Hiya, I am about to rent out my dual occupancy +granny in Sydney (3 flats, one of which I live in). There will be one bill for each - power, water, gas. The electrical bills are easy - have installed 2X single phase kilowatt hour meters to measure usage per flat and bills will be calculated from this. The water and gas bills are tricky as there is no way to separate and meter those services individually without ripping out walls, slabs and pipes right. My proposal is to either: * include those as a fixed sum rent + bills *divide and separate bills per head - ie water bill = $500, and if there are 3 people in flat B and one in flat C then everyone pays $100 each. (since I am in flat A, total 5 persons). What have yous done in this situation and what is the better method? Also - * since the market is competitive and much less landlord-friendly with this corona crap, is it a better idea to offer a low rent 6 month lease with an increase down the track? * Is the standard NSW tenancy agreement good enough, any suggestions as of what critical points I should add to it? Thanks and sorry for the many q's, am pretty novice
As for the metering issue, including it in the rent is the only fair and practical way if it is not metered, It may even be a NSW requirement to have it metered if you are going to charge for it anyway (someone else can confirm). As for the rent, just set it at a market rate, or slightly below if you are worried about prolonged vacancy. A teaser rate only risks having the tenant vacate after six months, or attracting someone who cannot pay the revised rent come the time.
