Professionals offer the following methods of payment;
□ DIRECT DEBIT – rent payments deducted from your nominated bank account at no cost. Direct debits can be taken weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Fortnightly debit is taken on Thursday only.
□ RENTAL REWARDS – pay your rent by Credit Card and earn reward points. Cost is 1.32% (inc GST) of rent. Application form available on request.
□ CHEQUE/MONEY ORDER – post or pay at our office. Please make payable to Professionals paradise realty.
Please contact our office for details
Zero Tolerance Policy for Late Rent Payments
As a tenant, paying rent on time is important. You agreed to do this when you signed the lease
To ensure rent arrears are paid as soon as possible, we have implemented a follow-up policy for tenants which involves phone calls, emails, sms and letters to offending tenants. This has caused some people embarrassment and also resentment, however we cannot apologise for such action, as we believe that the rent must be paid on time, all the time!
If you believe you may be late with a rent payment, you must notify your Property Manager at least 3 working days beforehand so we can inform the landlord to prepare and make other arrangements with their mortgage payments, should this be required.
You can expect the following from us, should your rent fall into arrears and you have not notified your Property Manager;
1 to 3 days in arrears SMS sent and /or emails reminders
3-7 days in arrears Phone call
7-14 days in arrears Letter / personal visit
15 days in arrears Termination Notice for non payment of rent
21 days in arrears Follow up in person / home or work
28 days in arrears Eviction proceedings begin
Expiry of the Termination notice – The agent is within their right to apply to (NCAT) NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal to have the matter heard at the Tribunal.
We would like to avoid the above process at all costs and therefore encourage tenants who are having difficulty paying rent to have regular discussions with their Property Manager.
Rent Default
In extreme cases, details of the tenancy can be lodged on a National Internet Tenancy Data Base. This will affect further tenancy arrangements with other real estate agents not only in your local area, but across Australia and New Zealand.
You can be listed on a database for one or both of the following two reasons:
1. You have vacated owing an amount more than the rental bond for a breach of the agreement.
2. The Tribunal has made an order terminating the agreement because of something you have done wrong and the tenancy has ended.
Dishonoured Payment
Should your payment direct into our agency trust account be dishonoured, we will ask you to pay any bank dishonour fees to us within 7 days. Furthermore, should this frequently reoccur, we will also request that you do not pay your rent by this method again so this situation is not repeated.
Paying Your Rent into the Office
We ask that you only pay your rent as agreed on your tenancy agreement, and as discussed in your tenancy induction. We are unable to accept any payments of cash in our office.
Calendar Monthly Payments
Should you request to pay by calendar month, it is important to understand that the term ‘calendar month’ does not refer to 4 weeks or 28 days. As each month has either 28, 30 or 31 days, then a calendar monthly amount is more than 4 weeks rent.
To calculate this properly and evenly, we use this simple calculation.
Weekly Rent x 52 weeks = yearly rent
Yearly rent divided by 12 months = Calendar Monthly Rent
This calculates 12 equal calendar monthly payments, which will be due on the same date each month (i.e. the 1st of each month); instead of the same day (i.e. every second Friday) as is the case with fortnightly payments. Please note that a calendar month payment is approximately 4.33 of a weeks rent.
Understanding ‘Rent in Advance’
Please ensure your rent is always paid in advance. Some tenants find this concept hard to understand, and some mistakenly believe that the first 2 weeks rent paid is held in trust for use at the end of tenancy, like a bond. It is important to note the first 2 weeks rent paid is for your first 2 weeks of tenancy.
You purchase the time period in advance, and then consume the time period by dwelling in the property. Once the time period is finished or consumed, you then pay for the next time period again before using it, by continuing in the lease and dwelling in the property. This is the meaning of rent in advance.