What’s the real cost to move rental properties?
It’s no secret that over the past 18 months we’ve seen a huge hike in the weekly asking rental rates for properties on the Gold Coast. This is due to the increase in demand on the rental properties with more and more owners moving into rentals, renting to their friends/family, or selling up and the house being purchased by an owner occupier.
Most of my rentals properties are seeing a rent increase, whether that be by $20 or $220, depending on the situation. If you’re hit with a rent rise, I’d suggest you have a look at what’s available in the market and what costs are involved in moving, before you make a decision not to renew.
It’s pretty slim pickings at the moment for rentals, and most owners will use the start of a new lease as an opportunity to raise the rent. It’s likely your rent will still be a very reasonable rate compared to a newly listed property.
You’d be aware of the inconvenience of moving, but you may not have thought about some of the costs involved.
Here are the main costs you need to consider when changing rental properties
Final rent payments – Ensure you are paid up until the day your lease expires, even if you choose to vacate early. You must have the house cleaned and vacant by your end of lease date to allow the property manager or landlord to do their final inspection and give you time to go back and rectify any cleaning or maintenance issues. If not, then this will all be deducted from your bond.
Fees for breaking lease – It’s very rare that you will find a new place and be able to coincide the move date with your existing rental’s lease expiry/vacate date. It’s likely there will be a week or two overlap in rent. If you have to break lease early (should the owner allow) there may be a fee charged by the property manager for re-advertising or administration fees.
Cleaning and repair costs – The house or unit must be in a clean state ready for the next tenants to move into. This can be a very costly exercise, especially if you choose to hire a professional. (Some leases state a bond clean is required and receipts of such must be supplied). Bond cleans for a 3 bedroom unit can be anywhere from $500 upwards plus a carpet clean, and window clean on top of this.
You will also need to make sure that any repair work you’re responsible for has been completed before you vacate. Make sure you go off your original entry report/photos to assess any new damage that you need to rectify.
Bond for the new place – You won’t get your old bond back (if at all) until after the manager/landlord is happy with the state of the place. This may take a week or so, which means you’ll have to have enough saved up to pay your new bond upfront.
Paying 2 weeks upfront at the new place – This is standard for QLD rentals, but the exact date this needs to be paid will vary. Some managers/landlords may ask for it upon lease signing, others may want it the day of moving in. It’s just something else to be aware of when saving up for the move.
Removalists – this is probably the most obvious. There will be costs involved, whether you hire removalists, or hire a trailer and do it yourself. Even buying some beers for your mates to help is an extra cost. If you have to take time off work don’t forget to factor this in too.
Interim storage and accommodation – The above is all assuming you can move straight from one place to the next. If there is a week or two between moving out of one place and into the next, then storage costs and temporary accommodation will be involved, not to mention a whole lot of eating out expenses are likely as you can’t cook at home as easily.
So as you can see, there are more than just a weekly rent increase to think about. Yes it’s frustrating having to pay more for the same place, however it may still be the best option for you.
