Your Rights as a Landlord Renting Out Property in Hobart

Baxton.me
1 February 2018

Your Rights as a Landlord Renting Out Property in Hobart

Renting out a property isn’t something you just go ahead and do on your own terms. As a landlord, you have several obligations, but you also have certain rights. These are outlined in detail in the Tasmanian Government’s Rental Guide. It’s a thorough document and will take more than a few minutes’ reading to get through. To make understanding your rights as a landlord renting out property in Hobart quicker and easier to grasp, we’ve compiled a summary for you here.

Financial Aspects

Preparing a property for rental can be a costly business, but you can’t claim this money back from your tenant. However, you do have the right to:

A rental bond covering four weeks of occupancy
Rent in advance
Holding fees equivalent to rent (if your tenant can’t move in right away)

Rental bonds are held by the local authorities, and you can’t claim for regular wear and tear. However, you can deduct for cleaning expenses, any unpaid rent, damages, anything that’s missing, or compensation for abandoning the property sooner than was initially agreed.

Physical Access to the Property and Inspections

You can’t just turn up and pop in to see how your tenant is taking care of your property. But you or your property manager can perform three-monthly inspections. All you have to do is to give the tenant 24 hours’ notice of your intention to inspect.

As a general rule, your tenant should give permission for inspections, but if it forms part of the tenancy agreement, you’ve recently paid for repairs you want to check out, or you have reason to suspect that damage has occurred, or someone may be at risk, you don’t need permission. However, your visit should occur between 8:00AM and 6:00 PM.

If your tenant has given notice, you’ve given the tenant notice, or the lease is set to expire within the next 28 days or less, you have the right to show the property to prospective tenants. The authorities require 48 hours’ notice, allow one visit per day for up to five days a week, and stipulate that these visits occur between 8AM and 6PM.

How the Tenant Takes Care of the Property

Although you’re obliged to let your tenants enjoy privacy and whatever lifestyle they choose to live, you don’t have to put up with neglect. Your tenant should be keeping things clean, and if there’s a need for repairs, you need to be notified promptly. If those repairs are the direct result of the tenants’ actions, you have the right to expect them to be responsible for putting things to rights.

Finally, it’s worth noting that you have the right of refusal if your tenant wants to make any changes to the property.

You Have the Right to Expect Your Tenant to Abide by the Terms of the Lease

Although it may seem that landlords bear the brunt of the lease agreement’s obligations, tenants have their share of obligations to the person who rents out property in Hobart. These are stipulated in the lease agreement, and begin with your right to receive the agreed rental. If the tenants breach any of the terms of the lease agreement, you can terminate the lease and require them to leave.

Renting out Property in Hobart: Taking Action Against a Bad Tenant

If a tenant violates your rights as a property owner, you can take action – but this action is governed by a further slew of regulations and procedures that can be hard to navigate. For example, if you give a tenant notice, but fail to do so according to the stipulated procedure, you won’t have a leg to stand on if the matter ends up in court.

Baxton Property Management is very selective about the tenants it recommends to those renting out property in Hobart, so in our experience, disputes and problems with tenants are very rare indeed. However, we do know exactly when and how to take action in order to protect your rights. That’s just one of the reasons why property owners in Hobart choose Baxton.

The information contained in this article is based on the authors opinion only and is of a general nature which is not indicative of future results or events and does not consider your personal situation or particular needs. Professional advice should always be sought relevant to your circumstances.

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