Information for new tenants
This information has been designed to help prospective and current tenants understand
their rights and obligations as a tenant under a Residential Tenancy Agreement.
Residential tenancies laws in South Australia is governed
by the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 and the Residential Tenancy Regulations 1995. These
documents are available from the State Information Centre, 77 Grenfell Street, Adelaide.
Telephone (08) 8204 1900. The Tenancies Branch of the Office of Consumer & Business
Affairs, located at 91-97 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, administers the Residential Tenancies
Act. Telephone (08) 8204 9544.
As the real estate agents entrusted with the management
of the landlord's property, it is essential that we check a prospective tenant's
credentials before the property is let. Prospective tenants will be required to provide
references, information about themselves, their employment/income and rental history by
way of completing our Application for Residential Tenancy form. An application form
can be obtained from our office or
here
in Adobe Acrobat
(.pdf) format for you to download, view and print.
Obtain a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader
A Residential Tenancy Agreement allows a tenant to take
'possession' of a property for a limited period of time on certain conditions, including
the payment of rent.
A tenancy agreement can be written, verbal or even
implied - it does not need to be in writing to be binding.
The Residential Tenancy Agreement (and terms and
conditions) approved by the Real Estate Institute of South Australia Inc. is utilised by
Abel Realty. You can view a copy of this agreement when inspecting any of our rental
vacancies, at our office or
here in
Adobe Acrobat
(.pdf) format for you to download, view and print.
There are two types of residential tenancy agreements:
- A periodic tenancy - an agreement (written, verbal or
implied) for an indefinite period until it is lawfully terminated by either party or by
the Residential Tenancies Tribunal.
- A fixed term tenancy - a specific time agreed upon at the
beginning of the tenancy (eg., six or twelve months).
The landlord's and tenant's rights and obligations under
both types of tenancy are exactly the same. There are differences, however, in conditions
of termination.
A Residential Tenancy Agreement is a legally binding
contract whereby both parties agree to abide by the conditions of the agreement. Make sure
that you read any written agreement in full and are familiar with all of the conditions
included in it. When you sign the Residential Tenancy Agreement you will receive a copy so
that you have a record of each party's rights and responsibilities. You will also receive
an Inspection Sheet setting out the condition of the
property at the beginning of the tenancy.
At the beginning of the tenancy two copies of a Residential
Property Inspection Sheet are provided to the tenant. The purpose of the
inspection sheet is to record the condition of the premises and the contents at the
commencement of the tenancy. The tenant should check, detail any variations, then sign and
return the inspection sheet to our office within fourteen days.
A Security Bond is paid by a tenant as a form of
guarantee for the landlord against breaches of the Residential Tenancy Agreement. The
amount of the bond varies according to the weekly rental involved, and can be summarised
as follows:
- An amount equivalent to four weeks rent where the rental
is $250 per week or less.
- An amount equivalent to six weeks rent where the rental is
more than $250 per week.
The Security Bond is lodged by our office with the
Tenancies Branch of the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs. The bond is held by
the Tenancies Branch of the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs until the expiration of
your tenancy, payment of water usage expenses and
rental to the required date, and a satisfactory final check against the detailed written Inspection Sheet prepared at the commencement of the
tenancy.
 Rental is payable in
advance. Your tenancy agreement will provided for payment on either a calendar monthly or
fortnightly basis.
Our tenants are able to pay rental instalments at our
office, via post or at any branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Your rental account must be maintained in advance at all
times. If your account falls more than 14 days into arrears, we may have no alternative
but to take action to terminate your tenancy.
If, for any reason, you are not able to make your rental
instalment on or before the due date, you should contact our office immediately.
Every rental property under our management is inspected
internally on a regular three monthly basis during the tenancy. Tenants are given a
minimum of seven days written notice prior to a routine inspection. When conducting your
routine inspections, some of the items we assess include:
- The manner in which you maintain any lawns and garden
areas.
- The general appearance and tidiness of the interior and
exterior of the property.
- The cleanliness of the oven and griller, bathrooms,
toilets, carpets/floors coverings, light fittings, bench tops and surfaces, exhaust fans,
mirrors, curtains, windows and flyscreens etc.
At the commencement of your tenancy, you should arrange
to have the electricity, gas and telephone connected and transferred to your name.
Upon vacating the property it is the responsibility of
the vacating tenant to arrange final meter readings and disconnection of the above
services as well as an Australia Post re-direction of mail to their new address.
