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Being accepted as a tenant with no Australian rental history


Darrensteedman

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Hi all, 

 

We are moving to Sydney in March and will be looking to rent a house. I am concerned that we will not be accepted as a tenant because we do not have a history / credit record of renting in Australia. We will have met the 100 points required (as per realestate.au) but still concerned that this is not enough. I have written testimonies from my 3 previous landlords. I have heard that this a nightmare to get the landlords to accept a foreigner as a tenant. 

 

Has anyone got any pointers / tips / advice on what to do. 

 

Thank you 

Darren 

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@Darrensteedman firstly, I see it is your first post! So... welcome to SAAustralia, our little corner of the world!

 

Now regarding securing a rental. The advice often given is to have a copy of your bank statement with you, showing that you are not penniless.

You can offer to pay three months rent in advance, this has often helped people secure a rental over other applicants.

You can offer $10 or $20 a week more than the asking price, that has also secured a rental.

Do a 1 page write up, with a picture of your family at the top, giving a little personal information about your family, this has also won favour.

In the write up, include the professions you and your wife are in, that could get you over the line as well.

The references from your South African landlords could certainly help...

 

Hope this helps you!

 

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Yes, welcome!

 

Mara's advice is good - we did all these things except offer more than the asking price (and I would only really suggest that you use this tactic if you find you're not being successful in securing something).

Dare I say it but it also helps to "smooze" the agent a bit when you attend the viewing ... if you have built a bit of a rapport with them, which is then affirmed by the 1 pager, (with photos), it helps you to stand apart from the crowd.

 

We offered 6 months in advance but it was a really good place and we really wanted it (and could afford it) ... but 3 months in advance is a good idea. 3 good references will definitely help. At the end of the day they want to know that (1) you're going to be able to afford to pay the rent and (2) you're going to be respectful tenants who will look after the property. 

 

Not sure that its true that they are reluctant to accept a foreigner so don't stress too much about it ... we actually got the second place we looked at (despite numerous other people viewing).

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Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. 

 

We will definitely get onto this.

 

All the best

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I don't want to hijack this thread but would a reference from an AirBNB host here in Australia be worthwhile. I stayed with 2, both for a month, and they are willing to provide references. I have never rented (well in this millennium anyway) so that is the only thing I can think of that shows I respect the "house rules".

 

Thank you in adavance.

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@riaank it can do no harm!  When we originally left RSA we took a reference from the agent that sold our home. When we left NZ for Australia, we did the same thing. Got us the home we wanted, both times.

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We are trying to get things sorted for this. At the moment we have a letter from our bodycorpotate that say we alwyas payed ontime, and had no complaints against us. 

 

We also have aletter from hubbies parents, he rented from them before moving in with me. Thats all we have, will it be enouth or what else should we try and get? 

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@Fidjet just read my reply, 2nd from the top, there are other things you can do to secure a rental!

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Thanks @MaraMara we will try some of those when we start looking.

I was more interested in knowing how Auzzie landlord will react to a reference letter from hubbies mom, he rented from them but it is still his mom not a "official landlord" I know some places here do not accept reference from family members. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you have AirBnb referrals those should be good. If you know anyone living in Australia that you could put up as a character reference, that should also be good.
We did the 1 page writeup, making sure to mention: professions, no smoking, no pets, no kids (list whatever would make you potentially a good tenant). We got a reference from hubby's parents for our period of renting from them, but technically a trust owns the property so the reference was printed on the trust's letterhead. At least that way it wasn't so in your face that the surnames matched. We offered 3 months in advance, and included a bank statement that showed our total balance. Lots of people cash out everything when the migrate, so this tends to look good. We included our AirBnb host as a contact, after asking if they would mind. Oh, and we also spent time introducing ourselves to the property agents, whom we got to see at multiple houses, before we finally decided to apply for two. We also dressed neatly to the open houses, not fancy/formal just neatly, no frayed edges or faded/scruffy items. (Ok, yes, we might have taken this waaay to seriously :lol: )

We got accepted for both places we applied for. But I think it might also have something to do with the fact that we don't live in a very popular neighbourhood, so competition wasn't really that strong. They houses did attract quite a few prospective tenants, but I mean, we didn't have to queue all the way through the flat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For those of you who use AirBnb referrals, do you simply give them a link to your profile where someone can see all the referrals? Copy and paste from the website? Both, or something else? I have one Australian AirBnb reference and quite a few in other countries all of which are positive, I had not even thought about including those in the packet we're preparing. So thank you for the idea.

 

Our plan at the moment is to do all the suggestions above - a one-pager with photo, copy of my job contract (since we won't have salary slips yet), AirBnb reviews, letter from the agent who just sold our house (she also sold it to us 10 years ago, and was the rental agent when we rented for the first year before buying), offer to pay at least 3 months upfront, bank statement with the money we will have sent across by then. We are really putting ourselves under pressure to find a rental very quickly, since our kids have to start school as soon as humanly possible after we arrive, so we want to do everything possible to secure the rental. 

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53 minutes ago, Tntaglia said:

under pressure to find a rental very quickly, since our kids have to start school as soon as humanly possible after we arrive,

 

Just be careful that you are not putting yourselves under completely unnecessary pressure.  Your kids won't suffer any set backs from missing a few weeks of school if that is what it takes to get settled. I'm not sure how old your kids are but they might need some settling in time where they are with you for a bit before stepping into the deep end of a new school where everything is different again.

