TENANT INFORMATION BOOKLET. Harcourts Inner West.

Transcription

1 TENANT INFORMATION BOOKLET Harcourts Inner West

2 Tenant Information Booklet Welcome From Harcourts Inner West Property Management Welcome from Harcourts Inner West Property Management Team. As the managing agent of the property you will soon occupy, we look forward to having a close association with you and trust you will enjoy your tenancy at one of our managed properties We Ask You To Complete The Following: 1. Thoroughly read your tenancy agreement to ensure you understand the conditions. 2. Complete the Condition Report and return it to us within three (3) working days. 3. Check the property for any maintenance problems and report to us as soon as possible. During the Term of The Tenancy Please Ensure You Adhere To The Following: 1. Pay rent promptly and in advance at all times. If you are having difficulty paying we advise you contact us immediately. 2. Maintain the property in the condition you found it and report any maintenance issues to us promptly. Periodically we are required to conduct internal as well as external inspections of the property. These inspections are designed to enable us to advise our owners of the condition of their property as well as provide us the opportunity to talk to you about any matters relating to the property. You will always receive the proper notification when these inspections are due. Contact numbers It is important for you to advise us immediately of your new home phone number and other contact numbers if they are changed at any time.

3 Insurance The Lessor must pay for the rates and is responsible for the premises (that is insurance for the building, but not your belongings). If you want protection for your belongings you will need to take out Contents Insurance to cover the cost if your belongings are stolen or damaged. Sewer Blockages Please watch at all times what is going down the drain and the toilet. If a blockage is found to be caused by items put there by you, the charge for clearing will be forwarded to you for payment. Breaking Your Tenancy Agreement We will assist you if you find it necessary to break your tenancy agreement. You must advise our office immediately in writing. You will be charged for reasonable costs to re-iet the property, which will include advertising. Noise As per the Terms and Conditions of your tenancy, noise must be kept to a minimum at all times to allow your neighbours enjoyment of their property. If we receive a noise complaint, a Notice to Remedy Breach may be issued. Keys You cannot change locks without our permission. If permission is given, a key for that lock must be handed to our office. If you loose any keys or remote controls you will have to replace them at your own cost. Walls Walls must not be defaced with hooks, nails, blu-tack, posters etc. If you require any picture hooks please contact our office. Lawns and Gardens You are required to regularly maintain the lawns and gardens, unless otherwise agreed to in the tenancy agreement. Mow the lawns, weed the gardens and watering (restrictions permitting). This includes all edges and you must ensure all paved areas are weed free.

4 Pets Unless the permission of the owner is obtained, pets will NOT be allowed to be kept on the premises. Pets kept without permission will result in a breach of tenancy. Hot Water Systems Most electric systems require topping up every two months or so. We suggest you top up every time you receive an electricity bill as a reminder. To do this; pull the 'trigger' on the side of the system until water runs out of the overflow. When you become aware there is a problem with your hot water, please check this first before calling our office. Body Corporate By-Laws If applicable, you must at all times obey the Body Corporate By-Laws, a copy of which will be provided by our office. Swimming Pools It is your (tenant's) responsibility to maintain the daily upkeep and cleanliness of the pool unless otherwise agreed in the tenancy agreement. This includes skimming the pool for leaves, Balancing using proper chemicals etc. It is the lessor's responsibility to maintain any malfunctioning equipment or tools relating to the pool e.g. Kreepy crawly. Gas Supply By Cylinder If your property is supplied gas by cylinder bottles you will need to contact Origin Energy on when the bottle is about to run out. There are two types of gas bottles you may have: -Automatic- This means once the one bottle runs out it will automatically switch to use the other bottle. You will notice that the lever is pointed to the bottle in use. -Manual- When you run out of gas you will have to manually switch use from the one bottle to the other. Once you switch the bottles you will know to order another.

