Renting a property - associated costs and can it be done from the UK?

[richard300]

Ok, so we don't move until the end of March (2015) but i am trying to do as much ground work as possible in the interim.

 

We will be looking to rent an unfurnished 3 bedroom property in the Port Noarlunga area - Ideally not to far from the beach and with an initial budget of around $330-$350 per week.

 

Something like this: (as an example)

 

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-sa-port+noarlunga-413359291

 

When we are, say, a month away from moving to Australia, how easy/hard is it to commit to a property from the UK? and what other associated costs are involved. For example - the property in the link above, requires a $1900 bond.

 

Are there other upfront costs? Is rent paid weekly? what does the rent cover - is it just the property?

 

Ultimately, what i would like to do, is fly to Australia a week before my wife and children and spend that week furnishing the property and setting up the utilities etc (if i am unable to set them up before i fly to Australia)?

 

I will set up a bank account in Australia in the next couple of weeks, as i think that is something i can do in advance?

[snifter]

I'd wait till you are here before settling on a property. Many can be dodgy compared to pics for example. Better to see in person and be sure it's the right place to sign on the dotted line for a year. Also things like neighbours, views and so on an all make a difference. Google maps pics and street view are not always very recent.

 

Plus many agents won't bother dealing with you till you are here.

[snifter]

Fwiw that house you linked to looks to be on a busy main road. I'd not want to live right on that road, especially with kids. Also it's possible the bathroom has the old open arch thing from a hallway for the sink area. Another of my dislikes in houses here. Hard to tell without a floor plan but it seems it might be that way.

Edited July 15, 2014 by snifter

[richard300]

Thanks for the feedback.... How quickly can a property be secured and a move in date be obtained - As mentioned, ideally i want to have secured a property for when my wife and children arrive in the country a week after me. I am quite willing to walk strait out of the airport and start viewing a short list of houses if thats what it takes?

 

Any ideas on the associated costs? I have never rented in the UK, but i believe its hugely expensive initially. With Months rent in advance, additional deposit, credit search fee's, agent fee's, references etc.

[Blossom]

They don't do credit searches. You don't pay for references or agents fees.

You have your bond, normally two weeks rent up front, and however much is costs to turn on all the different services and utilities (foxtel was $75 when I moved I think).

 

It took us a month to find somewhere when we first moved over, but we had a dog which made it harder. Do not agree to one without seeing it! We moved last year and only one house actually resembled the pictures. Some of them us pics which must be years old.

[RachaelOs]

We only spent about 4 days looking at property's before deciding on one. We had to put down a deposit and pay the first 2 weeks in advance and then we pay rent fortnightly. It may be good to give yourself a couple of weeks before your family move out if pos - I think a week would be a bit stressful and you may feel too much pressure to rent something you're not actually entirely happy with plus you may not be the only person that wants it. You'll need to arrange for the gas and electric to be set up before moving in, everything else can prob wait.

 

We rented a furnished house for our first 4 weeks and it worked really well - we were able to get all set up - tax numbers, Medicare cards, driving licences, buy a car, find a rental, buy all the appliances we'd need, husband found a job then we moved in to our home and we're able to start getting on with life! X

[RachaelOs]

Just to add all the viewings we did were open houses so if you landed on the Monday it could be that the majority of open houses weren't until the Thursday or Friday x

[snifter]

Yes, viewings tend to be open, so anyone can pitch up. Mostly weekends or evenings. Agents don't seem to bother with private viewings here like in the UK. So you'll make your list and go hit a mass of viewings on the weekend. Some timings will clash but google maps, sat nav and starting early will help with planning which order to go see them all in.

 

Generally most people rent a short term furnished rental for a few weeks to take the pressure off and look around areas and schools and so on during that time. And secure a rental while in that timeframe. Have you considered this option? It gives you time to look, work out what areas you like, schooling and other things.

 

Lots of rentals are vacant at time of viewing if the lease has ended and tenants have moved out. Some have people in though. Vacant ones can usually be moved into pretty quick but with tenants it will depend on when they are moving out.

 

When we were looking to buy a house here we saw lots that were snapped up for the rental market. I was surprised at how quickly they went from being on the market for sale to being on the rental market. Usually within a few days. I was most surprised at how nothing was done to these houses and some of them were awful when we viewed to buying (as in needing repairs, new flooring as tiles worn right away in one instance so walking on concrete for part of the kitchen floor or dingy old paint on the walls when a repaint in white would have helped the house look better immensely) and being rented out in the same condition, they even used the same pics as when they were on the market so fully furnished and looking grotty.

