Honest Broker | Building the knowledge of self-managing landlords

March 30, 2019
What to do when your tenant is a victim of family violence
There has been a growing awareness of the presence and impact of family violence...
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November 25, 2018
Victorian Court ruling will impact all landlords
A recent Supreme Court decision in Victoria has already impacted on residential ...
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September 30, 2018
Minimum Housing Standards
Changes to Residential Tenancy legislation are now before the NSW parliament. By...
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August 28, 2018
New tenancy laws for Victoria
At the beginning of August, a bill was put to the Victorian parliament that has ...
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July 29, 2018
Bathroom renovations in rental properties
A clever bathroom renovation in your investment property will attract more appli...
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June 30, 2018
Getting tenants to pay for services
Important information for Queensland landlords A long established practice in Qu...
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June 3, 2018
Managing keys and locks
Organising keys, locks and remote controls is a very important part of the sign-...
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May 6, 2018
Investor lending policies treat all markets the same
There was some important news for property investors recently with the Australia...
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March 25, 2018
A landlord’s duty of disclosure
A violent crime has recently been committed in your investment property. Would y...
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March 4, 2018
A landlord’s right to choose
You own the property, you should have the right to choose who lives there. This ...
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February 11, 2018
Are your windows compliant?
Let’s start with two facts: In Australia, incidents of children falling ...
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January 28, 2018
Dealing with asbestos in a rental property
If your investment property was fully or partially build prior to 1990, there is...
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January 14, 2018
Rent receipts and ledgers
Do you issue rent receipts to your tenants? Do you maintain a dedicated rental l...
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December 10, 2017
Changes to travel deduction claims
The Federal Government’s budgeted changes to claiming deductions for rental pr...
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November 27, 2017
Why you must act on maintenance requests
Honest Broker has previously written about the value of having a maintenance sch...
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November 12, 2017
A cautionary tale for landlords
Honest Broker’s affiliate, eezirent, provides services for self-managing l...
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October 29, 2017
Capital gains tax – the basics
What is it? Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a tax on the profit made on the sale of a...
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October 15, 2017
Get it in writing
Renting a property is essentially a business transaction. As such all importan...
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October 1, 2017
Time to check the air con
As the weather starts to heat up – dramatically it seems for parts of Ea...
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September 17, 2017
5 questions to ask a potential tenant
The time spent with a potential tenant showing them through your property is cru...
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September 3, 2017
Managing the vacate process
The ‘vacate process’ is the period between the issuing of the termin...
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August 27, 2017
Contacting a tenant after they’ve moved
Quite often there needs to be communication with a tenant after they have vacate...
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August 20, 2017
Charging your tenants for water consumption
Unlike their commercial couterparts, residential landlords are not necessarily e...
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August 13, 2017
What is a rental yield?
As an informed investor, it is essential to know the return on the money you hav...
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August 6, 2017
Furnished or unfurnished?
Whether or not to offer a property as furnished can be a real dilemma for invest...
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July 31, 2017
Fleas in a rental property
Pests and vermin can be a real headache in some rental properties. Fleas, and wh...
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July 16, 2017
Look after your investment with a maintenance schedule
Property investment is not a set and forget option. You must protect and enhan...
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July 9, 2017
Rent increases
You take on an investment so that it will make money for you. There are two ways...
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July 2, 2017
Managing the bond
For a landlord, there are three key components in risk management at the start o...
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June 25, 2017
Periodic versus fixed term leases
A residential lease will be classified either as a ‘fixed term’ or a ‘peri...
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June 18, 2017
Selling your investment property
When you make the decision to sell your property investment, it is important to ...
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June 11, 2017
How to process a tenant application
Processing an application for your rental property efficiently and thoroughly wi...
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June 4, 2017
Gardens and rental properties
The ability and willingness of tenants to adequately maintain gardens, lawns an...
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May 28, 2017
Buying a property with a rent guarantee
Investment properties with rental guarantees are relatively common in Australia....
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May 21, 2017
5 tax myths about property rentals
This is the second in our series on tax issues relating to your investment prope...
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May 14, 2017
Routine Condition Reports
Keeping an eye on your investment property Considering the dollar value of your ...
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May 5, 2017
Entry Condition Reports
