Lost in Melbourne - Advice Appreciated!

bnco · #1 (**permalink**) 21st January 2008, 04:22 AM

We (my husband and I) arrived in Melbourne from Singapore on 28 Dec as my husband has a new job here. We have been looking for a 2-bedroom apartment for the past 3 weeks with no success and are very stressed by the rental situation here. We have already submitted 5 applications to date and don't seem to have any success. Typically how many applications does one need to submit before finally being successful?

As we don't have a car and don't intend to get one, we are looking for a place in the city or at least walking distance (e.g. Carlton, Fitzroy, North Melbourne). We are now also considering suburbs within a 20-min train ride to the city but do not know what surburbs are ideal and safe.

We've recently been told that many people submit rental apps offering $20 to $50 more than the advertised rent. How would we know what an appropriate amount is? Our budget for within city is A$420pw and A$320 for the suburbs. This is approximately 27% of my husband's net weekly income. I read somewhere that rental should not exceed 30% of a person's gross income so my assumption is that the budget is not the problem.

Is it possible to find out why our applications were unsuccessful? The agents don't seem to want to reveal such information. I can't help but think that it might be because we're currently on a single income (i intend to look for a job here once we settle down) and that our past rental history and most referees are in Singapore, the agents prob can't be bothered to call overseas to conduct a reference check... while i know that racial discrimination is illegal, it prob also doesn't help that i'm asian even tho my husband is caucasian. Is there anything that we can to do increase our success chances?

We need to move out of our temporary accommodation by 9 Feb and are at our wits' end... so any help that we can get will be great! Thanks!

kaz101 · #2 (**permalink**) 21st January 2008, 04:47 AM

Hi bnco,

Welcome to the forum,

Speaking as a landlord it's hard to check references from abroad and you're right that most letting agents won't bother if there are lots of people looking.
Could you get the references from Singapore for the lettings agents and give them copies?

If the agents don't want to reveal why you are being turned down they don't have to as far as I'm aware.

They will recommend to the landlord whether you are suitable and if there are people with two incomes and references available they will be the prefered tenants. I know since we have an apartment in Melbourne that we let out (sorry it's full for the next 12 months) and that's what our letting agents does. By the way have you contacted MICM? They are our letting agents.

That's another issue - how long are you asking to rent for? 12 months will seem better to a landlord rather than 6 months.

I don't think that racism would be playing a role, since Melbourne is very multicultural.

I hope that helps.

Karen

bnco · #3 (**permalink**) 21st January 2008, 05:14 AM

Hi Karen

Thanks for the info.. it helps to know how the agents "rank" us. At the moment we don't have any written references from our previous agent, i guess now our only hope will be to contact her n try to get a letter. We've only rented once before as the previous apt was staff housing...

We've indicated 1 yr on all our apps as my husband is on a 2-yr contract here.

in terms of business references, what are the preferred type of contacts to indicate? We do not have any personal lawyers or accountants in Singapore and have so far indicated our present or former supervisors and colleagues.

As for personal references, we usually nominate friends - I don't know if that could be a problem. One of my references who lives in Perth told me that she hasn't gotten any calls so far.

kaz101 · #4 (**permalink**) 21st January 2008, 05:27 AM

Hi bnco,

None of our agents have ever told us about business references, and it's usual to have friends as personal references.

They just tell us about the past credit history, how many incomes there are and whether they think the proposed tenant will be able to pay the rent.

Good luck,
Karen

bnco · #5 (**permalink**) 22nd January 2008, 12:29 AM

Hi Karen

Thanks so much for your advice... We've just been informed by an agent that our application has been accepted!!!

I guess there were a few factors that worked in our favour. On the advice of another agent, we included a cover letter explaining our circumstances as well as offered slightly more than the advertised rent as advised by some other people.

We are to pay the 1st month rent at their office tomorrow. However, nothing has been mentioned so far about the bond. Based on what I've read on the app forms and elsewhere, I was under the impression that both the 1st month rental and bond need to be paid within 24hrs in order to secure the lease. Am I missing something here?

