Realmark Blog About the Real+ Product

Our clients over at Realmark have written a blog post about the innovative Real Plus product, and why and how it benefits their property management teams.

Follow the link to read the post:http://www.realmark.com.au/our-geeky-property-managers/

National Occupational Licensing System Dumped

On 13 December 2013, the Council of Australian Governments decided that the proposed policy for National Occupational Licensing System (NOLS) should no longer be pursued. This comes as a relief to many throughout the industry who believe a better option exists.

After discussions with the State governments, several concerns surrounding the NOLS model arose. If a policy for NOLS was pursued, there would have been significant costs for the governments and occupations involved so the jurisdictions encouraged that alternative approaches be sought.

An new alternative plan for labour mobility will be particularly beneficial for real estate professionals that live near the borders of two states as it will allow licensees to operate in any state of Australia using just the one license, rather than having to pay a fee or apply for additional licenses.

The NSW government is working alongside the other States to ensure a system is implemented, and the framework is likely to be similar to how the driver’s license system operates.

Stay tuned for more information on this as it develops.

The Rise of Long-Term Renters

As we have seen the number of Australians who own their home decline over the last decade, we continue to see a rise in the portion of the population who are renting long term – renting for a continuous period of 10 or more years.

Here are some quick stats on the current long-term rental landscape:

• In the last decade, the percentage of people renting compared to owning a house has risen from 18.4% to 25.1%.
• $347 is the average amount a household can expect to pay on housing per week – which is 19.7% less than homeowners with a mortgage pay per week.
• The average renter spends 20% of their gross income on rent.
• 10 years ago, around 27% of renters had been renting for 10 years or more. Today, 33.4% of renters have been renting for 10 years or more.
• 31.8% of people feel they need to rent for longer periods of time to save for a larger house deposit.
• The number of middle-aged Australians renting long-term continues to increase.
• More and more families are occupying rental properties, whilst the number of single person rental households is declining.
• A significant proportion of people who rent don’t feel a sense of community in the area they live, and are less satisfied financially.

What does this mean for property managers?These statistics highlight how important it is to value and take care of your tenants, rather than viewing them as dispensible. If tenants are frequently moving in and out, a property is going to experience a lot more wear and tear.

Property managers should encourage their landlords to find long-term tenants and keep the positive aspects of not having a vacancy in mind when considering when and how often to raise the rent.

CTTT to Become Known as NCAT

As of January 1 2014, the Consumer, Trader & Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) will become NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

CTTT is currently composed of 23 separate NSW tribunals and this system can be quite confusing. NCAT seeks to integrate these existing tribunals to provide a single gateway in an effort to improve the accessibility, efficiency and accountability of the tribunal system and increase the public’s confidence in these services.

To ensure NCAT can meet the needs of Tribunal users, it will consist of five divisions – consumer and commercial, administrative and equal opportunity, occupational and regulatory, guardianship and victim support. This is a response to the challenge which has been maintaining consistency and transparency across over 30 tribunals whilst still providing quality service.

CTTT have announced that any matters which have been lodged with them and not heard before January 1^st do not have to be relodged with NCAT, and any the resolution of any matters currently in progress will not be affected.

For further information visit: http://www.tribunals.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/

Free Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service for NSW

NSW tenants, landlords and property managers can now utilise a free tenancy dispute resolution service which aims to resolve residential tenancy disputes rather than having them heard by the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) which will be known as the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) as of 1^st January 2014.

Areas where Fair Trading is able to assist in resolving disputes includes:

• repairs and maintenance
• non-urgent health and safety issues
• alterations and additions
• access to the premises including inspections
• non-compliance with the tenancy agreement
• water saving devices and smoke alarms
• provisions of correct notices
• ending a tenancy
• breaking a lease, and
• condition reports

Rather than have parties go through the standard initial conciliation process at tribunal, this new resolution service seeks to resolve disputes through a teleconference or onsite meeting. This method relies on the co-operation of both parties and their willingness to reach an agreement out of court – Fair Trading recommends that parties involved in a dispute are open to various suggestions of how to settle the dispute.

In any instance where Fair Trading cannot help the parties reach a mutual agreement in regards to the resolution of their dispute, either party can lodge a claim with NCAT. Additionally, NCAT will continue to deal with all other areas of residential tenancy that Fair Trading does not handle.

Visit the Fair Trading – Residential Tenancy Disputes page, or call 13 32 20 for more information about the free dispute resolution service.

