Rent house without phone connection

[eastpack101]

I am planning to rent my PPOR but the issue with this house is there is no phone connection. The infrastructure outside the house is not in place for phone cabling - it is still an ongoing issue but won't bring up that to this forum. I am using wireless internet at the moment so I am not really fuss about it. The house was completely built six months ago.

Some owners have plan to fix this issue but could cost up to $1500 per house (maybe more).

I am intended to leave it as is but i was wondering how much it will affect people for renting the house. Do you think people still see phone connection is one of the important feature when renting?

 

[BuildingBlocks]

I am planning to rent my PPOR but the issue with this house is there is no phone connection. The infrastructure outside the house is not in place for phone cabling - it is still an ongoing issue but won't bring up that to this forum. I am using wireless internet at the moment so I am not really fuss about it. The house was completely built six months ago.

Some owners have plan to fix this issue but could cost up to $1500 per house (maybe more).

I am intended to leave it as is but i was wondering how much it will affect people for renting the house. Do you think people still see phone connection is one of the important feature when renting?

I wouldn't rent it, as it limits my Internet options way too much ...unless it was well below market rates.

 

[Jase H]

I think it depends on the quality of both mobile phone coverage and mobile internet coverage in the area. If they are both quite realible then I don't see a problem renting it without a phone line.

I know heaps of my friends (mostly late 30 somethings with kids who own their PPORs) who have chosen to get rid of their land lines and just use mobile phones and mobile internet, due to them not seeing any value in a landline.

In fact we have only kept our landline as it is linked to our alarm system and it is through TRANSACT bundled with digital TV, internet etc and a lot cheaper than Telstra. Even with alarms nowadays a lot of them can be linked to mobiles instead of landlines.

 

[Perp]

In Queensland, a phone connection is considered an essential basic, like adequate security, which the landlord is obliged to provide. Obviously if the infrastructure's not there at all, ie it's impossible to get a landline, then it is what it is, but that doesn't sound like your situation, so I'd suggest you call your local authority and check what the situation is. At the very least, you'd need to ensure that tenants know prior to leasing that there is no phone line, and protect yourself by having it written into the lease as a special condition that the landlord won't be connecting a fixed line.

I'm sure there are some people out there who won't mind, but I suspect that's a minority and that not having a phone line will significantly reduce your potential tenant pool.

Having said all that, if you can fix it for $1500, why wouldn't you? I know it's a cost, but it costs to get sewage and electricity connected, too, and people don't generally decide to just not get them connected... personally, I would view it as an uncompleted home without a landline, and would want a substantial discount. I also use 3G internet (eg when travelling), but it's way too expensive for everyday use as a volume user, so I wouldn't be happy to live in a home without a landline/cable.

Other possible factors: 1) the phone line is also needed for interactive features on Foxtel, and 2) as a property investor, some of the lenders have black boxes which mark you down in terms of credit risk if you put down a mobile phone number, rather than landline, as your home phone number.

 

[RumpledElf]

Having said all that, if you can fix it for $1500, why wouldn't you?

I think the OP meant $1500 per household, as in everyone in the area all need to chip in $1500 at once, otherwise I'd say that phone would already be connected.

 

[Perp]

I think the OP meant $1500 per household, as in everyone in the area all need to chip in $1500 at once, otherwise I'd say that phone would already be connected.

Ooooh, I see, that makes sense. In that case, I'd be getting active in helping the other owners put that together!

 

[eastpack101]

Thanks all ..

I forgot to say that this is a strata complex with 20 units/villas. Not everyone has to pay $1500, some much less than that but it is difficult to get people to pay anything if they don't really see the benefit for them (ie. they already have the alternative)