Landlord's Guide

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Shape Realty was built on the concept of continually building strong long term business relationships. Key factors in making this happen are quality of service and standard of procedures, both of which we have installed from day one. The following is an overview of the procedures we have in place that will enable us to provide you with quality service whilst optimizing maximum return potential for your asset.

Marketing

Our property management team have a wealth of marketing experience which is readily available to secure the best outcome for your rental property.

We have a vast amount of marketing tools that we make available to you when making sure your property reaches its desire market audience. 

• Full listing of your property on our website www.shaperealty.com.au as well as www.realestate.com.au, homehound.com.au and rentfind.com.au ensure your property gains maximum exposure to a large target audience. All of our listings are supported with high quality digital photos to display your properties main selling attributes.
• Our easy to use website has a “Rental Alerts” facility specifically for all prospective tenants. This enables them to input their contact details along with information on properties they are looking to rent. From this we then send the prospective tenants through a weekly property update via E-Mail listing all rental properties available matching their requirements.
• Our ongoing relationships with a number of other organisations creates a further source of potential tenants for your property, this includes:
  • Professional relocation companies throughout Australia
  • Large corporate organisations based in Queensland 
  • Local Universities assisting with them with student accommodations.
• We take a very proactive approach by continually networking throughout the local area. This enables us to identify prospective candidates through local referrals and giving them direct exposure to your property.

Tenant Applications

We follow a very solid tenant application process here at Shape, underlining how much we understand the importance in protecting your asset and your revenue return. Our process includes carrying out detailed rental history, personal reference and employer checks, all of which are carried out prior to recommending a tenants application to you. We also have access to national data base searches for defaulting tenants, again underlining the importance of protecting the return on your property. We also ensure that all tenants present us with sufficient identification to which we have a strict criteria of acceptable forms of ID. In addition to those forms we also request photo ID as well.

In return we provide a maximum 24 hour approval turnaround and, other than where we contact you, we’ll always discuss the applications with you before approving. We would like to note that should you have any specific instructions on letting such as a shorter lease on the property so you are able to return, please let us know in advance as this will prevent any delays.

The Tenancy Begins

All tenants must pay 2 weeks rent within 24 hours of us notifying them their application has been approved. Failure to make payment within this timeframe will result in us continuing to market and accept applicants for your property.  

Tenants will make their bond payment and then subsequently execute a lease prior to taking the keys. We will provide you with a full copy of this along with the completed entry condition report with your next monthly statement.

Tenancy Payments

We request that all tenants set up a direct debit for the payment of their rent. This is a more secure way of preventing rental arrears thus making the rental process a more simplistic experience. Tenants are required by law to keep their rent in advance at all times of which we ensure they are fully aware of. 

Rental arrears are checked on a daily basis and the use of reminder correspondence including emails and SMS Texts are utilised in situations where tenants are more than four days behind. Appropriate default notices are sent to the tenant as per the Residential Tenancies Act and unless otherwise directed we advise owners of all major rent defaults.

Inspecting your Property

It is always important to communicate with landlords regarding the condition of their property, that is why we carry out regular Agent Property Inspections. You will receive a comprehensive written report of these inspections along with photographic evidence as well. The first inspection for each tenancy is 3 months after commencement, allowing for an early check on how they are maintaining your property and keeping in line with relevant industry legislation.

All maintenance issues are reported to you on a regular basis enabling us to resolve these issues appropriately in accordance with your instructions. Understandably all emergency repair issues will be brought to your attention immediately in order to resolve as quickly as possible.

In addition to the maintenance and inspection reports, we can also provide reports on potential refurbishments for your property.

This is report will outline how to best optimize your return on your investment and what  we recommend you plan to update over the coming years.

Recent court judgements now make it prudent for you to have a registered builder carry out an annual inspection to advise on any concerns. While we take care with all of our inspections we don’t have the expertise of a qualified builder. We can arrange this for you on an annual basis.

We welcome your attendance to our Agent Property Inspections and can arrange access at other times with seven days written notice to our tenant. To ensure your tenant’s quiet enjoyment the RTA does limit the number of inspections that can be carried out.

