FAQ's

Contrary to popular opinion, rent in Victoria is not calculated 4 weekly nor 52 weeks a year, it is calculated on a daily rate.   

There are not always 30 days in a month, some have 31, and as we know, one has 28 days, so this calculation balances it out across each month of the year evenly.   

So, in line with Consumer Affairs Victoria, monthly rent is calculated as follows: The weekly rental amount is divided by 7 (days of the week), then multiplied by 365 (days per year) to determine the yearly rate and finally divided by 12 (months a year) to determine the per calendar month rental amount.  

For example: 

$400 /7 = $57.14 daily$57.14 x 365 = $20,856.10 yearly$20,856.10 / 12 = $1,738.00 per calendar month.

 Upon the approval of your application prior to moving in, you are provided with the trust account details to deposit rent.   

Rent is due and payable on the same day each month unless otherwise agreed to pay more frequently.   

All rental payments are to be made electronically using your personalised reference. 

If this reference is not included in your payment, we may not be able to allocate your rental payment correctly, as a lot of tenants pay the same amount from month to month, so this helps us allocate funds correctly and in a timely manner.  

 We all have times when money is tight or people let us down however if you know your rent is due and you are not going to be able to pay it in time, please contact your property manager to discuss.  

If you have a good history of paying on time, your property manager and rental provider may show more understanding if you communicate with us.   

If your circumstances have changed i.e. you lost your job, gotten ill, separated etc. which is going to affect your rental payments for a period of time, there may be some options to help like a payment plan etc.   

The most important thing is that you keep communicating with your property manager. 

You paid your first month’s rent when you signed your lease. As agreed in your lease agreement, you are required to pay your rent in advance each month.   

The date your rent is due is the 1st day of the next rent cycle for that month.  You must pay rent up to and including your final vacating date. 

 We all have times when money is tight or people let us down however if you know your rent is due and you are not going to be able to pay it in time, please contact your property manager to discuss.  

If you have a good history of paying on time, your property manager and rental provider may show more understanding if you communicate with us.   

If your circumstances have changed i.e. you lost your job, gotten ill, separated etc. which is going to affect your rental payments for a period of time, there may be some options to help like a payment plan etc.   

The most important thing is that you keep communicating with your property manager. 

You cannot use your bond for rent. Your bond is held in trust by Residential Tenancies Bond Authority Bond (RTBA) not by Coad Real Estate.  

Following your final inspection, your property manager will have 10 business days to lodge your bond refund form or make an application to VCAT. Once your final inspection is completed and all matters resolved, you will be asked to sign a ‘Bond refund form’ which will be submitted to RTBA who will refund your bond directly into your nominated bank account, this may take up to 72 hours. 

 As agreed in your lease, your rent is due on a particular day each month. If your rent is not paid by this day, you are considered to be ‘in arrears’.   

This is a serious matter and means you are breaking the terms of your lease.  Not only are you causing financial hardship for your rental provider, you are also establishing a negative rental history for yourself which could make it difficult for when you apply for future rentals.  

Once you are ‘in arrears’ you will be sent correspondence from your property manager daily, these may include but are not limited to; phone calls, text messages and letters.  

In accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, if you allow your rent to reach 14 days in arrears your property manager will serve you with a ‘Notice to Vacate’. 

 When your lease is nearing its end, (normally three (3) months from the expiry), we will contact you to ask if you would like to enter into a new lease.    

If you do want a new lease, we will then confirm this with your rental provider and if all parties agree we will prepare the new lease for you to sign. If instructed by your rental provider, it is at this point you will be notified of any potential rent increases. 

Sometimes things happen and a tenant needs to move out of a property before their current lease has expired eg: relationship breakdown, relocating overseas or interstate, serious health issues etc. This is known as a ‘Break of Lease’.   

In accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act and your lease agreement special conditions, you are required to:

• give us written notice of your intention to break your lease (see link).
• pay rent up until the lease end date or until a new renter commences their lease term, whichever comes first, even if you have physically vacated the property prior to that date.   
• pay a pro-rata calculated break of lease fee. This will be calculated once a new renter is found and it is known how long is left remaining on your lease term.  

If you know someone who wishes to lease the property, this can be completed as a change of tenancy, and not a lease break, however they are required to complete the application process as normal.  

 Once you have submitted your application and all supporting documents required, and we have done all of the necessary checks, your application will be presented to the Rental Provider for a final decision. 

Depending on the number of applications we receive for the property, we aim to give you a final decision within 24 to 48 hours.  

There are a number of checks that need to be done for your application, including current & previous rental history, current employment status, as well as financial affordability, so please provide as much information as possible to support this information.  