 

Also how does your wife feel about moving into a house blind? For me it would be a total no to leave it all to hubby. This is because we see different things when we look at houses. I see layout, access to kids rooms, how many plug sockets in the kitchen and where, how the kitchen is laid out in terms of ease of use, what will annoy me about a place (ie walking in a front door straight into a living space is a big no for me, as is the open arch thing into the sink area of the bathroom, hated this in houses we viewed, wanted an actual bathroom with the sink in that, also don't like the connecting door from master bedroom into the main bathroom thing, even if it does lock, there is already another door from the other side!). Little things that I'd find important to make a house work for us. OK we were buying not renting but those things would have made me cross properties off if we'd been looking at rentals. Sure its ok for a few weeks, but long term for a year or more, nah, would hate it and know its not worth the punt. Aus houses are very different to UK ones in layout and style and can take a while to get used to for some. Of course, your wife may be totally fine and not minding in the least about anything so non of that will be an issue

[Diane]

.... Also it's possible the bathroom has the old open arch thing from a hallway for the sink area.......

 

Yes, what is it with that?? Ours used to have that too - one of the first things we did was put a door on it! Mind you, we put lots of doors onto lots of rooms in our house - the open plan thing is all very well I guess but (a) a rumpus room should be able to be closed off to both keep the noise within and keep the mess out of view, and (b) when I answer my front don't want whoever it is to be able to see everything in the house! Part of this is that we're generally an untidy bunch in my family though....

 

Sorry..back to topic... as you were....

[snifter]

Yes, what is it with that?? Ours used to have that too - one of the first things we did was put a door on it! Mind you, we put lots of doors onto lots of rooms in our house - the open plan thing is all very well I guess but (a) a rumpus room should be able to be closed off to both keep the noise within and keep the mess out of view, and (b) when I answer my front don't want whoever it is to be able to see everything in the house! Part of this is that we're generally an untidy bunch in my family though....

 

Sorry..back to topic... as you were....

 

Yes I know lol. One house we liked had that open sink thing and I said if we bought it I'd want to door it up and change it a bit as I thought the same as you. Hubby looked at me and said 'Whats wrong with it? I think its fine' Meant we didn't put an offer in Saw it in lots of houses, most of them built in the 80's and some in the 90's. Seemed to be the fashion of the time.

 

And yes, sorry OP, topic back on track now from me too

[richard300]

Thanks for the advice so far.....

 

The plan is to land in Australia on the 27th March 2015 (Friday Morning) with my 6yo Daughter.

Have a short list of properties to view over the weekend.

I guess if i were to see the right property on the Saturday, i would need all the relevant ID.

I will arrange with NAB for an appointment on the Friday (27th) to pick up my bank card(s) - so that will give me bank card and Passport.

Is bank card and passport enough ID to be able to sign the dotted line on a property? I guess once i have a address i can pick up my Australian Drivers licence?

 

Can the medicare (medicare card) be obtained whilst still in the UK?

 

Sorry for all the questions.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Hi Richard!....

 

Wow you seem to be a bit ahead of yourself here?! Do you have jobs to come to here? What made you decide on the area to rent in? Have you spent much time there!

 

i have to be honest with you Hun.....your plan sounds like a bad idea.

 

As most people have advised you'd be better getting a short term for a couple of weeks.

 

for ID here you need a 100 point check, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_point_check

 

Nope you cannot register with Medicare before you land in Australia

 

Sorry if I am peeing on ya bonfire

[Guest kobi]

Hi Richard!....

 

Wow you seem to be a bit ahead of yourself here?! Do you have jobs to come to here? What made you decide on the area to rent in? Have you spent much time there!

 

i have to be honest with you Hun.....your plan sounds like a bad idea.

 

As most people have advised you'd be better getting a short term for a couple of weeks.

 

for ID here you need a 100 point check, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_point_check

 

Nope you cannot register with Medicare before you land in Australia

 

Sorry if I am peeing on ya bonfire

 

 

I hope you've well and truly piss'd on his bonfire Claire.

Only to save the lad from having to call in the fire brigade with the type of plan he currently has!

 

Richard lad you must have some big kuhuna's??

Edited July 17, 2014 by kobi

[richard300]

Hi Claire.... No, i don't feel you are peeing on my bonfire, and i do welcome your advice/concern.

 

I appreciate that March is 8 months away. and the fully furnished short term will be part of Plan B....

But 8 months comes around very quickly and i am the kind of guy that likes to formulate a plan (this thread is fact finding for plan A) pad it out with facts and relevant information and then execute that plan.

