How long Between Tenants

HI how long should the PM take to get a new tenant. Tenant Leaves, Next day PM does inspection. How long to get the open inspection done. My PM seems to be taking one week before having the open, is this right?
Couldn't it be done earlier.
 
In our agency we run homeopens prior to the tenants departure. This is explained to them when they move in and then again when they give notice to vacate. We run two opens a week, set times, only a few exceptions (eg we do not do viewings on moving day). This minimises vacancy. Eg on the weekend I have a lease sign up for a couple that viewed a property last weekend, the current tenants handed back keys today, I have a final there tomorrow then signing new lease Saturday. All good. A few days vacancy to allow any necessary work to be done (eg clean carpets, which these tenants have already done; but there could be lawn mowing or a little cleaning.)
 
Our record time between tenants is 2 hours.

And only that because PM insisted on the break as she had to do a property exit/entry report.

Seriously, as soon as a tenant gives notice the search for a new tenant begins and we usually have a new tenant lined up before the departing tenant vacates.
Marg
 
Keep it to almost zero if you can. Every week vacant is costing you money!

Each time my tenants have advised they want to leave, I follow that up with the question "do you mind if we show people through the place two weeks before you're leaving?"

I've had 4 tenants in the property and each one has always said yes. Then again I've always made sure the tenants are looked after and made sure any problems they've encountered while living there was actioned immediately.

My longest vacancy was 2 months, at which point i sacked that agent and got a new one.

The others had a vacancy time of 1 to 2 weeks.

If the date of exit falls on a Monday and they do the inspection on Tuesday, as long as they show it on the first Saturday i would deem that to be acceptable. Showing a property mid week probably wont generate enough interest (you would prefer people to have decent paying jobs, so in most cases a potential applicant is most likely working mid week during the hours the agent wants to show the property).
 
Hi cgw,

Same as neK, sacked the PM that took a month & a half & still no tenant! Was told they were giving people the paperwork & allowing them to walk away instead of having them fill out the application there & then. (Not sure if there was any other reason.)

New agency had it tenanted within a week. Since then, it's never been vacant between tenants. One moves out & the next moves in. Not sure if they organise opens while the other tenants are there, but they're wonderful PM's (Rental Express Bris).

Last property took about 3 opens (Sat, Wed 5.45pm - 6pm, then Sat again), but was only a week before tenants were signed. This was at the 'low' time of year.

I guess it depends on the property too, but with the supposed rental shortage, I don't see why it should take so long. Maybe ask if they do opens through the week?
Good luck!
 
Hi cgw,

Same as neK, sacked the PM that took a month & a half & still no tenant! Was told they were giving people the paperwork & allowing them to walk away instead of having them fill out the application there & then. (Not sure if there was any other reason.)

New agency had it tenanted within a week. Since then, it's never been vacant between tenants. One moves out & the next moves in. Not sure if they organise opens while the other tenants are there, but they're wonderful PM's (Rental Express Bris).

Last property took about 3 opens (Sat, Wed 5.45pm - 6pm, then Sat again), but was only a week before tenants were signed. This was at the 'low' time of year.

I guess it depends on the property too, but with the supposed rental shortage, I don't see why it should take so long. Maybe ask if they do opens through the week?
Good luck!

When you had new tenant with new agent within a week, was it at the same rental the other agent was asking?

I have a property currently been vacant for 5 weeks (It has been advertised for 7 weeks). I have reduced the rent by 10% and still no bite.

It seems my agent has on their own accord reduced the rent another 5% and offerred one weeks free rent without asking me.

I still haven't had much interest.
 
At least you can claim a loss at the end of the fin year so it's not all bad. Reducing the rent may affect your cash flow a little bit but it's better than not to have it rented at all.

Good luck.
 
One thing you can do to minimise vacancies is to be sure that the rental is set at the correct rate. When the vacancy rate is higher, we prefer to set the rent just slightly under the going rate - it's amazing how many times tenants choosing between properties will go for the one that is $5 pw cheaper. This is more than made up for by the times there are few vacancies and the rent can be put up more than we thought.

A little research on the web will let you know fairly accurately how you compare with the competition at the time.
Marg
 
As soon as your tenant gives notice - your property managers should have notified you and recommend market rent - then advertise straight away.

