your mind and know exactly what you're after. Making sure you do your reference checks whether it's their past rental history confirming employment or a source of income and definitely the tenancy database checks and being very thorough with those and making sure that you've got evidence of what the outcomes of those reference checks are. Remembering as a landlord it's your property and you can choose who you put into the property. In saying that though we do need to be mindful of the Indian Discrimination Act we also need to be conscious of the privacy laws and the tenancy laws that impact on that process as well. So thank you for your assistance today and again a special thanks to our guest Nick Brown from the REIQ. Remember if you need any information regarding Queensland tenancy laws write some responsibilities contact the RTA or go to the RTA's website rta.qld.gov.au