I am, however aware that not everything goes to plan and that there are variables. But i always need a plan!!!

 

The fact is, we are going to move over in March next year and my/our plan and finances are worked based on a worse case scenario of neither myself or my wife not having work for upto 4 months.... then there is a further budget for if its even worse!!

 

Of-course we will be actively seeking employment before hand and something might come up that means the plan changes again.... I am aware that the job scene is tough over there and even my wife (a specialist diabetes nurse and diabetes educator) and myself (Head of facilities/support services & HSE Manager) will struggle,

 

But we are already Linkedin networking and i am pursuing various angles.

 

I guess i probably sound like a proper dullard with all my 'plan formulating' but the move to Australia is a risk and a gamble so i do like to wing things too!

[Guest kobi]

Hi Claire.... No, i don't feel you are peeing on my bonfire, and i do welcome your advice/concern.

 

I appreciate that March is 8 months away. and the fully furnished short term will be part of Plan B....

But 8 months comes around very quickly and i am the kind of guy that likes to formulate a plan (this thread is fact finding for plan A) pad it out with facts and relevant information and then execute that plan.

I am, however aware that not everything goes to plan and that there are variables. But i always need a plan!!!

 

The fact is, we are going to move over in March next year and my/our plan and finances are worked based on a worse case scenario of neither myself or my wife not having work for upto 4 months.... then there is a further budget for if its even worse!!

 

Of-course we will be actively seeking employment before hand and something might come up that means the plan changes again.... I am aware that the job scene is tough over there and even my wife (a specialist diabetes nurse and diabetes educator) and myself (Head of facilities/support services & HSE Manager) will struggle,

 

But we are already Linkedin networking and i am pursuing various angles.

 

I guess i probably sound like a proper dullard with all my 'plan formulating' but the move to Australia is a risk and a gamble so i do like to wing things too!

 

Your posts make more sense now that there's more background information! Good luck to you and your family. It's good to see you are actively seeking employment now rather than just turning up and hoping it all pans out.

 

Have you any previous experiences with SA/ or Adelaide?

[richard300]

Hi Kobi..... I don't have any experience with Adelaide/SA.....

 

Chose Adelaide/suburbs of - Because of the following:

 

Climate - relatively seasonal but still mostly warm.

Education - I understand that its good compared to other cities and the university is good

Property Prices on the coast - We want to be as close to the beach as possible (we currently live 120meters away from the beach, here in West Sussex) and i dont think we could afford to live so close to the coast in/around any of the other cities.

And just from all the research (and my wifes traveling when she was younger) Adelaide seems to have a certain 'je nes se quoi' that we are gravitated too.

 

Its all (obviously) a risk, but this website and ALL of the imput and advice from it, is absolutely invaluable and greatly appreciated. I'm fairly sure as the time gets closer and we are in Adelaide, exploring some of the social orientated sub forums, will lead to making some very good future friendships.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Hi again Richard!

 

 

Well it sounds like you have a plan set in your head and are going with it. Just a few things to think about.......

 

 

Your first few days may be taken up with jet leg

 

 

How do you plan to get to all these open houses (ie transport)

 

 

You are very unlikely to secure jobs from the UK and even once here it may take a long while.

 

 

Not sure about your job but the are lots of nurses out of work in Adelaide. The chances of her securing a diabetes specialist post in metro Adelaide are pretty much zero.

 

 

You won't know until you go somewhere if you actually want to live there or not.

 

 

You are moving to a whole new life so why so important to live near the beach as you do in your life there, you may get here and fall in love with the hills etc (koalas in the garden anyone?)

 

Your whole family are starting a whole new life....why would you even think about not being all together to do it?

 

i can appreciate you being a plans kind of person, (I'm a 'list gal' myself) but maybe you need to rethink your plan? (Just IMHO)

[Guest Guest75]

Listen to caution and these guys Richard, even with as much research as you could possibly do it is different here and soooo many pitfalls.

[RachaelOs]

Medicare card is easy enough - you go in and order one and they send it to you but when we arrived there was a problem with making the cards or something so what usually takes 1 week to send through took about 3 - this may have been a one off but may be worth not relying on it for points for first couple of weeks.

 

You'll definitely need a hire car to have such an active first few days especially with your 6 year old with you - whilst I appreciate you wanting to get things set up as quickly as possible I also think you need to not put yourself under too much stress. Your 6 year old will definitely take a few days to get over the flight and get in to the swing of it so having to go to the bank as soon as you land and the house hunting the day after -even if you feel up for it - she may not!