Viewings for prospective tenants only requore 24hours notice in Qld - this gives you 2 weeks (normal Qld notice period to vacate).

Agent should carryout vacate inspection on last day tenant due to move out (they must have this in writing in Lease at start of tenancy). RTAAR Act - allows agent up to three days - but this is down time and costing you. Best practice by agent is to do vacate inspection with tenant present and have keys handed over at the same time.

An agent is not permitted to nominate a rental lower than your instructions - they are only allowed to do this if you have not provided such instructions or cannot be contacted to provide such instructions.
 
Seems to me that your agent has dropped the ball. Unless it is a break lease and the previous tenant is still paying rent. My agent (Personal Property Services) contacts us a couple of months prior to end of lease to let us know the market rate and asks us if we want to increase the rent (need to give tenants 8 weeks notice in ACT for rent increase). They then contact the tenants to find out their intentions. If the tenant is leaving then advertising begins three weeks before move out day. Two opens (mid week pm and sat am) per week until it is rented, tenant is informed of this and times are sorted in advance. However our agent always leaves one day between tenants to do outgoing inspection and key handover to new tenant incase cleaning etc not up to scratch. Never have had more than 24 hours between tenants.
 
Hi Cales405,

It was the same rent. We've had regular increases too since then.

PS the second property, we reduced rent by approx $10 wk & got 2 yr lease with $10 rental increase after 1st yr.

Where is your property? I don't think it should take so long to rent out!!! Is the agent selling the good points about the property?

Can you have a friend ask to inspect the property & give you some feedback as to what the agent says about it...may shed some light on why it's not renting.

Really feel for you after all the excitement of purchasing & looking forward to renting it out, bit of an anticlimax when nothing happens for soooo long :(

I'd be miffed if the agent took it upon themselves to reduce rent & offer freebies!
 
Cale,

There are a number of factors affecting your property - will have full report tomorrow morning.

No sign at property, only one dodgey picture on the internet plus poor description and no address, property vacant now almost two months - over grown lawns and weeds.

Then, you have the problem with the safety issues of your property - go back to your property managers and seek a please explain - I was extremely concerned walking up both sets of stairs - will inlcude this in my report plus video I took whilst at property.

Internal doors were locked but not the screen doors....sack your pm as
 
Cale,

There are a number of factors affecting your property - will have full report tomorrow morning.

No sign at property, only one dodgey picture on the internet plus poor description and no address, property vacant now almost two months - over grown lawns and weeds.

Then, you have the problem with the safety issues of your property - go back to your property managers and seek a please explain - I was extremely concerned walking up both sets of stairs - will inlcude this in my report plus video I took whilst at property.

Internal doors were locked but not the screen doors....sack your pm as

Lura,

I appreciate your info. I sacked the PM this morning. I had a feeling I was not getting the full story.

I received a quote to repair the patio on Friday from them. The quote was dated 13th March and valid for 30 days. Funny how I just get it now.

I also have an email I sent them asking what is wrong with the property and what needs to be done to make it rentable and they said all work had been done, but lawns may need mowing.

Sounds like I got very poor service.

Oh well. Move on and move forward. This will be my 3rd PM in 2 years
 
Lura,

I appreciate your info. I sacked the PM this morning. I had a feeling I was not getting the full story.

I received a quote to repair the patio on Friday from them. The quote was dated 13th March and valid for 30 days. Funny how I just get it now.

I also have an email I sent them asking what is wrong with the property and what needs to be done to make it rentable and they said all work had been done, but lawns may need mowing.

Sounds like I got very poor service.

Oh well. Move on and move forward. This will be my 3rd PM in 2 years

Typical property manager: if there's too much work to do, that upsets the properties-to-commission ratio and they're not interested. I had enough of lazy property managers and now only self manage, except when it comes to finding a tenant.

Try putting yourself in a prospective tenant's shoes: what could be off-putting about the property? Is there heating/cooling? Car parking? Is it noisy? Smelly? Dirty? Private? Some of these things are quite easy to address. I couldn't rent out a brand new (purchased from the developer) place a couple of years ago and it turned out that there were no blinds in the bedrooms but the property manager didn't pass that feedback on for 6 weeks! In the rush and excitement, I didn't even think about blinds! As soon as propspective tenants were told that blinds had been ordered, we found a very good tenant within a few days.
 
Back
Top