This is probably the number one question of landlords. Marketing and achieving the correct rental is critical to your vacancy period, your pool of available tenants and your annual rental income. A professional property manager will take into account recent comparable rentals, time of year and property condition when assessing market rental.

The property should be presented in its best light for photography and open for inspections. When a property is clean and undamaged, it will attract a better quality tenant who will respect the property. Ideally a property for lease should be freshly painted or have very minimal marks to walls and no obvious stains to carpeted areas.

Other work than can lift the aesthetic appeal include new blinds and keeping the property clean throughout any vacancy period. During vacancy periods, we strongly recommend a temporary electricity connection be arranged. This is especially useful during winter months.

This is completely dependent on the way the property is presented, asking a realistic market rent and the time of the year. Three days vacancy between tenancies is allowed to accommodate for completing a thorough final inspection to ensure the property has been left in good condition, as well as an ingoing condition report for the new tenants. To achieve a short vacancy period asking rentals must be competitive.

There are a number of key checks and screening processes that every tenant should be put through prior to being accepted into your investment property.

Your property manager will complete the following steps:

• Check the National Tenancy Database (a register of people who have been troublesome tenants right across Australia).
• Obtain payslips to ensure the tenant/s can afford the rent (ensuring the rent is not more than 30% of their income).
• Obtain a reference from their previous two property managers.
• Collect 100 points of ID.
• The applicant’s information is then discussed with you as the landlord for the final decision on whether they are approved as tenants for your investment property.

The internet is by far the most commonly used tool for rental enquiries by tenants. At Samma Real Estate, we know from our own rental data that over 90% of our rental enquiries come from realestate.com ‘Feature Properties’. As a result, every property advertised with Samma Real Estate is made a ‘Feature Listing’ on realestate.com.au and is also advertised on domain.com.au, Realestateview.com.au and synergybsm.com.au. Further to this, your property is also displayed on our in-house rental list.

We conduct mid -week and Saturday open for inspections as well as private appointments where possible.

The first routine inspection for a new tenancy is conducted after 3 months, and every 6 months after that -this is the maximum number of inspections legally allowed.

After every inspection we will provide a comprehensive report with photographs and any maintenance required, as well as suggested improvements for future consideration.

All costs relating to your property can be deducted from the rent. You will be provided with a monthly statement and copies of all invoices for that month. You will also be provided with an end of financial year statement detailing all income and expenditure.

Most tenants pay their rent by direct debit. Other options offered are payment by personal cheque or EFT, however the preferred method is direct debit.

Once a tenant’s account is debited, it takes 3-5 business days to clear into our trust account. Once cleared, the rent is transferred into your nominated bank account/s. When the rent is paid to your account, you will also receive your monthly statement.

We strongly recommend all landlords take out landlord insurance. While very few claims are made, landlord insurance will cover many of the worst-case scenarios that can arise. Your Property Manager can guide you through taking out insurance and we can complete any insurance claims for you to ensure you receive the maximum coverage paid.