The following telephone numbers are listed for your
convenience:
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13 12 45 |
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13 24 61 |
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13 22 00 |
The landlord is obliged to pay council rates and land tax
charges. Charges for water supply are paid as agreed between the landlord and tenant. In
the absence of any contrary agreement, the tenant is responsible to pay for the
cost of water usage exceeding
136 kilolitres per year.
It is the tenant’s responsibility not to
intentionally damage the property and to keep it clean and tidy. Any damage or routine
repairs should be reported to our office during normal business hours.
Repairs and maintenance due to fair wear and tear is the
landlord's responsibility. If the fault is due to negligence on the tenants’ part,
the tenant will be held responsible for the repair costs.
Our company will not accept responsibility for the
payment of accounts for any repairs undertaken without our prior approval.
Only genuine after hours emergencies such as a burst
water pipe, electrical breakdown etc. should be directed to our after hours emergency
paging service. The tenant may be held liable for the cost of after hours service fees,
should the nature of an after hours attendance be regarded as non-urgent.
Tenants must not fix posters or additional picture
hooks to the walls, make any renovations, alterations or additions to the premises without
first obtaining written consent from our office.
The Residential Tenancy Agreement expressly forbids you
keeping any animals (including reptiles, mammals, birds, poultry or fish) on the property
without the landlord's consent. If you have a pet, advise the agent and do not attempt to
conceal the fact as this could create a problem for all parties.
The Regulations under the Strata Titles Act or the
Community Titles Act will apply to any tenant who occupies a unit in a Strata Title or
Community Title Scheme, as the case may be. These Regulations control the use of car
parking facilities and the common property. The Residential Tenancy Agreement contains the
specific rules or regulations affecting the use of the units.
The changing of locks or other security devices are
alterations, which must not be conducted without the written consent of the landlord. It's
always a good idea to ensure that you have a spare key in the event that you are locked
out.
At the expiration of your tenancy, all keys must be
returned to our office. If
the keys are not returned, the tenant may be liable for the cost of changing the locks.
If you rent a property that includes gardens and lawns,
you are required to keep them tidy and free from rubbish. This includes regularly watering
and mowing of the lawns and the trimming of lawn edges, the regular weeding of garden beds
and generally keeping the garden in order. No household rubbish (such as empty bottles,
cardboard cartons etc.) or garden debris should be allowed to accumulate around the
property.
The tenant is responsible to leave the property
(including carpets) in a reasonable condition at the end of the tenancy.
If a tenant vacates a property prior to the expiry of
their "fixed term" tenancy, the outgoing tenant
has a legal obligation to continue rental payments until the expiration of that agreement
or until a suitable new tenant can be found to take over the balance of the unexpired
term.
The outgoing tenant will be responsible for portion of
the re-letting costs incurred by the landlord. Generally, this includes loss of rental, a
portion of the agents letting fees, advertising expenses etc. as per a Residential
Tenancies Tribunal formula.
Tenants occupying a property on a periodic tenancy basis, may give notice equal to 21 days’
or a single period of the tenancy, (whichever is the longer), in writing to the landlord
(or the landlord’s agent) at anytime. For example, if you pay your rent weekly or
fortnightly, you are still required to give 21 days’ notice. If you pay your rent
calendar monthly, you would need to give a calendar months’ notice.
In preparing to leave make sure that the property will be
left clean and tidy. Carpets/floors coverings, walls, woodwork, light fittings, bench tops
and surfaces, exhaust fans, mirrors, curtains, windows and flyscreens should be cleaned.
Pay particular attention to the stove, oven and griller in the kitchen. Special attention
should also be paid to cleaning the bathroom, laundry and toilets when preparing to
vacate. All appliances and fittings should be left in good working order for the next
occupant. Also ensure that any lawns are freshly mowed, garden beds are weeded and all of
your belongings and any household rubbish (such as empty bottles, cardboard cartons etc.)
or garden debris is removed from the property prior to the final inspection.
Only the persons notified to the landlord prior to the
commencement of the tenancy may permanently reside at the property. You must obtain
written approval from our office prior to any change in the occupants of the property. The
landlord may not unreasonably withhold consent to you sub-letting the property or
assigning your interest in the tenancy. However, the landlord may charge for their
reasonable expenses in providing approval to sub-let the property or assigning an
interest.
To ‘sub-let’ means that a tenant rents out
all or part of the premises to someone else, and in effect becomes the landlord to that
subtenant. To ‘assign’ means to transfer a tenancy to someone else.
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