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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