Feburary 11 changes happen today.

Today another round of changes affecting landlords and tenants come into effect. Those being:

· No more rental bidding.

· Fixed leases automatically become periodic on expiration unless agreed otherwise.

· Allowing tenants to make minor changes to a property.

. Assignment of tenancies.

· Fiber broadband installs.

· Privacy and access to justice landlord records.

· Tenancies can be terminated if family violence or landlord assault has occurred with 48hrs notice.

· No more no cause 90 days eviction notices.

I believe the most talked about change is the no cause 90 day evictions. So what does this mean for property management and landlords? It has always been necessary to do back ground checks on prospective tenants but now it is essential to do a more thorough back ground search prior to signing up a new tenant. Doing a comprehensive check on a tenant includes: Landlord references, employer references, credit check, checking their online presence and meeting with or talking to the prospect.

When a prospect has a property management company as a reference and you phone the business to talk to the property manager you can be sure of the authenticity of the conversation. But what about private land lord references, how can you be confident you’re actually talking to their land lord and not one of their friends. When faced with this situation you need to have asked a few pertinent questions of the tenant before calling the alleged land lord. Things both would know, like details of the tenancy. A friend is not going to know every detail of their friends tenancy. During the conversation note any long pauses, evasiveness or offering any information you haven’t asked for. These are red flags for me.

Land lords need to treat the running of their rental like a business, because that is what it is. Land lords need to keep accurate and detailed records of all transactions and copies of all documents and records of all interactions with their tenants because you never know when you might need them. Keeping files on your computer and backed up on the cloud is recommended.

If you would like a comprehensive list of the the questions Lanwayke property managers use when vetting tenants, click this link.