RentRight: New Mobile App for VIC Tenants

Consumer Affairs Victoria have developed a free mobile app ‘RentRight’, designed to assist Victorian tenants in knowing their rights and responsibilities, whilst also providing various resources to aid renters in managing their tenancy.

This app provides renters with a wealth of information at their fingertips, but provided Property Managers are diligent in keeping up to date with legislation and best practice, there is no need to see the app as a threat or problem.

Some of the key features of the ‘RentRight’ app include:

• Legislated information for renters on topics where renters may have previously been unclear of their rights and responsibilities. Areas such as leases and notices, standards, repairs, and entry rights are clearly and thoroughly explained.

• Helping tenants understand condition reports. The app outlines the actual purpose of the report, and also the importance of being diligent with inspecting the property prior to tenancy. It specifies the requirements of both the landlord and tenant.

• Lodging legal notices for repairs, damages and utilities directly to the property manager. The app can lodge urgent and non-urgent repairs or damage to the premises, with the functionality to include photos in the notice. It can also lodge a legal notice if the tenant has paid utility charges that are not the tenant’s responsibility.

• Various email templates regarding issues such as ending a lease (e.g. before a lease agreement expires, because the premises are unsafe, because the landlord has given notice to vacate) and breaches of duty (e.g. keys have not been provided, the premises have not been maintained in good condition).

• Calculating weekly rent costs, to assist renters determine how much their payments will be, whether they are to be paid fortnightly, monthly, six-monthly or annually.

• Budgeting calculator which is designed to track the various up-front costs that may be involved in renting a new property.

It is vital that Property Managers continue to educate themselves on industry standards, legislation changes and their responsibilities – lucky for our Real+ members it’s easy to stay on the ball.

The various learning modules on the Real+ learning platform help test your knowledge and see which learning areas may need improvement.

You have access to resources such as learner guides to assist in managing arrears, maintaining property and even landlord letter templates, whilst we also aim to keep you informed on industry changes with announcements in the ‘News’ section of the platform.

New Strata Laws in NSW to Match 21st Century Lifestyle

As property managers, I’m sure we’ve all been frustrated with strata rules at some point or another. Thankfully, proposed new laws are finally bringing strata rules into the 21st century, according to NSW Fair Trading Minister, Anthony Roberts.

Whilst changes are still some time away, the media is going to be heavily focused on these changes over the coming months, meaning your landlords will hear a lot about it all. In order to be prepared for their concerns and questions, we need to be aware of the proposed changes and start to think about how this will affect our processes.

These changes have been prompted by the growth in strata title across NSW over the last 50 years, with more than 30% of NSW’s population now either owning, living or working in strata and community schemes, the department proposes to introduce these new laws by mid-2014.

The new legislation will provide a number of options for more modern, innovative and positive outcomes for all – including owners, investors, tenants and managing agents.

Some of the proposed changes will include:

For tenants:

• Smoke drift – no longer will tenants be allowed to smoke on apartment balconies.
• Pets by Default – tenants can no longer be banned from having a pet or require special permission to do so.

For landlords:

• Renovations – such as addressing noisy timber and tiled floors before they are laid, as opposed to the current system where noisy floors can only be addressed after they become a problem.
• Overcrowding, building defects, levies, debt recovery, sinking funds, insurance, money management, dispute resolution, compliance and enforcement will also be covered.

Executive Committees & Voting

• Allow strata schemes to choose alternative methods of attendance at meetings including social media, video and teleconferencing. Postal or electronic votes from owners who are not physically in attendance will also be acceptable.
• Tenants will have the right to attend and participate in meetings of the owners corporation tenants will not be given new voting rights.
• Executive committee members in strata schemes will have to declare conflicts of interest and may be required to remove themselves from voting on issues if such conflicts emerge.
• Strata managers, building managers, caretakers and agents will no longer be allowed to sit on executive committees

• Proxy votes will be restricted in schemes of more than 20 units to 5 percent of the ownership. In buildings of 20 units or fewer, owners will only be allowed to carry one proxy vote.

What does this mean for you?
We will be keeping a close eye on confirmation of the proposed changes and keeping you in the loop of how it will affect your landlords, and what you can do to update your property management processes and office policies.

For more information about the new Strata Reform, check out the NSW Govt Srata Title Law Reform Position Paper or visit this section of NSW Dept of Fair Trading site.