have breached, or broken, the agreement. There are, of course, penalties if you don’t keep to this agreement. For example, you may incur a penalty if you do any of the following:
• fail to pay the rent
• leave before the lease period is finished
• do not give notice before you leave.
Often these penalties involve the loss of part, or all, of your bond.
On signing the lease you will be required to pay a refundable bond (usually the equivalent of four weeks rent) which covers the cost of any damage or breakages that you may cause while you are renting the property. Provided you look after the property carefully and do not break any of the other conditions of the lease, the bond will be returned when you move out of the property.
When you sign up for the accommodation, you will be given a property condition report. This is a checklist of the conditions of fixtures (such as the stove, walls and floors) in each room in the house or apartment. It will be completed by the landlord or real estate agent before you move in. You should also complete the condition report before you move in. If you wait until the furniture
is in place, you might not notice existing marks and stains on the walls and carpets. When you move out, the landlord or real estate agent compares the condition report against the condition of the property. Any marks or breakages not on the original condition report will be seen as damage you caused, so it is important to take great care when completing the report. You can insist on being present when periodic and final inspections are carried out so that no misunderstandings occur. Before you move in you must also pay some rent in advance - usually two weeks. The lease entitles the owner or agent to inspect the property every three months and before the bond is returned when you want to move out. The owner or agent will deduct from your bond the cost of any repairs or maintenance; for example, steamcleaning the carpet if it is stained and you didn’t have it cleaned before you moved out. If you decide to leave the place before the lease is up, or if you do not pay the rent, the agent will normally take what you owe out of the bond and you will only get back what is left, if anything. If the bond does not cover what you owe and you do not pay the difference you can be placed on a blacklist, or database, of bad tenants. This is very serious because most agents have access to this database, and if blacklisted, you will find it very difficult to rent another property.
Before a tenant enters into a tenancy agreement (lease) or moves in to a residential property they must be given the following documents by the landlord or the landlord's agent:
- a copy of the proposed tenancy agreement (filled out by the landlord or agent where appropriate in the spaces provided) which comes in two parts:
- the terms of the agreement
- a report on the condition of the property (called the condition report)
- a written statement of the costs payable by the tenant on signing the agreement
- a copy of the The Renting Guide
The tenant must be given time to read and understand the terms of the tenancy agreement before being asked to sign it.
