What a Landlord Needs to Know

Online, February 21, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Landlords have over 100 new reforms to note now that the New Residential Tenancies Act is now in effect from January 31, 2011. The most important changes are outlined in a free report available from Exchange Property Sales and Management: What a Landlord Needs to Know.

Exchange Property Sales and Management licensee Ian Comyns says that while many of the reforms are positive, there are some contentious changes.

"In particular, the disclosure of any health risks will be critical for landlords in limiting liability going forward, Ian says. And when it comes to ending a lease, if the tenant has already been given 90 days notice, they can vacate without giving the landlord notice and are only obliged to pay rent until their vacate date.

"This is probably one of the most important and controversial aspects of the new Act," says Comyns.

Others changes are just downright silly.

For example, in the past, it's been common for leases to be verbal agreements between tenant and landlord, but the new legislation changes that. All leases, or residential tenancy agreements as they are called in the Act, must be provided in
written form, and contain the terms and conditions of the lease. A tenancy that is not covered by a written lease is automatically a six-month agreement between you and your tenant.

While it appears that the literal interpretation of the Act means that the landlord's name and contact information must be contained in the lease, even if you use an agent to handle all of your property matters, many commercial training centres are advising that this is not correct and that the agent's details will suffice.

"It would be madness to put the owner's details on the lease," Comyns says.

To learn more, download the full What a Landlord Needs to Know Report free from our website.