Hi there,

Getting rental accommodation in Sydney is rather difficult as there are more people wanting to rent than houses available. This means that for a good property there will be heaps of people attending the inspections and many will apply on the spot. There are cases when tenants offer to pay more than the asking rent just to motivate the owner to approve their application.

So it is good to have all your IDs with you plus all the paperwork that the agents require for the application.

I don't think there are hidden costs or traps, but you have to read the contract attentively and all the fine prints and understand what obligations you can have (for example mowing the lawn, maintaining the garden).

Other than that if the owners approve your application the agent can ask you to pay a reservation fee, which is usually 1 week of rent. With that you are taking the house off the market till the moment you sign the contract. If you change your mind the owner retains the fee.
If you sign the contract then that fee should actually pay for the first week of rent.

The agent will also ask you to pay rent in advance (usually 2 weeks). Some tenants offer to pay more upfront, as an incentive for the owner to approve them.

And you'll also pay a bond which you get back when you leave, if you didn't cause any damage. This is where you should take care - when you enter the property the agent comes with you and you both check everything and note the condition in the report. If you see stuff that is not right take photos and make comments in the report. When you leave there's another report. Agents compare and if there are issues it will be difficult to get your bond back.

When we rented, we had the report drawn but didn't take photos. There were some stains on the carpet from the previous tenants. We tried to clean them, they didn't come out and we didn't bother with professional cleaners. We thought the report mentioned stains. It did but quite generic. So the agent claimed it was our fault and returned only a part of the bond. As we didn't have any photos it was too much hassle to fight...

Good luck and enjoy Sydney,

Ange

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