5 No power Check to see if you have a safety switch and that it has not tripped. If it has tripped then reset it as per the manufacturer's instructions on the switch. If the safety switch trips again, remove all appliances with a plug top on them from the power points and ensure all power points are switched off. Reset your safety switch and plug in the appliances one at a time until the safety switch trips again locating the faulty appliance. If you do not have a safety switch or if the above doesn't work, then check with your neighbours to see if they have power. If they don't, contact your local power authority. If there are any further problems, please contact Harcourts Inner West during business hours on Hot Water Systems Most electric systems require topping up every two months or so. We suggest you top up every time you receive an electricity bill as a reminder. To do this; pull the 'trigger' on the side of the system until water runs out of the overflow. When you become aware there is a problem with your hot water, please check this first before calling our office. If your system is gas, check to see if the pilot light has gone out. If so, then relight as per the instructions on the hot water unit. A leaking hot water tap will cause a poor supply of hot water and your electricity or gas bills will be higher then usual. Faulty Oven or Stove Electric stove- If the hot plates are not working, please contact our office to arrange a service. If the oven is not heating, check to see if the indicator light is on. If not then the oven may have been switched to automatic. Please refer to the instruction booklet to reset the oven to manual cooking. The light should them come on and the oven will work. If not then contact our office to arrange the service

6 Gas Stove Please contact our office during business hours to arrange service- if there are no facilities at all.. (Please ensure that your gas and electricity accounts have been paid, to avoid confusion) Washing Machines (Where provided by lessor for tenant use) Please make sure before calling our office to arrange a service that the machine is turned on at the power point, the taps have been turned on. If the machine is not pumping out, check to see if the drain hose has been accidentally kinked. Clothes Dryer (Where provided by lessor for tenant use) Most brands of clothes dryers require the filter to be cleaned after each load. If it is not cleaned, it will cause the dryer to take longer than usual to dry a load of clothing. Please also remember that your dryer requires sufficient ventilation to operate efficiently. Garbage Disposal Units If your garbage disposal is refusing to dispose of water please check to see if it may be jammed. To do this you will need to turn the unit off at the power point and remove the plug top. Remove the blockage and un jam with the key supplied. The reset button may have also tripped, this is located under the unit and is usually red in colour. Press the button in, refit the plug top and turn on and test.

7 Care and Use of Your Garbage Disposal Grind food waste with only a strong flow of cold water. Don't use hot water when the disposal is in use Try not to turn off the unit before the grinding has completed and you can only hear the water Flush the unit with ice cubes and water at lease once a month Please don't put stone fruit, bones, extremely fibrous materials like corn husks and artichokes etc Feed the waste into the disposal slowly while the cold water is running. Don't pack the unit with waste. Small amounts of citrus and other melon rinds are able to be grinded. Small amounts of the grinding plate may occur, but will not affect the performance or life of the garbage disposal. Light Globes It is your (tenant's) responsibility to replace any light globes that may go out while you are occupying the property. This includes fluoro lights (and their starters), reflector globes (down lights) and heater globes. Bin Collection To find out which day your rubbish bin is collected please contact Brisbane City Council on Please note the days are not suburb specific and may cross certain streets. Important information about smoke alarms From 1 July 2007, both tenants and lessors have new responsibilities for maintaining smoke alarms in their rental properties. Tenants: You have new obligations for cleaning, testing and replacing batteries for alarms during your tenancy Lessor: The Lessor has new obligations for installing smoke alarms, cleaning and replacing batteries between tenancies.

8 Smoke Alarm Background: There have been changes to Queensland laws about smoke alarms since Renting a home: a tenant's guide to the rules for renting in Queensland (Form 17a) was printed. These new laws are covered by amendments to the Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990 and were passed by Parliament in November They include obligations for lessor and tenants in relation to the following: types of smoke alarms to be installed responsibility for maintenance and cleaning responsibility for replacing batteries The Residential Tenancies Act has also been amended to allow grounds for entry to the rental premises by the lessor/ agent to install and maintain smoke alarms. These amendments will fall under entry provisions (S 109 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1994) allowing lessors to give a 24 hour entry notice for the purposes of entry to comply with the Fire and Rescue Service Act in relation to smoke alarms. These new rules about entry are expected to take effect from early For more information about the obligations for the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms in rental premises visit the Queensland Fire and Rescue website or call their Information Hotline on Only working smoke alarms Save Lives Carry out smoke alarm tests every month Not all smoke alarms look alike, but all have similar characteristics. Be sure to locate and test all smoke alarms. Fault Warning-Test Unsuccessful Immediately contact your property manager or landlord and inform them of the problem. Phone:

