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2011: Beyond the Brisbane Flood
Dealing with a tenant dispute is not what it use to be
How to keep your head above water with Queensland’s new pool regulations
A decade of property management history
How immediate rental disbursements can save you thousands

2011: Beyond the Brisbane Floods

Welcome to another issue of intouch. In this issue we'll focus on how changes to the Queensland court system are affecting tenancy disputes, and we'll take a look at the new swimming pool legislation and what you'll need to do to meet the requirements of the approaching deadlines.

But first, let's look at how the Queensland rental market has been performing in 2011. Immediately after the January floods we saw little in the way of rental increases across the wider Brisbane region. Even though vacancy rates decreased, this was absorbed by a relatively high number of properties available at the time. On the Gold Coast we saw many areas suffer a reduction in rental prices.

Indooroopilly Bridge During The Brisbane Floods 2011

More than six months on, real estate commentators are again focused on vacancy rates as flood-affected homeowners leave the rental market to return to their own homes. Some experts predict that this could have property investors struggling to achieve the same rent for the latter part of this year. I'm not so convinced...

St Lucia Golf Club During the Brisbane Floods 2011

The impact of the floods has been largely confined to areas directly affected, and the simple fact is that not everyone will up-and-leave the rental market after 6-months. Yes, the strong Australian dollar is affecting the number of tenants coming from overseas, reducing tenant demand. But since there's more reluctance from first homebuyers and investors to buy property, this will increase tenant demand...

Alpha Street Taringa During the Brisbane 2011 Floods

Despite the back-and-forth between industry commentators, the same rules for success apply as they always have. If you price rental properties correctly and have them marketed well, you will always be positioned to maximise your return on investment.

Westerham Street Taringa During The Brisbane Floods 2011

Chris Rolls | Managing Director | Rental Express

Dealing with a tenant dispute is not what it use to be

If you think that dealing with Queensland’s new tenancy dispute system is going to provide you with protection during a tenancy dispute then think again...

On December 1, 2009, 23 tribunals across Queensland merged into one, to form the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). And the shift from the Small Claims Tribunal for hearing disputes between tenants and owners is far from just a name change. It's actually the most substantial change in our state judicial system in over 50 years. Under these changes, tenancy disputes are no longer heard by a magistrate, instead they are determined by lawyers trained as adjudicators.

The types of cases which QCAT hear remain much the same, including; disputes over rents, bonds, service charges, entry, subletting, and damaged property, however, the changes are proving to not be beneficial to property investors.

Traditionally, many people within the real estate and property management industries have had strong working relationships with their local magistrate's courts. Most property managers understood the bounds of the court and understood the magistrate's decisions, and generally found that decisions were consistent and fair.

But as we progress further into life with QCAT, it seems that stories of puzzling rulings are becoming common events. One industry-insider put it this way; “We've found a deep well of inconsistency in decisions, and some, quite frankly have me pulling my hair out...”

And it seems he's not alone. Many more insiders echo the sentiment of perplexing rulings. In one instance, a dispute over unpaid rent was dismissed by an adjudicator who made the following remark: “I find that tenants, particularly from overseas, are ill prepared to deal with the fine print of the Residential Tenancies Act, therefore if they generally comply then I believe that is good enough...”

A ruling which left one unfortunate investment property owner bewildered and out of pocket.

In a separate incident, a property manager working for the Ray White Group stated that her adjudicator for a case said, “I don't award for cleaning”, and subsequently ruled that a tenant was not required to pay for the cleaning of a rental property clearly left in a dirty state.

And unfortunately, remarks such as this are not as infrequent as one might hope. Because of this, investment property owners and their property managers are learning that a negotiated outcome in a tenancy dispute - even in a black and white case - might save a completely random decision in the hands of QCAT.

With a little luck, as more voices are heard, the government will have little choice but to amend QCAT's shortfalls. After all, without investment owners, many Queenslanders would have no place to call home.

How to keep your head above water with Queensland’s new pool regulations

Does your property have a pool? If you answered yes, you're probably trying to get your head around what recent changes to legislation will mean for you. And if these new laws have caused you confusion, you're not alone.

In December 2010 the Queensland Government introduced a new set of pool safety laws which required homeowners to register their pool and obtain a certificate stating their pool met safety standards.

