In 2014, there is a raft of compliance issues that need to be addressed before entering into a lease agreement, some of which have not affected lease agreements before.
Obviously there is a cost to the property investor to ensure compliance, however the risk of non-compliance far outweighs the cost of compliance.
A large number of property investors are ignoring the need to have their property lease compliant simply because they haven’t needed to do it before or they cannot see the benefit of the cost.
Failing to ensure that your property is lease compliant, not only with Residential Tenancy legislation, but by compliance legislation as detailed above, the property investor not only runs the risk of having an invalid tenancy agreement, but could also face heavy penalties. Insurance claims can also be denied if it can be proved that there were compliance issues outstanding.
Worse still, the property investor could face legal ramifications in the event of a public liability claim resulting from a non-compliance issue. As an industry, we have seen this occur following house fires in rental properties where the smoke alarms were not compliant.
Your property manager is faced with the unenviable task of informing you of these lease compliance costs, however the advice must be heeded to ensure that your property is compliant, minimising your risk of legal action and more costs in the future.