9 Water Charging New Laws allow lessor (landlords) to pass on the full water consumption costs to tenants provided all the minimum criteria has been met,3 star Wels rating or higher from April What are the minimum criteria for water charging? Lessor will be able to pass on the full water consumption costs to tenants if: The rental premises are individually metered (or water is delivered by vehicle) The premises are water efficient, and The tenancy agreement states the tenant must pay for water consumption What is a water efficient rental premises Water efficient rental premises are where required internal cold water taps, showerheads and toilets meet the performance standards for a 3 star WELS rating or higher. These water efficiency levels may be achieved through installing 3 star WELS rated products or through the use of add on devices, such as aerators or flow restrictors. When can a Lessor start charging tenants once these criteria are met? From 1 April 2008 If tenants are on a periodic lease agreement If tenants sign a new agreement (fixed or periodic) on or after April If the periodic agreement doesn t say the tenants are to pay for the water consumption, the lessor /agent cannot re- quire the tenant to pay unless both parties sign any changes to the existing agreement or enter into a new agreement. From the 1 April 2009 or the expiry of the agreement, whichever occurs first. If tenants are currently on a fixed term agreement signed before 1 April 2008 Note: If the fixed term tenancy starts before 1 April 2008 lessors / agents cannot include a special Term to allow tenants to be charged for water from 1 April A new Agreement will need to be made on or after 1 April 2008.

10 Excess Water Charges As mentioned in your Tenancy Agreement, the lessor/ agent reserves the right to charge you for excess water usage. What is excess water? Any water used over 140 Litres per person per day, will be regarded as excess water usage and you may be required to pay $0.95 per Kilolitre used over this amount. Since the start of the drought, Brisbane residents and businesses have made a fantastic effort to save water and have reduced their consumption by 80 billion litres. But with no end to the drought in sight, we all need to aim to reduce our water consumption to 140 litres per person per day. Use the table below to see the target water amounts to be used per day. Target Consumption Per Day People per household Litres per day 1 t 140 U day 2 t 280L 3 t t t 420L 4t t t t 560L 5ttttt 700L If we all reduced out water usage to 140 litres per person per day, we could save 47 million litres of water every day, which would help prolong the water supply in our dams.

11 Maintenance Request Forms We have enclosed a small supply of maintenance request forms for your use and convenience. To ensure prompt attention to any maintenance, we ask that you complete, date and sign the forms each time any work is to be done at the property. The only instance in which our office will accept verbal maintenance requests is in the case of an emergency (eg. blocked sewerage, loss of electricity); after you contact our office you will still be required to submit the problem in writing either by form or by to: innerwest.rentals@harcourts.com.au Please provide a full detailed description of the problem i.e. specify the problem, if the tap is leaking specify which tap it is (hot or cold) and it's location. Ensure contact numbers are noted on the form so that our trade's people can contact you easily. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our office so that we can clarify this for you DEFT Rent Payment System Please read the instructions provided in your DEFT rent payment registration kit. To register please logon to the DEFT website and follow the prompts. If you don not have access to the internet you can register by telephone. Call Please contact our office if you have any quires regarding the DEFT rent payment system. We trust your time renting with us is a pleasant one and we look forward to having a long and happy association. We trust your time renting with us is pleasant one and we look forward to having a long and happy association. Harcourts Inner West Property Management Team 4/480 Waterworks Rd Ashgrove Qld 4060 Office: Fax: innerwest.rentals@harcourts.com.au

12

13