Shortly after the introduction of these laws, Queensland was struck by the January floods and Cyclone Yasi. As a direct response to this, the Queensland Government temporarily allowed property owners to rent properties without certification as a measure to deal with the influx of evacuees and those assisting with the recovery effort. And now that the need for this exemption period has passed, the new laws are back in full swing.

Pool owners now have until November 4, 2011, to register their pool; a process that can be done easily on the Department of Local Government and Planning website. And before entering a new lease, a pool owner must now obtain a pool safety certificate from a licensed pool inspector. Owners with existing leases will have until November 30, 2012 to have their pool certified.

Owners who fail to abide by these changes face substantial penalties. Failure to register your pool can result in fines of up to $2,000. Likewise, owners who don't have the correct certification risk being issued a $500 on-the-spot fine or up to a $16,500 court imposed penalty.

To get your pool certified, you'll need to get in touch with a certified inspector. Fortunately, the Department of Local Government and Planning website has a list of inspectors in your area. Certificates are valid for two years for non-shared pools and one year for shared pools.

Here's a list of things that they'll be looking at when inspecting your property; ground levels surrounding the pool, fixed, climbable objects, pool gates, access to the pool area, and damaged barriers. So if any of these aspects aren't up to scratch for your pool, it'll pay to address these sooner rather than later.

When putting these regulations into action, take a moment to consider what we're collectively working towards. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under five, and almost 60 percent of these deaths are in backyard swimming pools. According to the Queensland Government, these new laws will create safer swimming areas and reinforce the importance of pool safety in Queensland.

A decade of property management history

What were you doing a decade ago? Despite the fact that August 2011 marks the 10 year anniversary of Rental Express, ironically a decade ago Rental Express didn't technically exist.

In fact, Rental Express started as a traditional real estate agency, and a decade ago the newly-formed business was a team of just four people, operating under the Harcourts Paddington name, out of what is now the Paddington post office.

It has been an eventful journey to say the least. In the first few years we concentrated on selling houses, despite the fact that we excelled at property management. In 2004, despite our focus on sales, the business won the Harcourts Australia ‘Property Management Team of the Year’ award.

In 2005 a significant change in direction meant the sales business was sold so we could concentrate exclusively on providing property management services. At the time this was quite a pioneering step.

Needless to say, we've seen the property management industry change significantly since 2001. The internet has transformed the way we advertise properties for rent, advances in technology have revolutionised our industry, there have been many legislative burdens passed on to property investors, and successive Labor state governments have significantly increased the rights of tenants.

In fact, despite significant efficiency gains as a result of technology, it now costs approximately 50% more to manage a property now than it did 5 years ago, purely as a result of changes to legislation.

The upside is that for a good part of the decade we have seen tremendous growth in property values allowing many property investors to profit handsomely. But now, many investors are rightfully anxious about the future of their investment.

Speaking from a decade of experience – there will always be tough times. But one thing remains constant; of the thousands of investors we manage property for, the ones who are most successful, are those who buy when times are tough and never, ever sell.

The good news is, many property investors do take a long term view, and so do we. If we've learnt anything from a decade of operations, it's that property is resilient; especially with the right property manager onside. Steve Sleswick and I would like to thank our clients and our dedicated team, for helping to create Australia's most successful property management organisation.

Chris Rolls | Managing Director | Rental Express

How immediate rental disbursements can save you thousands

Did you know Rental Express is one of the only property management organisations in Australia that offers its owners immediate disbursement of rental funds?

So rather than having to wait until the end of the month to receive your rental income, you can have your money transferred to you immediately. We transfer cleared funds from our trust account every day of the working week.

What you may not know is that this can make a huge difference in reducing the interest you pay on your mortgage. Just by having the money go into your account weekly instead of monthly can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Here’s an example of how you can save... Resulting in a saving of $31,947! Just by paying fortnightly, rather than monthly, mortgage repayments!

	Monthly Repayments	Fortnightly Repayments
Repayment Amount	$1032/month	$516/fortnight
Repayment Time	25 years	20 years 8 months
Interest Paid	$159,547	$127,600
Repayments Made	$309,547	$277,608
Time Saved	Nil	4 years 4months
Dollars Saved	Nil	$31,947

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SKIP TO...

2011: Beyond the Brisbane Floods

Dealing with a tenant dispute is not what it use to be

How to keep your head above water with Queensland’s new pool regulations

A decade of property management history

How immediate rental disbursements can save you thousands

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