Know your lease!

Hi All,

Its been a while since I last posted but recently a student came to me with a query regarding his current lease at his rental accommodation. I was surprised that he did not know exactly the type of lease he had signed to so I thought it might be worth making a brief posting on the different types of leases for our international and country students and perhaps the information may even be useful to some of our local students.

A standard individual residential lease (you are the only person signed on the lease) is usually 6 or 12months in duration. For most residential leases you will need to pay equivalent 4-6 weeks rent security bond which is an amount of money lodged and held with the SA Government Tenancies Branch from which all or an amount can be applied to be deducted by the landlord to cover the costs of any damage that might occur to the property during your tenancy there.

Before moving in you will also likely need to 2 weeks rent in advance so if your rent is $280 per week then you would need to calculate perhaps 6 weeks security bond ($1680) plus an additional 2 weeks rent in advance ($560) would mean that in order to move in you may need to pay over $2,000 plus dollars.

Before moving in you should also complete an "Inspection Sheet" which is also lodged with the Tenancies Branch. It is important when completing the Inspection Sheet that you record the condition of the accommodation exactly as it is. If something is in your opinion damaged but the landlord of agent has recorded it as in good condition it is important that you record it on the sheet as "damaged" otherwise when you lease expires your landlord may apply to the Tenancies Branch to deduct an amount from your security bond to repair the damage, even if it existed before you moved in.

Another type of residential tenancy which is quite common is the "sub-let" which means that a head tenant has signed a lease with the landlord and with the landlords permission rents a room of that property to another tenant. For example in a 3 bedroom house one tenant signs the lease with the landlord and thus becomes responsible for the rent and maintaining the property and he in turn "sub-lets" the remaining two rooms. The two other people sign a lease with the head tenant for each of their rooms and if they want to move out they have to discuss with the head tenant, not the landlord. As far as the landlord is concerned the head tenant is renting the property and is solely responsible for it. Fortunately with sub-lets the Tenancies Branch can assist to resolve any disputes between tenants and landlord.

And finally the other most commonly found type of lease is the "Co-Tenancy" where all people staying in the property sign the lease agreement with the landlord and all signatories are responsible for the rent and maintaining the property. If when the lease is concluded and the lease holders move out damage to the property is discovered, all signatories of the lease become responsible. A possible downside of the co-tenancy is that the Tenancies Branch cannot assist to resolve any disputes between tenants or with the landlord.

An important source of accommodation information for UniSA students is the "Accommodation" section of the UniSA website which includes all the information above plus much more.

All the Best,

Damien