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It is against the law to discriminate against tenants with kids. The only exceptions to this rule are:

• when if the property is unsafe for your little ones
• when the property is owned by government and is intended for childless people or
• when the property is place of residence of the landlord, who is temporarily renting it but will be returning

The bond

The bond can’t be higher than 1 month’s rent. If the landlord or the agent wants to get a higher bond, they have to go to VCAT (Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal) and get approval.

The only exceptions to this rule are

• when weekly rent is higher than $350 and
• when the house is landlord’s place of residence and the tenant will only live there until the landlord moves back in. There should be a clause in your tenancy agreement saying so.

In those two cases the bond is unlimited.

Another important thing to know is that the amount of the bond is only set once and can not be increased while you are renting.

What if they do demand a higher bond without any bases? You can complain to VCAT and they will be fined $500.

The rent

Rent is paid in advance, so the first question that rises – how much in advance?
If you pay on weekly bases - nobody can demand more than 2 weeks of rent in advance.
If you are not paying weekly and a week’s rent is less than $350 - only pay in advance for one month of rent.

If rent wasn’t paid on time

Even if you forgot to pay the rent and paid the next day or even next week – they can not throw you out. Only after 14 days of not paying the rent, agent/landlord has the right to give a tenant notice to vacate.

Ways of paying the rent

No matter how you pay, via direct debit, rent payment card or otherwise, they can not charge you for issuing a rent card or creating a direct debit agreement.

What if they do? Complain and they will get a $1000 fine.

Rent increase

If you have a fixed agreement – they simply can not increase rent. When you’re on periodic agreement, they can’t increase your rental payments unless there is a clause about it in your agreement. That clause should also say how much they can increase the rent.

You are completely safe in the first 6 months of tenancy and they can’t increase more than twice a year, 6 month between the increases. By law you must be notified 60 days before the increase in a written form.

Inspections

Neither the landlord nor the agent can come and inspect your rental during the first three months. After tat they can come once every 6 months and must give you at least 24 hours written notice. Also they can’t barge in on you any time – only between 8am and 6pm and never on public holidays.

Leaving your rental property

To leave a rental (in the middle or in the end of contract) all you have to do is to send a written notice to the agent by registered mail 28 days (at least) before the day you move.

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You can really get a feel of the neighborhood by looking at cars parked in everyone’s driveways or looking at the types of the other houses in the area. It is easy to see if the neighbors have kids (look for prams, little bikes or swings in front of the house) or dogs (sign on the fence). It is just as good as being there.

This little video explains how to use the Street Level

Try the Street Level – it’s amazingly cool and useful!

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Electricity, water, gas, phone, paid TV should be disconnected, mail - redirected.

Cleaning upon vacating

Getting your bond back largely depends on the condition you leave the rental house in. Basically it should look exactly the same as when you moved in (well, except for some reasonable wear and tear). After moving all of your possessions out of the house, do not forget to clean:

Stove – including the inside, trays, door, and outside, clean exhaust fan covers too.
Windows, blinds, venetians and air vents need dusting and wiping
Cupboards – wipe inside and outside
Marks on walls and doors – wipe
Light fittings need dusting
Bathrooms, showers (including shower screens) and toilets
Floors needs mopping and carpets – vacuuming/steam cleaning
Lawns need mowing

Take pictures

If you can’t be there when the landlord/agent are inspecting the house, it’s a good idea to take pictures of every room in the house as a proof that you’ve left it spotless and deserve to get your full bond back.

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I have made this short summary to keep handy when I read real-estate listings and it is a great help. It starts with the oldest houses and progresses to the newer ones.

Houses in Australia - different periods and styles:

Victorian 1840 - 1890
Federation 1891 - 1913
War 1914 - 1945
Post-war 1946 - 1959
Contemporary 1960 – present. There are 2 types, “project style” – meaning a house was built from a common plan and “custom built” - meaning a house was built using a unique design.

I will be adding pictures of typical houses soon, so stay tuned!

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You can guess that just by looking at the address, even before you open the map. Every street has a suffix, such as “boulevard”, “avenue”, “street”, “road” and so on, knowing what that suffix means tells you a lot!

