In the midst of a housing shortage and demand in accommodation, particularly in Cairns as our established location. How can an applicant put their best foot forward in finding their application successful for tenancy?

Things your property manager or landlord will look for in a quality application:

Does your information provided, align with references and further evidence that can be found?

For example; if you state you own a property, get paid $150’000+ per year, have no pets, link a rental reference with a friends/family email instead of the proper referee. These things will be cross checked. If you are caught in lies such as these, your application straight away will go to the bottom of the multiple other applications received. Which means you have just missed another shot at finding your home.

Have you considered your rental affordability?

Rental affordability which is calculated for each applicant, is the rent to income percentage. Which means all applicants’ income after tax, applying for a singular leasing opportunity are calculated as a whole. Then the rent of that property is calculated for the whole year and this is divided by the applicant’s total income to work out your percentage of affordability. To meet this requirement you should be sitting anywhere under 30% as ideal.

For example:

You have applied for a property in Cairns City.

The rent = $350 per week. (350 x 52 weeks per year = $18’200)

Your income is = $70’000 (Salary per year).

Affordability = 18’200 ➗ 70’000 = 0.26

Affordability % of rent to income = 26%

This would be considered good affordability rates for this property.

• From your rental affordability create a budget, also factoring in your personal expenses/situation, electricity, water, internet, groceries etc. Apply for properties within your price limit.
• Rental references and payment history
• Rental references and showing a history of meeting repayments is most ideal. As this supports your application in showing if you can meet repayments on time.
• Employment references: checking your employment details provided are correct. To ensure rental payments can be made.
• Tenant background check for defaults/ rental history:

The property manager/landlord will access these through various platforms where an applicant’s history can be checked for rental arrears, damage to a property etc.

Consider if the property details listed that you are applying for, will match your number of applicants, pets etc. That the landlord/property manager will be looking to suit their properties needs.

Your best way forward in applying for your rental home, is to be up front and honest. Always communicate effectively with your property manager to instil positive relationships in managing your rent and any maintenance that may come up, as they will have a say in future references. Make sure the properties you are applying for are within budget. If you apply for properties out of your affordability range (considering your own personal expenses and situation too), you may fall into hardship. Which could affect your ability to rent in future. Always put your best foot forward and consider your personal options, to create a game plan that allows you to thrive in difficult housing times such as these.