A trashed rental property can be landlord’s worst nightmare. Fortunately, ...
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April 30, 2017
Only pay the tax you need to
Kerry Packer famously said, ‘anybody who doesn’t minimize their tax ...
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April 23, 2017
What is an emergency repair?
A recent Honest Broker post looked at the concept of ‘fair wear and tear’. T...
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April 2, 2017
What is fair wear and tear?
One of the primary rules of residential tenancies is that the tenant must leave ...
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March 26, 2017
Presenting your property to market
Clean, fresh and tidy Without a doubt, this is the most influential factor for t...
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March 19, 2017
You can’t sell a secret
Our experience shows that including the address when advertising your rental pro...
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March 12, 2017
Key and holding deposits
A key deposit is a refundable charge paid by a prospective tenant that enables t...
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March 5, 2017
National Smoke Alarm Day
April 1st is National Smoke Alarm Day, reminding everyone to check that the smok...
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February 26, 2017
‘Without Grounds’ lease terminations
Existing Residential Tenancy laws are currently under review in a few states acr...
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February 19, 2017
Quiet enjoyment is a two-way street
“Quiet Enjoyment” is a concept common to residential tenancy legislation acr...
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February 12, 2017
Sink or swim – pools in rental properties
At the time of writing, the hottest heat wave of the year is apparently building...
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February 4, 2017
Landlord right of entry
A tenant is vacating the property and the landlord wants to conduct some inspect...
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January 29, 2017
Lessons from commercial leasing
Several states of Australia have recently or are currently reviewing their Resid...
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January 22, 2017
Your guide to lease renewals
Many parts of the country are experiencing high vacancy rates compared with rece...
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January 15, 2017
Is it worth investing in solar panels?
Return on investment (ROI) should be one of the key criteria on which to assess ...
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January 8, 2017
Don’t lose a tenant
Isn’t it frustrating when you are in a store wanting to find out more info...
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December 14, 2016
Landlord insurance – the essentials
The main point I would like you to take away from this article is, don’t c...
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December 11, 2016
Things tenants will pay more for
Although the market supply and demand (how many tenants compared to the number o...
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December 4, 2016
Rentals over the holiday season
The holidays are almost here – but before you go wrapping presents and putting...
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November 27, 2016
Why you can self-manage your rental
The simple truth is that no one cares as much about your investment property as ...
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November 20, 2016
6 ways to avoid a bad tenant
We have all heard the horror stories of tenants causing property damage, being ...
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November 13, 2016
Rodents in your rental
No one likes the sound of rodents scurrying around in the roof, wall cavities or...
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November 6, 2016
Carpets or tiles; curtains or blinds
Careful decisions about which to use in your rental can save you money and make ...
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October 30, 2016
Spot the next suburb to buy
A great location can make or break the return on your investment, that’s why i...
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October 23, 2016
Handling a natural disaster
Spring has brought wild weather to many parts of Australia ripping through many ...
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October 16, 2016
What to do if your tenant dies
While it is not the happiest of topics the death of a tenant is a situation you ...
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October 9, 2016
Signs your rental is a drug lab
It’s a landlord’s worst nightmare to see their investment property on the ev...
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October 2, 2016
Rent advertising, what are the rules?
Rent such a small word plays a big role, as your rent price determines the overa...
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September 25, 2016
Renting to tenants with pets
With over 60% of Australian households owning pets, we have one of the highest r...
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September 18, 2016
Why is my property vacant?
There is no denying that we seem to have moved into a tenants’ market in the r...
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September 11, 2016
DIY rent appraisal
In some parts of Australia the current rental market is swinging in favour of th...
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Latest Blog Posts

14 Jan

Rent receipts and ledgers

Do you issue rent receipts to your tenants? Do you maintain a dedicated rental ledger that is provided to the tenant? Do you retain the...

10 Dec

Changes to travel deduction claims

The Federal Government’s budgeted changes to claiming deductions for rental properties came into effect on 1 July 2017. This means that travel expenses relating to...

27 Nov

Why you must act on maintenance requests

Honest Broker has previously written about the value of having a maintenance schedule in place for your investment as a way to keep...

12 Nov

A cautionary tale for landlords

Honest Broker's affiliate, eezirent, provides services for self-managing landlords. One of those services is advice from a qualified property manager. Recently they gave...

29 Oct

Capital gains tax – the basics

What is it? Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a tax on the profit made on the sale of any capital item, typically real estate or...

15 Oct

Get it in writing

Renting a property is essentially a business transaction. As such all important communication should be in writing. In fact, several key communications must...