We've purchased a property and need to end our lease early. We're happy to go through the process of finding new tenants however have only used Fairy Floss and Facebook announcements as of now.
Are there any other forums that are used in these situations that anyone is aware of?
The issue is that we still need to maintain the rent until they find one. They do need to make reasonable attempts but they're still getting full rent from us so there's no huge rush for them or money lost.
They do need to make reasonable attempts
And if you think they didn't make reasonable attempts, you can take them to xCAT in your state to dispute the amount.
Having a property vacant (albeit with rent income continuing) is a negative to the owner.
How so?
@GG57: I mean while technically correct there is also the case that a tenant can cause wear and tear damage to the property as well. I think by all stands it wouldn't bother the landlord if there's a tenant there or not.
@Misha101: This was my thinking, i'd be more worried about wear and tear rather than dust accumulation. Landlord could easily turn off power and water.
Squatters would only be an issue in really low socioeconomic areas.
Plus rent for nothing basically.
Agreed, let the REA do it.
You won't have the ability to look into the person's details / history like the REA can.
I believe you can give up possession and get the agent to do it then you are charged a letting fee and are liable for the rent up until the point they let the place to a new tenant (I think there's also a one month limit to this but laws recently changed and different gov pages have different advice, I would call VCAT to confirm).
The other option is you advertise the property yourself and transfer the lease in which case you may have to pay a fee for the agent drawing up the lease again. Cost for drawing up the lease can range anywhere from $0-300.
If there is a one month limit to being liable for rent I would go with that option to save yourself hassle.
If you're in Melbourne and already posted on Fairy Floss there aren't going to be a huge amount of people viewing other forums that aren't already on that page. Your problem is that there are A LOT of rental properties available right now.
Unfortunately it is until the fixed term is up which is another 6 months which is why we are trying to find another tenant.
Yeah I think you're right. There is a lot available at the moment, unless there is something special about your property that you can push it with I would look at offering half rent for their first month to get someone in.
To be honest you are better off getting the REA to find tenants - as they will have to like them. You could just find some bunch of desperadoes and they will go nope…
Unless you are in a certain area rental vacancy is low so should be easy.
REA has no real incentive to find new tenants as OP pointed out. I've done a few lease transfers and never had one denied. If you're assuring the REA there won't be a gap in payments on the place they usually don't give a crap, this is especially true in Melbourne where PMs do very little actual work due to having a rental roll full of foreign owned properties with landlords that never call.
I would just give notice and leave it up to the real estate, but once they advertise it, put up the link everywhere you can (in buy swap sell groups, gumtree etc). If they don't advertise it quickly enough and have open homes you can complain to your states tenants board that they aren't trying hard enough to get new tenants and that you should not have to pay for the whole vacant period.
Another option is to stop paying rent now and just abandon the place when you move. Don't give them a forwarding address. You'll lose your bond and never be able to rent again, however you'll save on carpet cleaning and rent.
You only stay on the TICA database for 3 years.
The landlords have been fantastic to us during Covid and I wouldn't do that to them, thanks for the tip though.
Is it really worth spending your time to find potential new tenants who the landlord/agent can still reject?
I would just pay the break fees etc to the agent and let them sort it out. They have a duty to make reasonable attempts to find new tenants.