So this is what I’ve found about those street names (in alphabetical order):

Avenue

Avenue is a straight road with lines of trees or large shrubs running along either side

Boulevard

A boulevard is usually a wide, multi-lane arterial road, divided with a median down the center, and “roads” along each side designed as slow travel parking lanes and for cyclists and pedestrians, often with landscaping of high quality.

Crescent

A crescent is a quiet street in the form of arc, sometimes even closed at one end.

Cul-de-sac

A cul-de-sac is a dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet. Cul-de-sac literally means “bottom of a sack” in French.

Grove

Grove is a quiet smaller tree-lined street, intended for local transport rather than as a through road

Lane

Lane is a narrow way or road, often a pedestrian lane found in towns where it usually run between or behind buildings. Historically speaking, alleys or lanes were built to allow for delivery of coal to the rear of houses.

Parade

Parade is a centrally located wide road with several lanes going in each direction

Promenade

An esplanade or promenade is a raised walkway area. Generally speaking it can be anywhere, but almost all of them are by the ocean, sea or river. This allows people to walk along the water front, without having to walk on sand on the beach. Esplanades became popular in Victorian times when it was fashionable to visit seaside resorts.

Road

Road has more traffic than street. Road’s main function is transportation (meaning cars are ruling), while streets is more for public interaction.

Quay

Quay is a wharf, usually built parallel to the shoreline.

I hope you have as much fun reading this, as I had googling for it

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They write: BRIGHT AND SUNNY
Which means: The previous tenant scarpered with all the blinds and curtains.

PETS OK
Because something’s gotta be done about the rats.

FULLY FURNISHED
The agent couldn’t be bothered moving the previous tenant’s crap out of there

ONE WEEK’S RENT FREE
Will somebody please, please sign a lease on this uninhabitable shithole?!

Anyway, here’s the link and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click here to read the full article about real estate adds lexicon.

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Studio is a flat with only one room, which serves as a bedroom / lounge / kitchen; it is something that a student would go for.

Unit means small house, usually located in a block of similar houses, it has mutual walls with other units – as opposed to a house, which is free-standing. Some units look very much like motel rooms. There is one big parking space for all the units in the block and there are common rubbish bins (you don’t have your own driveway or garage or even a rubbish bin ).
It is very common that units belong to body corporate – click on this link to read who they are and what they’re for. Units are usually smaller than houses and most of them will have 2 bedrooms, but there are also relatively big units, with 3 bedrooms and 2 toilets and even a court yard.

The difference between a house and a townhouse is that house has one level and townhouse – 2 or 3 levels with lounge and kitchen located on the first level and bedrooms above them. Both house and townhouse usually have front lawn and rear garden or courtyard, own driveway or garage and own garbage / recycle bins.

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A quick tips that will save you some time: when you ask the real estate agent “Are pets allowed on that property?”, if the landlord has clearly said that – they will let you know immediately. Otherwise in a very few cases the agent will call and ask him, usually they just tell you to inspect, apply and see if you’re approved (naturally for you that could be a waste of time, if the landlord doesn’t want pets after all).

Another quick tip that will help you to get reliable information – always speak to the property manager, not the receptionist at the agency. Property manager is interested in actually renting the property and knows everything there is to know about it, when receptionist can only open the computer listing to see what’s there (and that’s in the best case).

What you need to know about renting with a pet is:

1) Pet must be registered with the local council - it’s the law and in the application form they ask to provide registration number

2) Don’t even try to apply for studios, flats or apartments, not even units – they do not allow pets. The reason is that most of them belong to body corporate and their rules say “no pets”.

3) Some of the houses will allow pets, probably the ones with large back yard and no wall-to-wall carpets.

4) When you were lucky to find a landlord that doesn’t mind pets, references for your pet are very important. Try to get your neighbors, the landlord or the real estate agent to write a reference for your pet. Photos help too.

5) In some cases the bond will be higher because of possible damage to property from your pet.

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If you’re lucky to get the house, the agency calls you and lets you know the good news. Then you need to go and sign the lease, pay the bond (keep your receipt), pay first 1 or 2 months rent in advance and finally get the keys. Welcome home!

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