If your situation is a complicated one and you believe that the application form does not ask questions you may wish to answer we encourage you to submit a cover letter with your application.  

Coad Real Estate requires at least 100 points of certified identification to be submitted with your application. The 100 point check is a personal identification system adopted by the Australian Government to combat financial transaction fraud by individuals and companies, enacted by the Financial Transactions Reports Act (1988) (FTR Act).  

If your application is then approved, we will contact you to let you know, then send a lease agreement and 'congratulations' letter electronically for reading and signing. You are also required to pay the first months rent upfront (within 24 hours) to financially secure the property. Your lease is not considered ‘secured’ until all of the leaseholders have signed the lease and you have paid your first month’s rent & bond. 

In accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 it is part of our service your Rental provider to carry out regular inspections of the condition of the property.  

We will inspect your home 3 months after your lease begins and then each 6 months thereafter.  You will be notified of the inspection time by email giving you at least 1 weeks’ notice. The purpose of the inspection is to ensure that you are caring for the property in a satisfactory manner but to also check for any maintenance required.  

If you are unable to be present for the inspection you are welcome to have a friend or family member present on your behalf, to report any matters affecting your tenancy. If you are unable to be present, we will enter the premises with our management set of keys.   

Should the property have an alarm, please contact our office with the alarm code or leave the alarm off at the inspection time. Likewise, if you have pets, please make sure they are secured at the time of inspection.   

If you have a garage, we will also need access to the garage so please ensure access is available at the time of the inspection. It is your responsibility to ensure that the property is safe for entry by your property manager.   

Please be aware that your rental provider is invited along to these inspections and may be in attendance on the day. If your rental provider is not able to attend your property manager may take photographs at the time of the inspection. 

Coad Real Estate is required to complete a thorough inspection of the property prior to the beginning of your tenancy noting in detail the condition of the property including any damage and photos of the property and all items at the property.  This condition report will in turn be used for your vacate inspection to ensure you have returned the property back to the rental provider in its original condition, fair wear & tear excepted. 

As required by legislation, at the time you collect your keys, you will be sent an electronic copy of the report. You should check this report and make any required comments or additions to; you have 5 business days to return this back to our office.  

We recommend you go through the property before you move any personal belongings in. If you agree with our comments you don’t need add any additional comments. If you notice something we haven’t mentioned or you disagree with our comments, put your comments in the ‘tenant comments’ column of the relevant area and category and take a photo to back this up.  

If you fail to return the amended condition report to our office within the allocated time frame, the original condition report will be declared as true and correct. 

Once you have given notice, your property manager will arrange a time to attend the property, and if required you are able to be present at the final inspection to compare the property condition to when your tenancy began.    

We expect some fair wear and tear however will look for visible signs of damage and also check that the property is cleaned to a standard expected in your lease agreement. Sometimes it is good to think about the standard that you would personally expect as a rental provider and hand it back in that condition.  

Your property manager will discuss with you any items requiring your additional attention.  At this time you will also be asked to provide a receipt for carpet cleaning or any other special requirements i.e. flea treatment if you had a pet etc.  

We will provide you a checklist to assist with your vacating for things to consider, such as turning off utilities, cancelling water usage accounts and even mail re-direction 

In accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 you will be provided with at least one set of keys/remotes for the property at the beginning of your lease.   

You are permitted to make copies of these keys at your own expense, however you are expected to provide the additional copies back to Coad Real Estate at the completion of your tenancy.  

Should you want a master key or remote i.e. you live in apartment block, you will need to request this by emailing your property manager. Once they are received, you will be sent an invoice for payment. 

If this occurs during business hours, you can come to our office and borrow our master keys. Please call our office prior to you coming to our office to confirm that the master keys are in the office.  You will also need to provide us with ID and $50 deposit.  You are required to return the keys back to our office within the same day, at this time your $50 deposit will be returned to you.  

If you are unable to come to our office yourself and want to send a third party to pick up the keys, you need to provide us with written or verbal consent beforehand and your representative will need to provide their ID.  

In the event that you need to borrow keys after hours, and an agent is able to provide you with access, this will cost you $50 to be paid to the agent at the time access is given. If in the event an agent is unable to provide access to the property, you will need to contact a locksmith at your own cost.   

If the locksmith needs to change the locks, under legislation, you will need to provide the office with a copy of all keys that were changed.  

Our recommended Locksmith:  

Metro properties:                                                             Macedon properties:  

St Kilda Locksmiths - 9525 5811                                       Gisborne Locksmiths Pty Ltd- 03 5428 2088 

Ace Locksmiths - 9534 0586 

 Please call or email your property manager immediately.  We understand that mistakes and accidents happen and we expect some fair wear and tear however it’s better that you notify us instead of us noticing it at an inspection.  

