Make sure you follow all the instructions to the letter.
If you sign up the person on the lease, ensure you issue them a copy of the free booklet from the Dept Fair Trading about tenancy rights. The leases contain a clause which says something like ….”your rights and obligations as a tenant are contained in the booklet given to you by the landlord etc etc.” If you haven’t issued the booklet, it provides an escape route for bad tenants.
Steep learning curve ahead, proceed carefully.
good luck
cheers
thecrest

Hi Bacchu
Derek is right. Let an experienced PM handle your first tenant selection, but ask to be kept informed of everything the PM does and why, especially in tenant selection, so you can learn. Let them choose a good tenant for you, but ask to see a copy of every application including the declined ones, and discuss the reasons why with the PM. Read everything. Ask for the PM schedule of inspections, a copy of their inspection reports, copy of the lease, copy of any correspondence with the tenant every month. This will all help you to learn about tenant selection and PM.
Better not to DIY straight away.
good luck
cheers
thecrest

So you’re obviously not developers, and no experience in property management, both are minefields for the unwary and the inexperienced, made worse by distance if you’re overseas, and worse with an older property.

If you want to keep it, there’s a very steep and extended learning curve coming up for you.

In effect you have sudden blind ownership of a property with no research.

good luck
cheers
thecrest

Dazzling clarity.
cheers
thecrest

If there is a For Sale sign up, then the property is on the market. If the REA obstructs, you are well within your rights to go direct to the owner.
Tread gently of course, in case the owner wants the REA to delay for some legit reason. But, if the sign is up, no-one should object to your response as a potential buyer.
cheers
thecrest

Hi Maruco
A Tenant breaking a fixed lease is obliged to pay all expenses incurred which the landlord would not normally have to pay if the lease had not been broken. Usually this includes rent until a replacement tenant starts paying, ads, cleaning, lease document prep, re-let fee, prep of condition report, etc. If the tenant objects to the length of time taken to replace the tenant, then the landlord might have to prove the rent advertised was fair market rent and that all reasonable steps were taken to re-let. The landlord is not obliged to take a bad risk replacement tenant .
With your lease breaking tenant, I would take all the bond for a start, not settle for one week’s rent. In this case, if the PM doesn’t have a good excuse for settling for less than your entitlement, then the PM should do the relet for free and thereby cut some of their own entitlement. Doesn’t sound like they looked after your best interests.
cheers
thecrest

Take some time to formulate a comparison spreadsheet on van parks, ROI, watch land tax ( Van parks are land gobblers).
Van parks have variations – some have permanent residents who own their own mobiles & pay rent for the land under them. Some are just holiday units like motels and van sites & camp kitchens. Some have owner holiday-occupied mobiles. The quality of the accommodation will decide the type of guests you will have to deal with.
Note which part of the market each van park addresses – permanent residents (dramas), travellers in vans, tourists in cars, boaties, water skiers, greenies, surfers, wine lovers, in other words, what’s the guest mix or focus in that particular geographical area. ABS can provide visitation numbers by market segment in most areas e.g. grey nomads, pampadours etc. Different groups have different requirements like some are big on camp kitchens, some not, amenities blocks are not always a pleasure to clean daily. Repairs & maintenance is a big issue and one of the owners should be pretty handy in this area.
Large acreage van parks require many hours on the whipper snipper & ride-on mower. A shop or kiosk is a pain, sometimes a necessity, takes many hours. Are sites wired for TV, phone, water & elec ? The list goes on.
Best van parks I’ve seen return enough income to support 2 couples as partners, and have 2 homes on them, although you can always add another one yourself. 2 men is always better security, and easier with some R & M jobs. But the big plus is that in quiet times, one couple can easily run the place while the other goes on hols, BIG plus.
Plenty of cash income. Research very very carefully, slowly, until you understand which types of van parks make the most income for the least amount of drama.
cheers
thecrest

I’ve managed 3 van parks, now a motel owner, so I might be able to help. The management positions used to be advertised in the situations vacant column of Sydney Morning Herald, especially Wed & Sat, as well as under ‘Managers’ and under ‘Caravan Park Managers’. Some used one big ad and made the other ads little pointer ads to catch the eye of those who looked in the other places.
Also contact the CCIA – Caravan & Camping Industry Asscn located at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney, they used to keep a list of managers seeking employment.
Some of the Van Park Brokers selling Van Parks also keep lists of managers.
Please be careful as van parks are not smooth sailing.
Can you describe the deal ?
cheers
thecrest

Good post Dazzling.
Traps I’ve experienced with commercial leases :
place controls on the lessee doing subleasing or selling the business to a new owner, ensuring the outbound owner has fully complied with all terms of the lease before being allowed to move on, especially in regards to maintaining the property or passing on the tenant’s obligations to return the property to it’s original condition in the event of tenant vacating. Ensure you have the option to decline the tenant the use of your property if you disagree with any change or intended change in the nature of the business conducted therein.
Check the rent increase method, graph it out to 5 or 10 years hence, see what you’d be getting, ensuring it contains adequate options for the lessor to increase the rent if the market has a major increase.
What are your options if the rent is overdue ?
Are they enforceable ? Can you lockout the tenant ? Can you remove the tenant’s goods and place them in storage in order to allow another tenant access? Who insures the goods then ? Transport costs ? Storage costs ?
Get bank guarantees for tenant bonds if pos.
Cover every angle, like who pays for what in the event of an incident – breakdowns – broken loos, blocked drains, vandalism, storm & tempest, roof blows off, water entry, Council work or whoever blocks access, interruption to energy or water or phone supply, think negative thoughts and cover them in clauses. Try to get a peep at as many commercial leases as possible. If you intend using an agent, ask them for copies of other leases similar to your planned situation with blanked out names & addresses so you can do some planning.
good luck
cheers
thecrest

Hi Pensio
Crunch your numbers first, get all your quotes and costings on the table, then you can make an informed decision, or place it in this post.
cheers
thecrest