Hey folks a while since we've posted but a quick one about rentals.

Just how easy is it to secure a long term rental (6-12 months)? We intend to stay in a furnished holiday let for a few weeks until our gear arrives. By this time we hope to have secured a long term rental having scoped out the surrounding areas. Is this going to be as easy as we thought?

where abouts are you moving too?

Sorry. We're moving to the Perth area. More than likely a suburb to the north.

http://www.realestate.com.au/rent

Try this website - got my rental from that

Good luck with it...

Em x

Did you secure your rental prior to making the move? We didn't think it wise to select a property without properly inspecting both it and the surrounding areas. (We have never been in Perth before so don't have any inside knowledge!!!)

I secured a rental (1 yr lease) before we left Canada. Had to prove we had the funds in the bank account before they'd approve us though.

But I agree about waiting until you get here, the rental we were approved for we went to see the day after we arrived. The house was good but the yard was very small. We then started looking for something else, which we got and we backed out of the original one.

Anyway, it is possible to secure a rental before leaving. Just talk to the real estate people to see what the requirement is to do it that way, as I said, usually a bank statement to show you have the funds.

I wouldn't recommend renting before you get here. When we rented a few years ago, there were about a dozen people looking at the same time and we felt pretty pressured to put in a rushed application. After we moved in, we realised that we had not looked over the back fence, as we found that the neighbour right on the rear boundary had an aircon unit that they ran almost all the time (cooling in summer, heating in winter). This aircon unit was right outside our bedrooms and was so noisy that we couldn't open our windows in hot weather overnight. That is, if we had been able to actually open the windows, as some of them didn't - another mistake.

In Perth, a home's orientation to the cooling sea breeze from the west, or the blazing sun in summer, or warming sun in winter, all affect your quality of life. These are the sort of details just too risky to leave to a real estate agent's florid descriptions of how wonderful a unit or house is. Some parts of Perth are also undergoing redevelopment and you might sign a 12 month lease, only to find that you are living right next to a building site for that entire time - and Aussie tradesmen start work early and noisily.

Don't panic and rush into something. Take your time and get to know Perth first. Loads of people on this site live NOR. I have lived in Perth NOR for 20 years, so if you want to know more about an area, let me know.

We secured a furnished short-term rental through a proper real estate agency before we came to Perth. But we didn't sign anything nor hand over any money until we arrived.

It was an apartment and there were photos on the web to see. It was great. Right in the centre of Joondalup. So we could walk to the shops, the library, the licencing centre (for driver's licence) and to Medicare. Really handy. The real estate agency was called "First Western".

Once our container arrived, we looked for an unfurnished rental. There were plenty to choose from. We visited quite a few when they had inspection hours and chose the one we liked best.

This is our biggest concern. I guess the best solution is for a short term furnished let and then having a good look for ourselves once we arrive. Upon choosing a let is there a long wait until we can move in. We've never rented before so are unsure.

Are references required for an unfurnished rental? Anything else needed?

There are several short term furnished places, so you probably wouldn't have a problem finding one, especially during our winter. Try http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodation/wa/perth, and you might be able to negotiate a better price for a longer rental period. Some of the real estate agents might have 1-3 month furnished lets available, especially in the Mosman Park area, or perhaps around Hillarys or Joondalup. Look at www.reiwa.com.au or www.domain.com.au. Staying somewhere near where you intend to settle would be good, to give yourselves a better idea. If you're coming out with no kids, then you have less worries about schools, and more options about where to live.

When we rented, we had no renting history as we owned our own house, so I think my OH got a letter from his company saying he was employed, plus a copy of our property title. I remember reading some other posts here about what others have had to do, perhaps try a search.

Don't even think about signing a lease without inspecting it first, as the online photo's will not show the problems there may be inside and out. I've just arranged a first time lease in West Perth which was relatively easy. The rental market has plenty of availability and I secured the first I applied for. You need 100 points of identification, really just passport, drivers licence, bank card and possibly bank statement showing address. If you don't have previous rental history offering/being asked to pay 2 months in advance, although not strictly legit, will help.
They will definately contact 2 references and employer so they need to be prewarned.
And absolutely look at the property report they give you and go through the property very carefully. I just returned mine with 30 photo's of variations from the report, just small things like dishwasher missing, wrong model of fridge, showerhead missing and absolutely no mention of chipped paint and marks on floor. It looked like a cut and paste from another property, agent said they were having computer problems.

Hi. We move to Perth in 8 weeks time. We have secured a furnished holiday appartment in Joondalup for a month, when we arrive we will have a drive around and then look at longer term unfurnished rentals. Our biggest concern is getting an unfurnished that will allow our dog. Getting a furnished has been immpossible and she now has to go into kennels from quarantine until we sort ourselves out. Good luck with the move when do you go?

I finished my current contract today in Scotland and our belongings are being picked up in two weeks time to be shipped over. If I can secure work soon we may be over very soon. If not we will wait until our gear is nearly there until we move to cut down on furnished rental prices. Is it possible to secure a long term rental within a couple of weeks even if I haven't secured a job?

Hi again. Most rentals are advertised and rented out within a very short time, say 1 or 2 weeks. There are a lot of investors here who buy property and then rent them out, so they don't want to miss out on rental income. Major concerns for property owners are how you are going to pay the rent, are you going to take care of the property, and it is usually more difficult if you have a pet. We rent out my mother-in-law's place, it was vacated today, but they started advertising it about a week ago. We have a unit we rent out, and it took about 2 weeks to get tenants who signed a 12 month lease, so rentals do appear on the market quickly and disappear quickly. Some real estate agents have lists of rental properties that are not advertised on the web.

There are a lot of properties that look great from the photos on the web, but you have to be careful before you sign up for a 6 or 12 month rental. It can be hard and expensive to break a lease, if you make a mistake and end up in a nightmare neighbourhood.

What sort of work do you both do and what do you like to do in your spare time? These sorts of questions can help narrow down the area for you to look in.

Don't be afraid to negotiate on the cost of a short-term furnished rental, or a longer-term rental. Also, don't stress about finding a place so quickly after your arrival - it will work out.