The damage may be covered by the Rental provider’s insurance policy, which may mean you might only have to pay the excess amount. Should it not be covered by insurance, Coad Real Estate works with a range of fantastic tradesmen who are not only reliable, but they give us great rates. 

As with every renter, every property and rental provider is different.  Some owners are happy for pets to live at the property so long as the Renter takes full responsibility for any damage, other owners are not.    

If at the time of you originally moving in, you did not have a pet and you are applying for a pet during your tenancy, there is a prescribed 'CAV Pet Request Form' to complete for approval. Please contact your Property Manager for this form.  

Please note: A pet is not automatically approved, however, the Rental Provider cannot unreasonably withhold consent.

If you are not approved for a pet and obtain one at the property anyway, this will be in breach of your lease agreement and can have ongoing repercussions, however, if you are not approved for a pet, under new legislation, there are options to pursue this application through VCAT. 

 According to your lease, it is in expectation that you maintain the property at the same or higher standard that you first leased it in. This includes regularly maintaining and watering the gardens including the trees and shrubs, mowing the lawn and removing all garden rubbish from the property.   

If any plants at the property die during your lease it is expected that you replace them with the same or similar. If the lawns dies it is expected that you lay lawn seed and re-establish the lawn to its original condition.  

If you wish to plant additional plants in the gardens, please email your property manager detailing which plants and where you wish to plant them.  This will need to be approved by the Rental provider prior to you making any changes. 

According to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, the owner of the property has the right to sell the property at any time however they cannot ask you to vacate the property until the completion of your lease.   

Just because the property is being sold does not necessarily mean that you will be asked to vacate the property at the completion of your lease. Often rental properties will be purchased by investors who wish to continue leasing the property so you may be able to continue living at the property as you have done, the only thing that’s changes is the Rental provider.  

Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, if the rental provider requires you to vacate the premises for the sale, a formal Notice to Vacate through VCAT will be served issuing you with not less than 60 days’ to vacate providing the vacating date falls on or after your lease expiry date. 

 According to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, the owner of the property has the right to move into the property however they cannot ask you to vacate the property until the completion of your lease.  

Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, if the Rental Provider requires you to vacate so that they or one of their family members can move in, a formal Notice to Vacate through VCAT will be served issuing you with not less than 90 days’ to vacate providing the vacating date falls on or after your lease expiry date. 

In a rental property, the only people who should be staying at the property are those listed on the lease and any children originally listed on your approved application. If however, you are planning to have friends or family stay at the property with you for more of a long term arrangement (for more a month), please notify your property manager and provide photo ID for each person.  

Although this may seem invasive, if something was to go wrong i.e. a fire at the property, we need to know who was at the property to notify authorities.  

If you wish for any friends or family to move into the property more permanently, please advise your property manager immediately before asking them to do so, as you require permission prior to the move in. This person may be required to formally ‘Apply’ for the property, as you did prior to your tenancy. You may also need to do what is called a ‘Tenant Transfer’ which your property manager will explain. 

 Generally, electricity, gas, telephone, internet are not included in your rental amount. You are responsible for paying your rent and all outgoing utilities when you lease a rental property including any connection fees.   

It is also your responsibility as the Renter to connect your utilities, unless otherwise agreed. A small number of rental properties do have outgoings included, such as water usage, however this will be listed on the advertisement or advised when your application is approved. 

Before making any changes to the property including getting Foxtel connected you need to seek permission from the Rental provider before doing so.    

The owner is not legally required to allow you to alter their property in this way however many owners allow this so long as it is being installed by an approved tradesman.   

If any damage is done to the property while this is being done, the responsibility is with you as the renterto re-instate the property to the condition it was in at the beginning of your lease. 

 Your tenancy agreement stipulates that you are not permitted to put any holes in walls without permission.  

If there are no existing hooks or picture rails, and you decide that you want to hang things on the walls, you need to seek permission from the rental provider before doing so. This can be done by emailing your property manager your request including which rooms and how many hooks you are planning to put up.  

The owner is not legally required to allow you to alter their property in this way and it can be viewed as damage to the property, which means that when your lease ends you will be required to re-instate the walls to the condition they were at the beginning of your lease.  

If you go ahead and put up picture hooks without permission, prior to vacating you are required to remove the hook, patch the hole, sand and paint the whole wall to a professional standard.  If we deem the standard is not to a professional standard, we will arrange this on your behalf and you will be expected to pay the invoice.  

PLEASE NOTE: Although adhesive picture hooks are advertised as easy to remove, they can and often damage paint work when removed.  If damage to the walls occurs, it will be at your cost to have them repaired and this can be very costly.