Our rental hunting experience

[Sani]

We arrived in Melbourne 4 weeks ago and had are now in our own rental place in Camberwell. Just thought I'd share our rental hunting experience as that was one of our biggest worries when we arrived.

We had booked a rental car and furnished apartment in South Yarra for 2 weeks (nice and central). The first couple of days were spent driving around getting rental lists off the agents and going to view peoperties. This was probably the most tiring part. Get a Melways, you'll need it for directions!

We saw one really bad place that was about to fall down and was next to a construction site and were surprised they were trying to pass it off as habitable. On the internet it looked beautiful, so don't trust what you see on the internet!

Don't grab the first house you look at, it helps to get a feel for the market first by looking at a couple of houses so you can compare what you're getting for how much. The first house we looked at was overpriced and it was only once we'd looked at about 3 or 4 that we could tell when the agents were tryng it on rent wise. You must also move fast once you see a place you like. Twice we went back to go and hand in an application to find that someone had just applied for it. Sometimes there's not much you can do about this though as some house will already have been on the market and someone may have alredy seen it before you. When you pick up the rental lists, grab the application forms as well so that if you see a place you like you don't then have to run back for the application forms.

Finally and the most important point, BE PREPARED. Have all your documentation ready before you leave SA. Photocopy all relevant documents etc and put it into "rental packs". We figured we'd give too much rather than too little info. We had a letter of introduction just explaining we were recent immigrants, no jobs yet but could meet our expenses. We included our CVs, character refs, employment refs and even pictures of our previous home as an indicator of our genral standard of care. We then included our bank statements to show we could afford the rent and offered a few months' rent upfront as we were competing with other applicants. I honestly think that this was the biggest factor in our finding it relatively easy to find a place. We applied for 3 places and were offered all 3 then just chose the one we liked best.

Hope you find this useful.

Sani

Edited July 7, 2007 by Sani

[NikkiH]

Hi Sani

Thanks for the info!

Would you say that the two weeks were sufficient to find a place? Which apartments did you stay in, and would you recommend them? I was looking at the pacific apartments on exibition street at 125 auz dollars a night if we take it for a week or more.

It is very close to where my husband will be working.

Thanks again,

N.

[Retha_hhr]

Is there anybody who knows why it is such a hassle to get approved for a rental?

All the information that I read that must go in with an application, is it really necessry in today's world with the identity theft that is happening? Including a letter from a previous landlord or the agent who sold your house stating in what condition your house was, makes sense to me, why all the rest?

Also, are Australians put under the same scrutiny or is it just because you are an immigrant? So no credit is being treated as bad credit. The latter happens in Canada and I know one guy in the end went to the media because he just got so fed up with the discrimination. Here some landlords asked immigrants to give 6 months rent ahead of time which then triggered the question in the documentary regarding this issue, if it is not just landlords who saw an opening to get their hands on quick cash.

Are you guys paying the same rent an Aussie would have paid? I'm just asking because there are many places here in Canada where immigrants were and still are exploited. e.g. renting, car insurance, mortgage interest, leasing of a car, salaries (not being paid the same as their Canadian counterparts while doing the same job and having the same qualification, with sometimes more experience). As you can see, all of them are directly or indirectly linked to the "no credit" excuse. The favorite excuse with car insurance is that "oh but you have never driven in this winter conditions", never mind that you have driven in 2-spoor paadjies in thick Kalahari sand (fresh snow drives the same according to my hubby) and that majority of the accidents are made by Canadians and especially their offspring who can have a drivers license when they are only 16; not by immigrants.

So, are the agents asking from you what they would have asked from an Aussie?

Do you pay the rent an Aussie would have paid?

Do you pay the same car insurance an Aussie would have paid with no driving experience if you do not have the insurance papers with you to indicate that you have a good driving record and if you do, are you being treated fairly with that history behind you?

Will the following take you out of the "no credit" category:

'to whom it may concern' bank letter

Credit Report from the Credit unions: I do not know if South Africa has it, Canada has it and the UK most probably also: Equifax - consumer credit history . This is where all your loans. mortgages, credit card and bills are registered and where companies find out what your credit history is before they lend you money. Now if one has this credit report with you, will it be taken into consideration?

I know when you are an immigrant, you have to start over, but some of the 'start over' can get very close to exploitation just because the opening is there. And I know that beggars cannot be choosers, but are you really a beggar or just somebody who wants a fair chance to start over?

Do you feel most of you in Australia do get a fair chance and that exploitation is more the exception than the rule?

Regards,

Retha

[Guest Bronwyn]

No I don't think there is exploitation of SA immigrants. Only if you allow it by being gullible.

The reason the agents are carefull is because they get some people who come in, wreck the places and then do a midnight flip. This will cost the agent money and also future business from the landlord.

As we often land in Australia with no Australian work experience, sometimes no jobs even, you can understand why the agents would be more carefull. Especially if there is a queue of Australians lined up for the same house, with jobs and a long Australian employment history.

My advice would be to be confident in yourself when house-hunting, we are just as good as the next applicant if not better.

Sani's advice is good. Do your preparations and make a file with all your info, including reference letters from a previous landlord or even copies of your home loan bank statement (so they can see a good repayment history). If you provide these things there is no reason for the agent to doubt your ability to pay on time, as long as you can prove you have money or a decent income too!

We didn't pay more than average for our car loan or insurance.

We did pay more for medical aid (no PR) and also we couldn't get credit at Harvey Norman (no PR)

Hope it helps. Bronwyn

Edited July 8, 2007 by Bronwyn

[Sani]

Hi Nikki

Here's the link for the place we used www.stayz.com.au. I would highly reccommend them, very clean, quiet and nice owner.

We found a place within a week and then used the other week to arange furniture deliveries and move in slowly. I guess it depends on where you're looking etc. but I think we found one week enough time to get a place. Mind you we had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to settle, had narrowed down to 4 suburbs within one municipality so I guess that helped to speed things up.

Sani

Hi Retha

No We didn't feel we were being exploited at all. The same rent had already been advertised to everyone so there was no question on that front.

Like Bronwyn has pointed out, you're competing against people with jobs and local renting histories. Every landlord wants to know that a prospective tenant will 1. pay the rent and 2. look after the property. So they will give it to the person best able to demonstrate that irrespective of where they are from. We have investment properties back home and I must say that we have never rented to an unemployed person because it's too much risk. If, however, that person were able to explain that they are new to the country and provide me with some history of themselves then we would definitely view them differently.

Sani

Edited July 8, 2007 by Sani

[Guest colton]

Sometimes they are very accommodating as well. Our 6 month lease was up and when I went to get another lease I was told the rent was going up by $20 per week. I asked the agent to go back to the owner and tell him I would be prepared to give $5 more a week as we were such good tenants and we look after the place. Answer came back "fine" and we only got the $5 increase so sometimes they can be nice to us as well.

[Retha_hhr]

This is good news; thanks guys.

Regards,

Retha