Has anyone gone through this experience, what are the pros and cons, what should I be aware of. Any useful info would be much appreciated.
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Quite a few post in the past on this, but for Victoria:
Make sur eyou know the legalities involved.
You come under the "Romming House" definition
http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA25...ses?OpenDocument&1=83-Rooming+Houses~&2=~&3=~
The main points are:
You need to lodge a bond for each housemate separately.
The bond can not exceed 14 DAYS rent (not the usual 1 month)
You need to produce a condition report for each housemate
You can't charge for electricity, gas, water etc, unless they are separately metered to each room
You can not ask for more than 14 DAYS rent in advance (not the usual 1 month), and you must issue a reciept
As you can see, there's a lot more overhead to run it properly - one of the reasons we gave it up.
We also found that we were getting undercut by illegal operators - eg you'll often see ad's for super cheap rent, but with 1 month bond, and shared bills.
Things to be prepared for:
1. expect your house to run at 36 deg C during winter (heater will be on max with all windows open or aircon on if provided)
2. each tenant will also run a 5kW personal heater in each bedroom with window open (in an attmept to "stay warm")
3. washing machine to be run at full water load for 3 pieces of underwear
4. a car wash to be running in the front yard
5. time in the shower to be regulated by the amount of hot water in tank (goodness knows how they know when to come out for the instant hot water systems!!)
6. It is mandatory for all lights, TV's, appliances to be left on 24x7
7. Furniture and appliances in common areas will go missing. Tenants are liable for their room - not for common areas - so they will often go out locking up their room, but the front door will always be unlocked (even if there is no one home)
Cheers,
The Y-man