 

Im sensing you're not keen on the whole furnished place for a few weeks but for us it meant we were able to split our time between getting set up and visiting parks and the beaches even just for an hour or so each day with the girls so we weren't constantly just dragging them round doing 'boring jobs'. I remember reading on here before I came out about what needed to be done when you arrive and as well as the house hunting, job hunting, bank etc many people had put about taking the time to enjoy it, take a breath, and not put yourself under too much pressure - there's plenty of time to get stressed in week 3 or 4!

x

Edited July 18, 2014 by RachaelOs

[jim and adel]

Unless 100% sure of it (have people here who you know and trust who can view it for you ... and then view it again) I'd not even consider renting before arriving. I can imagine the look of glee on (some) real estate agents' faces at the very idea, and shudder at what they might palm you off with!

 

You've got your plans, and you've thought them through, no doubt, but I'd move plan b to plan a and take out a short term furnished rental when arriving. Enjoy the first week or two and take time as a family to drive around different areas, schools and houses and properly explore where you want to settle - it might be somewhere very different to where you think it will be. Trying to do that in a hurry over a weekend or two when much of the preparation has been done at the other end of the world from websites could really put you back - emotionally and financially - if the choices you make don't work out.

[Guest Guest12727]

If you are really keen to rent before you get here it isn't impossible and there are many posters on here who have done this successfully. But heed others warnings and be careful. You could do things like ask for a skype tour of the property so you can 'see' it as it is. However, with competition for good rentals pretty high an estate agent might not be bothered to do this, especially in the price range you are looking for.

Another suggestion is to look in new developments. New properties are often bought to rent and these will obviously be in as new condition and you will get what you see.

 

I know from your other posts that you have chosen Port Noarlunga as it is a beach location, looks nice and properties appear a bit cheaper than Brighton which is an area you were initially looking at. Just be careful of other costs that may be associated, such as longer childcare hours if your commute is longer, petrol and car wear and tear. These could add up to more expensive than paying slightly higher rent in a more central location. I say this as you have no idea where you will be working. Your wife is a diabetic nurse and I know there are diabetic services at RAH (city) and QEH (west) and a high prevalence of diabetes in Aboriginal communities which are often more Northern areas. I can't find much at all in the Southern regions for this specialty. You could consider western beach suburbs like Semaphore or West Lakes / Tennyson. Have you looked at anywhere other than south?

[snifter]

Another point is that you need to check out schools in the area you rent in. I'd be wary to rent a house in advance of arriving as I'd be concerned the school in the area would not be what we were hoping for. I'd rather take my time, a week or two and look round, get a feel that an area is right for us, at least for 6 months then check out the schools also (there is often more than one option). We looked at a few when we arrived and settled on the one furthest away but that we felt was right for our child. We've now moved to another area and changed schools. Again, a good school was high on our list and we had 2 or 3 very good ones to choose from, but other areas may not have quite so many or perhaps not all on a par.

 

We had the luxury of being able to stay with family when we arrived but even so it was exhausting the first few days and our child (aged 5) wanted to chill out, hit the beach, play, snooze and all that. So one of us stayed with him while the other went and ran errands. Then the things we both had to do together we did and took child with us and on one occasion left with grandparents for a few hours). Have a few days to relax, enjoy arriving in Aus, a little holiday before hitting the viewings and so on.

 

It still took us a few days to get organised for medicare, bank cards and the like. I think we did bank stuff the Monday after we arrived (we landed on a Friday) and went into the city for that. Then medicare we did on a Saturday morning at a large Centrelink office as that side of things is open on Sat mornings so it was quiet and pretty simple. DL had to wait till we had the medicare and bank cards and I didn't change mine over for a few weeks. Hubby did his ASAP after landing.

 

I know some people have done house sitting when they arrived and enjoyed that. Saved them money and meant they had breathing room while staying in a couple of homes. Perhaps look into that option if money is a concern?

[KathCats]

There's one thing that we found which hasn't been mentioned yet...a lot of old properties have asbestos walls...and yes! the Estate Agents do make a lot of the houses look a lot nicer on the pictures than they actually are when you get there!!!!

[Blossom]

Area wise, I was totally set on certain areas before I arrived, only to look around and find they weren't really what I'd imagined. I ended up totally away from where I had thought I'd be.

[jim and adel]

There's one thing that we found which hasn't been mentioned yet...a lot of old properties have asbestos walls...and yes! the Estate Agents do make a lot of the houses look a lot nicer on the pictures than they actually are when you get there!!!!

 

A lot of old sheds and fences also contain asbestos.