Please remember – all landlords should have insurance for their property, both for their own contents (even in apartments some items are not covered by the body corporate), building and liability. Ask us if you’d like more information.

Payments to You

Your rental income is held in our audited Trust account with Commonwealth Bank. 

We do prompt fortnightly and monthly income disbursements to you of all available cleared funds. Your funds are sent direct to your designated financial institution.

Your end of month summary statement can be mailed or emailed whichever you prefer. We also provide end of financial year summaries at no cost.

Shape can also make payment of your Brisbane City Council rates, body corporate fees and insurances on your behalf if you advise them to send the notices directly to us. (Remember we do need you to have a minimum of $10million public liability insurance prior to us working for you). This enables you to focus on other priorities with the added benefit of should something goes amiss at our end and we are late for a discount date then we will pay the difference out of pocket.

Maintenance

The Shape website has a maintenance report form which tenants are able to log any maintenance issues with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to this we have in place a 24 hour contact emergency number for emergency repairs that occur out of office working hours. 

Communication is key, which is why we contact all of our owners regarding all maintenance requests. If we are unable to reach you within a reasonable time, we will spend up to an amount that is equivalent to 2 weeks rent if necessary. In the event of emergency repairs, we will organise them urgently and, by law, your tenant can spend up to 2 weeks rent on these if no assistance is provided.

All contractors that we use to carry out works on your property have provided us with their licences and respective insurances as necessary. We ensure that the trade people we use have a proven track record and are in line with industry standard prices by requesting quotes on all works first. Naturally we can use your instructed contractor where necessary as long as they too are able to provide respective licences and insurance details where required.  

Communication 

As already indicated Shape believe that communication is an important part of strengthening business relationships. This is true in communication with both landlord and tenant alike. 

We carry out lease renewal consultation and rental review proposals with the owner in each case ensuring that we keep you informed on market trends and industry changes. This ensures that we are able to retain quality tenants whilst maximising your return on your investment. 

Shape will keep you informed at every opportunity and find emails a highly efficient way to keep in touch. We strive to return all calls as soon as possible and guarantee to do so within 24 hours.

Tenancy Completion

Upon completion of all tenancies a detailed exit inspection is carried out. These are done with the tenants with reference back to the entry condition report. Please be assured that our duty to you the owner is a paramount consideration. 

Where a tenancy may be terminated due to a tenant breach, Shape follows a strict Residential Tenancies Act procedure. We can, if required due to a bond dispute, attend small claims tribunal on your behalf to seek recovery of outstanding rent and cleaning/maintenance costs not covered by the bond. 

Managing arrears and the condition of the property during the tenancy helps minimize the risk of this. Landlord insurance can also cover you for tenant defaults and malicious damage.

What else can we do for you?

E-newsletters

This is a good way of keeping you the investment property owner up to date with all changes within the industry. Whether it is new legislations or keeping up to date with trends in the market, we feel it’s important that you are always one step ahead.

Selling your Investment Property?

We would be more than happy to assist with the sale of your investment property or simply give you advice on its current market value to assist you with your next financial move. A FREE Comparative Market Analysis can be provided giving you an instant understanding on where your property stands in line with the current local property market.

Buying an Investment Property?

Whether you are looking to buy your first or may looking to expand your existing portfolio of investment properties, come and talk to Shape.

Maximizing your tax deductions?

Are you maximizing your tax returns? To ensure you maximize your tax deductions you may wish to have a quantity surveyor inspect your property and provide a detailed depreciation schedule. This will give your accountant the info they need to complete your tax return. Again, we are happy to arrange for you.

Other available services

With the new laws being implemented on regular inspections and maintenance of smoke alarms, it is important to ensure your property is in full compliance. Unless you would like to handle this yourself we can organise for a professional contractor to do this at a flat fee of $75pa.

We can also arrange for building and pest inspectors to carry out full inspections and reports on your property. Annual building report and termite checkups are something we recommend to all investment property owners in particular for houses. 

Insurances are always important when it comes to you property. Please feel free to ask us for helpful information on all aspects of insurance including liability, buildings, and contents. There are also tenant insurances to cover tenant default and any malicious property damage which may be caused throughout rental periods. All of these premiums can be paid from your rental funds.