What should we expect when arranging for utilities, phone & internet at the apt? We checked the free "Direct Connect" service box in the app form but otherwise have no clue how this works.

kaz101 · #6 (**permalink**) 22nd January 2008, 03:19 AM

Congratulations bnco!

I have no idea how the utilities work since the tenants pay everything. The letting agent should let you know.

Regards,
Karen

bnco · #7 (**permalink**) 23rd January 2008, 08:25 AM

Hi

Can anyone help?

We're on the verge of signing the lease, only to be informed by the utilities connection service that the apartment does not have a phone connection. I'm aware that the phone connection lapses if there hasn't been a connection in 6 or more months. The apartment is not newly built - in fact i would think that it's about 15 to 20 yrs old. The agent did not seem to be aware of this, and asked us if there are any phone sockets in the apartment - a question that we obviously can't answer since we are not there! We were told that according to their database, the previous tenant did not seem to have a home contact number but could not tell us when the place was vacated. Has anyone encountered situations like this before? Should our alarm bells be ringing? In the current tight rental market, would it be rather strange that a place would remain vacant for 6 months or more?

I understand that without a land line we would not be able to have internet connection. Another alternative would be to use wireless broadband, however, we have not figured out which one would be a more reliable and cost effective option.

Telstra quoted a connection fee of $299 - not exactly a small sum. The agent wasn't able to help and directed us to the utilities connection service which then directed us to Telstra. We have now spent the whole day calling various parties and trawling the web to no avail.

We also had the opportunity to inspect the apartment more closely today and noticed that there are many cracks in the paintwork surrounding the built-in wall heaters (I think the heating might be gas). When we mentioned this to the agent, she acknowledged that there are cracks but said that they would not do anything about it unless it worsens. Is this normal? I hope that this is not a sign of faulty heating. Do / can we insist that it is repaired before we move in?

kaz101 · #8 (**permalink**) 23rd January 2008, 09:40 AM

Hi Bnco,

How long have the agents been managing the property?
Why doesn't the agent know if there are telephone sockets?
And why can't they go round there and check?
Are apartments built nowadays without phone connections? I wouldn't have thought so.

It may be that there is a phone connection but possibly it wasn't used because the previous tenant always used their mobile and didn't have internet access there. Telstra may need to do a re-connection.

If you decide to take the property, take photos of the wall heaters and measurements, so that you can see if anything has changed, in case it gets worse and they say it was like that when you moved in.

Also have you checked over the tenancy agreement thoroughly?

Why not do another viewing and check for phone points?

This does sound strange without there being anything specific wrong.

Regards,
Karen (with help from my husband :-) )

cmallon · #9 (**permalink**) 24th January 2008, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaz101

Hi bnco,

Welcome to the forum,

Speaking as a landlord it's hard to check references from abroad and you're right that most letting agents won't bother if there are lots of people looking.
Could you get the references from Singapore for the lettings agents and give them copies?

If the agents don't want to reveal why you are being turned down they don't have to as far as I'm aware.

They will recommend to the landlord whether you are suitable and if there are people with two incomes and references available they will be the prefered tenants. I know since we have an apartment in Melbourne that we let out (sorry it's full for the next 12 months) and that's what our letting agents does. By the way have you contacted MICM? They are our letting agents.

That's another issue - how long are you asking to rent for? 12 months will seem better to a landlord rather than 6 months.

I don't think that racism would be playing a role, since Melbourne is very multicultural.

I hope that helps.

Karen

Hi Karen,

I saw on this post that you are a landlord and hoped you could answer a question although I don't know if it more a question for the agents. We will be coming over from the UK, hopefully at the beginning of March, and I want to try and be prepared and bring everything with me. We have just sold our home and have never rented so have no references to bring, can you suggest anything that may help us when we try to rent? I didn't realise it would be so difficult I just thought that if you wanted somewhere and could afford it that would be it, first come first served! I was also thinking about emailing some of the agents in advance and asking them what we might need.
Thanks for any advice you have,