Hi Joe,

First question – did you sand back, properly seal and prepare the wall before using a mould / moisture resistant bathroom paint?

If no to any of these questions then do a repaint – make sure everything is prepared properly, you use a seal and proper paint on the walls and ceiling. If you repaint the walls you will likely have to do the ceiling too as this will start to peel and crack as well if the walls have already started.

Proper ventilation is key too – how old is the exhaust fan that is in there? Perhaps a new one is required? If you are getting a new one put in make sure it is connected to the light switch so when renting the property out tenants can't have a shower with out the exhaust fan on unless they want to shower in the dark .

Re-tiling shouldn't be required – perhaps get a handyman in to do the painting job as they often get jobs like this one!

Good luck!!

Hey guys, You can't REQUIRE a tenant to pay more than one month in advance in VIC, however, if they WANT to pay the 12 months up front there is no problem with you accepting it.

If a tenant signs on to a fortnightly lease then you can still ask for a month up front (or four weeks which will be far easier to keep track of payment dates) and if they are on a weekly lease then you can ask for no more than 2 weeks up front.

Now days when you go to VCAT for rent arrears and a tenant is put on a payment plan, the order always states that the payment plan is to stay in place until the tenants rent is up to date and in advance .

You can't take a tenant for rent arrears until they are 14 full days in arrears so a lot of landlords find that tenants are the full required period in advance with them not being able to do a lot about it unless you want to go to tribunal over a general dispute for a compliance order.

Hope this helps!

PS – everything I've mentioned comes back to VIC laws, I don't know about other states as it does vary.

I must admit these make me laugh a little – my recent favourite was "outdoor entertainment area which soaks up the evening sun"

I'm a PM and I understand needing to advertise the properties in a way that will get people through but I tend to use a bullet point approach listing the details of the house e.g.
*3 bedrooms with built in robes
* master bedroom with full ensuite
*2 separate living areas
etc. etc. etc.

I find it very hard to get too …… flowery with my descriptions! Some times I wish I could because some of them are…. well… "amazing and exactly what you have been searching for" !!!!

I think if you have received a notice to fence it would have to be disclosed to anybody wanting to purchase the land and as such they are going to be thinking along the lines of "ok, so I purchase for x amount and then I need to spend an additional x amount straight after settlement due to this notice to fence….." I don't know if it would need to be in the section 32 but disclosure is a must – good point tvproperty!

Another good point from above is council laws, I've dealt with several local councils in the south eastern suburbs and I've seen fencing matters end up in court (no, I'm not kidding) because generally council's opinion is that each neighbour pay 50% of the costs and if they wont, talk to your solicitior!!

Good luck with it all!!

I'm a PM and actually went through this process with clients too! I work in an area where all PM's have a bad name and I wanted to stand out from the rest and make sure I was on the right track to keeping all of my clients really, really happy with my service! Obviously communitaction is important but I think the thing it really comes down to is be pro-active, not reactive. It's easy when in property managment to get into a situation where you are just reacting to everything which is happening, if you can get to a point where you are being pro-active half of the problems will be solved before they arise and you'll have some very happy landlords . Just my thoughts on it!

As a property manager I have had the misfortune of coming across properties which have burnt down. Always after midnight and emergency services always find my mobile number to let me know…..

I can't give you any answer as far as the building of the granny flat and your bank loans go, however, I can offer some assurance that in the cases I have dealt with the insurance agencies were quick to settle and works were completed within a few months putting the landlord back on track. Just touch base with your insurer every week to see how the claim is going and to remind them that you haven't forgotten about it!

Lastly (but most importantly) my sympathies for what is a difficult time, I am most pleased your tenant is ok and hope that this all comes to a quick and smooth resolution.

I did my Agents Rep at Tafe doing night courses, you will most definately benefit from the face to face time as others have said so I will also not recommend distance learning.

If you have your agents rep it doesn't really matter where you got it, you will be entering the industry with your L plates on and so again, to echo everyone else make sure you are starting with an agency that offers good on going traing.

I too am interested as to what makes you want to get into real estate, property management or sales???

Are you able to find any direct cause for the rot? The PM should have got a plumber out there to do a written report on the cause and taken that to VCAT with them.

Unfortunately it is a heavy loss but also know from now on that you can refuse ANY application. As an owner in VIC you don't have to provide any reason for rejecting the application and if you provide no reason you can't be charged with descrimination.

I would have to agree that you need to speak to a couple of people to put this one together for you.

I can help you with the views of a Property Manager so send me an email if you like but aside from that you would need to talk to

Your accountant
Mortgage broker
Real Estate Sales & Property Management

A lot of the answers to your questions will vary depending on your price range, what kind of return you are wanting from your IP so on.

Best of luck with it all!!

The current agent should most definately not have started trying to find you a tenant without a signed authority, I myself will not do anything until an authority is returned. That piece of paper gives them the go ahead to do these things!!

What sites are they advertising on? How are the photos, you say it is inline with other properties but is the presentation inline with the other properties??? when you say it is inline with others does that mean that others in the block are currently available? If so how long have the other properties in the block been vacant? Are there several agents working in that block or only the one? If you're asking the same as everyone else there but the other properties have been vacant for over 3 weeks because they're asking too much then being inline with them won't help!!!  

Let us know how you go !