Sub-letting

If you’re asking is it illegal – then no, of course not.

It would be very wise to have permission from your landlord if you wished to sublet though – I think you can probably be kicked out for breaking terms etc. if you do not.

I don’t know how often it is done in Australia, but my guess is quite a bit. It’s a way of getting round some of the councils rules that say you can only have one dwelling on the land etc. If you have a ‘granny flat/downstairs flat’ etc., you simply have the upstairs people on a ‘head lease’ and the downstairs is subletted through them.

It is also what you must do if you want to do a ‘sandwich’ lease option, which is where you lease with option to purchase from vendor, and then turn around and sub lease with option to purchase to somebody else.

Cheers
Mel

Whilst not illegal, most leases will stipulate that sub-letting is not permitted, which I imagine is well within a landlord’s rights…. and rightly so.

I’d be pissed if I had a tennant that sub-letted… kind of negates the whole tennant screening process.

Yeah, I remember a guy I knew trying to pull that one a number of years ago. He decided he would charge everyone else higher rent, and have a free ride himself. He didn’t let anyone else know he was getting free rent.

It all fell apart after a few weeks, when people found out what he was up to. The guy then suffered a bit when everyone else around him- a social/business community of about a hundred people- decided he was complete scum. In our community, you just didn’t do those things. Guess some people might champion him as an “entrepeneur”, whereas in our world, he merely got the reputation as a thief- using other people’s money- dishonestly. funnily enough, poor old George couldn’t see that what he was doing was wrong- it’s funny how some people justify themselves. What’s the point in making a few bucks if you completely lose the respect of your community?

kay henry

A student in Brisbane currently leases several houses in Brisbane near Unis at say $250 per week, rents out the four bedrooms per week at $100 per room making $150 per house per week to pay for his own rent/house.

Gidday
Just thought I’d add in my two cents worth on this topic.

Firstly I’d like to say that I believe i have considerable experience with renting out rooms separately as I have 4 ip’s and sixteen tenants.
I believe that anyone considering doing this
be very cautious. It is very high risk and so many things can and do go wrong. Setup costs are high (eg household furniture) bills are a complete pain and collecting rent can really do your head in, and before you say it very few of this type of tenant can do direct debit. Maintenance is also high single room tenants simply dont care about lawns or gardens and if things don’t go their way they just leg it.
I don’t want to sound like a killjoy, just wanted to let you know it’s not for the faint hearted

Mick INC

Actually, no Mick. He merely collected the rent, didn’t furnish the place- it was a share household, and ripped off his fellow tenants. It was very wrong- but then, wrong is in the eye of the beholder these days.

kay henry

Terry, you said:

“I didn’t inform the landlord, just did it! What I did was rent a few bedrooms out at a higher rent, an I paid nothing at all, because the other people’s rent cover the lot. Just becasreful the others don’t find out how much you are paying.”

I’m really trying to understand your perspective here. How does lying to your (equal) flatmates, and making them pay rents so you have to pay none, seem “ethical” to you? I always thought “ethics” was a proactive term that meant acts of kindness, and doing the right thing. Whilst I know you don’t want to think you did the wrong thing, I am not sure how you can tag this sort of practice as “ethical” behaviour, like as if it’s some kind of social work.

kay henry