Is there any way of securing a long term rental if you haven't got a job lined up cause you've just arrived in the country?

Not sure how long you mean by long term but we are renting for 6 months and had no problem getting a rental even though neither of us had jobs. Can't even remember if they asked to see our bank statement either but had it just in case with enough money in to cover a few months rent.

Just show bank statement/cash that shows you have enough to be able to afford the rental for a while.

As long as they can see that you have funds to survive until you find a job they are usually fine.

Mikey

Thanks Willerby

I'm just looking at the forms for a potential rental we are interested in and it was the permanent employment bit that's buggin' me.
I was hoping that to sweeten the deal i might offer to pay for 6 months up front (or even the year if need be), but if it was necessary to go down that route i'd prefer to offer less than the monthly rental because they'd be getting the money up front, but don't know of any problems we might have or even if it's possible to do so.

e.g. paying all that money upfront and then the owner defaulting on the agreement and we lose part (or all!) of the money we've already given.

We like the place we want to go for, but it's 12 months only which i'm not too happy about. I'd prefer to have 6 months, then play it by ear so to speak, but the owners want 12 months or nothing (according to agent).
Is this typical? Or are they chancing their arm?

As we ideally wanted to buy our own place, we initially were only prepared to rent for 6 months or less is possible. The agents were keen for us to sign up for 12 months but we stood our ground, even when they said the owner wanted 7 months minimum. In the end, they agreed to 6 months. Not sure but I think one of the reasons they are keen to sign you up for longer is that every time they change tenants the owner has to pay an admin fee (that's what someone told us anyway). Hope it works out for you.

There aren't that many 6 monthly rentals about unless you go for a holiday let, but they usually cost more to rent - so yes, it's pretty common in Adelaide for the landlords to want 12 months and not less. This is because the agent charges a re-letting fee when the lease is up, which obviously the owner doesn't want to pay too often

When we arrived, we put down that we would pay up to 3 months rent in advance but the agent said that it's illegal for them to take it (not that it would stop some people! ) but it must have helped because we got the first one we applied for (and the second one too!)

If you need a referee for a rental just yell, I have no problem saying I know you and that you are great.

That's kinda put our mind at rest. We thought it might have been gree on the part of the agent to get people to commit to renting for as long as possible!

I take it re-letting fees must be steep every time!

Thanks Wendy for being a referee if need be. Could come in handy!

Hi, good to see you are here at last! I would really try for 6 months only at first as that gives you time to make sure you like the area etc first as I know a few people that took a year and regret it. Also if you offer to pay at least 3 months upfront there usually is not a problem. I just gave a copy of bank statement etc like the rest have said.
Hope all is well.
Michelle

Hi Michelle. Good to hear from you and yes all is well. We took our house off the market and then put it back on during Summer and it sold within a week! so we're here permanently now instead of a recce.
Yeah, Clare and I would definitely prefer to get a place for 6 months if poss for the reasons that have been outlined.
Regarding the bank statements, that was one of the things we forgot to get before we left the UK, but will they accept what i can print off when i do online banking?

Hi Rightruccus,

This is a question I have been dying to now the answer too !!

Thanks

Donna.

Do you have to provide a UK statement or will htey accept an ANZ statement ?

Thats where our money will be.

Thanks
Donna.

Hi, we just printed off a statement from on line banking for both our UK and oz bank account, it was fine.

In regards to renting we offered to pay 6 months rent up front as we do not have jobs, i'm glad in a way because we know the rent has been paid so it's easier to budget whilst we still seek work.

Claire

Everyday's a school day!
That's handy knowing we can just print it off online.

We'd like to pay upfront too, only because that's it out the way and what money we have available can be used to budget for things like gas, electricity, furniture etc.

I'll PM you my phone number and address for the form, it will probably help if I know your real name too. Just let me know if you use it then I'll expect the call and won't put my foot in it by saying, never heard of them

They'd probably prefer a bank like ANZ who they know - don't forget it's the actual owner of the house that chooses you and not the agent. Some of these people may have never have heard of places like the Halifax or Natwest

We have broken our lease and are trying to move on.
We have had 3 applications from would be renters all rejected by landlord cos none of them work. Two of them were poms who had just arrived in oz.
It really depends on Landlord