 

I know from experience that you are at that "frantically, madly planning/visualising/organising stage because it's what gets us through during those last few weeks.  It will all sort itself out in the end...

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21 hours ago, RYLC said:

 

Just be careful that you are not putting yourselves under completely unnecessary pressure.  Your kids won't suffer any set backs from missing a few weeks of school if that is what it takes to get settled. I'm not sure how old your kids are but they might need some settling in time where they are with you for a bit before stepping into the deep end of a new school where everything is different again.

 

I know from experience that you are at that "frantically, madly planning/visualising/organising stage because it's what gets us through during those last few weeks.  It will all sort itself out in the end...

I hear you, the issue is that my oldest is grade 6, currently in a school for gifted kids (well, until the end of last year, she's homeschooled now) and we really really really want her to write the selective schools entrance exam on 15 March. Other than that I'm comfortable for them to start a bit later, we'll find out if she can write before she is officially registered at the school. But given that they've already missed the first few weeks of school this year I don't want them to miss anything else. At least hubby won't be working for at least a few months, maybe more, so he can help get them settled (and be with them if they're not in school yet while I start work).

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On 06/02/2018 at 12:21 PM, RYLC said:

 

 

I know from experience that you are at that "frantically, madly planning/visualising/organising stage because it's what gets us through during those last few weeks.  It will all sort itself out in the end...

Guilty. 😂

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On 2/7/2018 at 6:50 PM, Tntaglia said:

currently in a school for gifted kids


Does your child have a formal assessment as being gifted because if she does then perhaps you can submit that to selective schools and she might not need to write the exam?

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On 2/8/2018 at 1:34 PM, RYLC said:


Does your child have a formal assessment as being gifted because if she does then perhaps you can submit that to selective schools and she might not need to write the exam?

She does have the formal assessment but apparently the selective schools entry exam is a very specific thing. It is possible to write the exam later if we're not there by 15 March but the principal we spoke to said it reduces your chances significantly if you're not part of the standard test process. But we'll try all avenues if the visa does not come in time.

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  • 8 months later...

Dear Forum Members

 

Thank you for creating this treasure trove of information - it's been super helpful so far. I'm leaving Johannesburg for Hobart at the end of 2018 and am concerned about being accepted as a tenant when I have no credit history in Australia. Although I've read many of the replies, I guess I'm just looking for reassurance / confirmation that as long as I have a bio, a few letters of reference and can pay three months' upfront, that it shouldn't be too difficult?  My situation is further complicated by the fact that I have two Golden Retrievers coming with me, and I'm seeing that pet-friendly rentals are quite hard to come by. Does anyone have any experience or advice?

 

Regards

Nadine

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Hi @NadineM, I'm not sure about Hobart but I was accepted for the first property which I applied for in Newcastle. Yes the house is a bit further out of town (Cameron Park) but I managed to get a 4 bed 2 bath home with a decent garden and a double garage. We have two dogs who will be joining us in the new year and this didn't seem to be a problem. I did however have a job and a bank account with some savings which I provided proof of. There was no need for references for either myself or the dogs.

Good luck with the move and everything that goes with it!

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Just to mention that holiday periods in Hobart over December / January are very busy and it is common for all short stay accommodation to be fully booked (not sure about airbnb bookings). The property market here has also taken off and I have heard that it can be difficult to buy a property and rents will have been affected too. As an example, I have heard of a few cases where properties that were for sale for a certain amount were sold for $50,000 above what they were being advertised for sale at. So it would be good for you to do some research now before arriving to see what's available.

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Get airbnb or similar accommodation for the first few weeks, and use that time to secure a rental. We were very nervous about being able to find a place, and ended up being approved for our first choice house within a day or the open day. We offered to pay up to 6 months in advance and the landlord wasn't interested. What helped a lot (we found out afterwards) was to tell the landlord that we had previously owned a house and rented one out too - he was super happy to have someone who would look after the place as if it's our own. So make sure you put that in your introduction. 

 

The standard application also asked for 2 references, we used one from a friend and one from the estate agent who sold our house.

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On 1/12/2018 at 4:18 AM, Mara said:

@riaank it can do no harm!  When we originally left RSA we took a reference from the agent that sold our home. When we left NZ for Australia, we did the same thing. Got us the home we wanted, both times.

@Mara could you please tell me what sort of information your agent included in the reference? I asked the agent who sold our place and she agreed so I need to let her know what to say. 

Thank-you. 

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2 hours ago, Tntaglia said:

Get airbnb or similar accommodation for the first few weeks, and use that time to secure a rental. We were very nervous about being able to find a place, and ended up being approved for our first choice house within a day or the open day. We offered to pay up to 6 months in advance and the landlord wasn't interested. What helped a lot (we found out afterwards) was to tell the landlord that we had previously owned a house and rented one out too - he was super happy to have someone who would look after the place as if it's our own. So make sure you put that in your introduction. 

 

The standard application also asked for 2 references, we used one from a friend and one from the estate agent who sold our house.

Thank you - that's great advice.

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