Wigan Warrior

We are looking to move from Sydney to Melbourne and having a few problems trying to sort out a rental remotely:

Unfortunately, you will not be able to apply for a property in Victoria remotely without having seen the property. Australian real estate companies have to receive ALL documentation and payment (bond and first month’s rent) within 48 hours of the lease being approved. Otherwise they have the legal right to find another tenant.

Has anyone been in the same situation and found a way round this? I want to sort out a rental for when we get there so we have somewhere to ship our furniture/belongs when we leave Sydney.

As ever - your help is appreciated.

Cheers,
WW

Scotty1

Hi WW
Not quite sure what the problem is. Assume that you are planning to be in Melbourne, view and apply for the property? What is the issue with signing the agreement and paying the rental and bond when there?
If you are planning on renting and not visiting then things may be difficult in getting a property in first place?
Sorry if I've missed the bleeding obvious!

Wigan Warrior

We wanted to rent a property remotley - i.e. from Sydney with out being in Melbourne.

I'm happy to take the risk of renting this way, we are looking at a new estate so all the houses are reasonably new and have already had a look around the area.

I just wanted them to mail me the documents to apply for the rental and then I would only need to go to Melbourne if accepted, instead of having to go down once to view/apply and again to sign agreement and pay deposit/bonds.

paddyo

Line up your potential targets for a saturday and then fly down for a weekend trip to view and fill out all forms there and then. It will cost you the flight funds but its the same as in Sydney, no reputable Real Estate agent will let you accept the property until you have physical viewed (for that read Inspected) the property. It covers there ass.
You would also have to be sure that YOU were the one getting the property!!
Bear in mind that its not always the Agent who makes the decision, often it comes down to the sole yeah/nay of the owner.
If you like the property you view then sort out a convenient move-in time (that is acceptable to the Agent and the Owner) for Monday, turn up at the Rental Agents office on Saturday to pay deposit rent (or actually can do this via Bank direct payment probably best for the Friday before at the latest).
It can be done, just needs a bit of planning and I would suggest putting in a few applications at the same time in case your main one falls over. We did that here on the Northern Beaches in May and we ended up having the choice of two to go for!

Scotty1

agree with paddyo - you will not be taken seriously by the agent as a rental potential unless they see you and you view the property. Sorry but that's just the way they do things here. I think you can do it all in a weekend (if the agent is open!) but you may need to take the Monday off as well.
Good luck!

dave99

I have done this a few times now moving between adelaide and perth.

First I arrange for pickup of everything by a delivery company then fly over to the state I am moving to. Have a holiday rental booked for a couple of weeks, then when you land go to every rental viewing you can find until you get one. This is the tough bit spending all day for a week driving round looking at places. When you get somewhere you can then ring the removals company and give them the destination.
Typically your stuff will be mid transport by the time you find somewhere.
Although once I cut it close and only had a couple of days until it was delivered.

If the worst happens and you dont have somewhere lined up you can always get them to deliver to a storage facility, meet it there and get it put in a lock up for awhile until you find somewhere.

every time I have done this I have been able to find a rental before my stuff was due to arrive
its stressful, well any move is, but its doable

good luck

Wigan Warrior

thanks guys, when we got our rental in Sydney it was at least a week until we heard anything back from our applications - hoping I can get it all sorted in a long weekend - fri - Mon!