Long term leases in Victoria...?

I don't know why as investors you wouldn't want longer leases.

I keep offering 1/2/3 year leases to our tenants and they always come back accepting only the 1/2 option.

If I had an existing tenant in that I knew was a good tenant I'd be happy to sign a 5 year lease with agreed upon rental increases on an annual basis.

 

Yep.... I can't seem to understand why the article is trying to argue it's a bad idea. Because it's not. A longer lease will suit a lot of tenants, and a good number of landlords too.

 

We always offer our tenants 6 months as their first lease and tell them that if they pay their rent on time and look after the property, we will offer longer leases in the future. If they don't, we don't renew.

Currently, subsequent leases are 12 months renewal. For good tenants, I would consider offering 2 and 3 year renewal on their second and third renewals but I don't know whether I would go any higher (say 5 year renewals).

To me, residential tenants are a lot different to commercial tenants.

Commercial tenants want/need accommodation certainty to run their businesses; so 5/7/10 year leases are the norm.

I don't believe too many residential tenants nor landlords would want 5/7/10 year leases but I can see that 1/2/3 year leases could become the norm.

 

There are families who rent and love where they live. There's also that recent poster who said he wanted to buy his own home, and the reason for wanting to own was driven a lot by his experiences of having to move every year growing up. Not all tenants want a longer tenancy, but a good proportion of them will. I know people who have rented the same home for 10 years. The house works for them... (they also want the carpet changed and the right to paint the walls as they haven't been painted or recarpeted during that whole time but the owner won't let them... but that's another story)

The 6 month lease then 12 month then giving a longer term option of tenancy (once you know they are a great responsible tenant with a good track record) sounds reasonable to me.

 

Yeah, we once had a good long-term tenant who rented one of our IPs for 8 years and then they stopped paying their rent.

Their reason:- they had paid enough. WTF!!!

Just a reminder that even good long-term tenants can go bad.

 

I wonder if this is a QLD thing - In Victoria I thought that I could sell my IP at any time regardless of when the lease was signed?

(Of course, the lease continues with the new owner in this case.)

 

I know someone who wanted to buy a Unit in a Melbourne duplex but it had just recently been rented with a 12 month lease. The buyer wanted vacant possession on settlement.

Long story short. The tenant agreed to move out if they received $50,000 to vacate. The buyer and the seller chipped in $25,000 each.

I assume the 50 grand is tax free as it is not income.

 

I believe the landlord had every right legally (in other words, they weren't breaking the law).

Morally, well that is a different issue. But I suppose it depends on your morals.

 

I've met very, very few tenants that want to sign an agreement over 5 years. Generally the longest lease I've done is 2 years at a time and as a tenant myself I wouldn't want to sign a longer agreement as I like flexibility - I'd also recommend against such long leases due to a few factors above.

I think the lease terms should've been at the bottom of the pile to change. You can already do a 5 year lease, the only real change is currently a lease over 5 years isn't covered under the RTA.

 

Matchmaking site for long-term Vic leases

Matchmaking sites by the government (Taxpayers!)

 

We took a 2 year lease on the joint we currently rent.