We're proud to launch an education program that focuses on upskilling landlords about their responsibilities and the legal requirements that apply to residential tenancies.
The program aims to reduce compliance, to promote harmonious tenancies, and to ensure that landlords are in the best position possible when something goes wrong.
The program features two online training modules that cover everything from the minimum standards for rental properties, through to what happens when a tenant fails to vacate the property or when they abandon the property and leave their goods behind.
Association President, Louise Elliot, is thrilled that these resources are now available.
“We identified the need for education after seeing the type of questions owners are asking and the situations owners are finding themselves in as they didn’t know the rules, and there are a lot of complex rules and detail to be across so it’s easy to slip up”
“Investing in preventing issues through education makes sense, as it’s too late when disputes end up in Court or adding to the Tenants Union’s workload”
“These resources are a win-win for tenants and landlords. Tenants benefit by having a landlord that knows the rules and landlords benefit by making sure they don’t have to start long and stressful processes again when something goes wrong if they didn’t follow the rules”
“Too often landlords are on the back foot if they haven’t ticked a tiny box, like when a tenant stops paying rent and the matter ends up in court – if the written notice to the tenant hasn’t ticked all the boxes, the process starts all over again, which is obviously really stressful and costly for owners”, Ms Elliot said.
Property developer and rental owner, Trev McCallum, has completed the online learning and highly recommends it.
“I’ve been a rental owner for many years and have had a lot of experience in all different situations, but even for someone like me who has being doing this for a long time, I’ve gotten a lot out of the training modules and the support of the Association in general”, Mr McCallum said.
Eboni Speed is also an Association member and encourages others to join.
“There’s a lot to know when you take on a rental property, especially if you’re managing the tenancies yourself. It can be stressful, and you can feel quite alone, particularly if your property is damaged, or rent isn’t paid or you find out the tenants have two big dogs that were never approved. It’s great to know there are tools and people out there I can turn to”.
Tasmania has over 40,000 rental properties, with a large portion of those being managed by the owner directly rather than through a professional property manager. Around 20% of Tasmanian households own investment property.
This program has only be possible due to a one-off grant from the State Government.
