What is a typical lease period?

The most common lease periods for residential property are normally 6 or 12 months. There are no restrictions on the lease terms you can offer, however, a 12-month lease allows you to build a more stable relationship with your tenants, which may encourage them to extend the lease.

How do you screen tenants?

Our screening procedure is very strict; your property manager will screen the potential tenants in the rental databases, contact their personal & employment references, and view their Facebook and other social media accounts to ensure they are of good standard. This includes blacklists, bankruptcies, and prior court records.

What would be considered a good tenant?

A good tenant is considered as someone who pays rent on time and maintains your property responsibly, as if it was their own. You can expect a stress-free and positive experience with most tenants. As a property manager, it’s vital they understand the importance of upholding the terms and conditions of their contract.

How often do you inspect the properties?

We conduct four routine inspections per year - the maximum allowed by legislation.

Do I need Landlord insurance?

We will help organise your building and landlord insurance and yes, this is vital! Building & landlord insurance is an insurance policy designed to cover property owners where there is damage to a property they rent out. This includes damages to the building, tenant rent default, malicious damage and theft.

What happens if my property requires urgent maintenance?

Motivate Realty has preferred contractors we use to deal with emergency situations at your property, they can organise quotes and co-ordinate required works to a pre-arranged financial limit. We use them based on the price, quality and service they provide to our owners.

What happens if something happens to the property at night or over the weekend?

That’s no problems at all, our property managers are used to getting calls late at night for urgent works on the properties. This is what we’re here for!

What actions can be taken if a clients rent is in arrears?

It is inevitable that some tenants may find it challenging to pay rent at some point during their tenancy. Motivate Realty have strict policy control in regards to rent arrears and will make a clear pathway for the tenant to get up to date as soon as they can.

What happens at the end of the lease?

At the end of the lease, it’s our main priority to renew the lease for a further 6-12 months. At this time, you also have the ability to request the tenant to vacate. Landlords normally extend the lease when they have good tenants.

What is my responsibility as a landlord?

Your major responsibility as a landlord is to offer and maintain the dwelling that meets basic requirements, such as structural safety, heat, water, electricity, and a sanitary indoor environment. You are responsible for ensuring the safety requirements set out in the Building Code of Australia as per the Australian Standards.

Rental Properties FAQs by Motivate Property

When selecting a property manager, prioritizing industry acumen, proven track record, and client-focused service delivery, instead of the cost is critical. A skilled property manager provides invaluable returns through strategic oversight, tenant retention expertise, and proactive risk mitigation—ultimately safeguarding your asset’s long-term performance and security. Investing in professional competence ensures your portfolio is managed to the highest operational and compliance standards.

Standard lease agreements typically range from 6 to 12-months, with a minimum term of 6-months and an average duration of 12-months. In response to evolving market dynamics, extended agreements of 24-months are increasingly common, as both tenants and landlords prioritize the stability and predictability of long-term arrangements. This trend aligns with current demand for secure tenancy outcomes in fluctuating economic conditions.

While we are unable to provide a guaranteed timeframe due to dynamic market conditions, our leasing team employs proactive marketing strategies and rigorous tenant screening to expedite occupancy. Our team are trained and managed based on KPI’s that are in line with the REIWA rental stats and days on market. Our fee structure is also based on you having a tenancy, not just having you as a client, which means, if you don’t have tenants, we don’t make money. It’s structure this way to ensure it’s in our best interest to get you quality tenants quickly.

Setting rent is a balance between achieving a strong return, attracting a quality tenant, and minimising vacancy. We assess current market demand for similar properties in your area and recommend a competitive rate to generate maximum interest. Generally speaking, we would recommend advertising the property at a fair price, in line with the current market to generate a high volume of interest in order to get the best quality candidates applying for the property.

In terms of our approach, we implement a data-driven marketing strategy structured in phases:

Initial Pricing & Demand Analysis: Align listing prices with real-time market comparable to maximize applicant interest.
Performance Monitoring: Track enquiry volume and applicant quality weekly.
Proactive Adjustments: If demand underperforms, we recommend timely price revisions to market parity, prioritizing occupancy over marginal weekly gains that may be offset by extended vacancy costs.

Our team conducts daily market trend analysis, evaluating both historical leasing data and emerging rent movements. Should qualified applicants propose premium offers exceeding baseline market rates, these will be presented as viable candidates for your final approval, ensuring informed decision-making balances opportunity and risk.

Absolutely! Our team are simply providing recommendations, however, this is your property and your investment income. With that said, setting rent higher than the market doesn’t come without risk – you may have to prepare yourself for prolonged vacancy period.

Our tenant selection process employs rigorous due diligence to safeguard your property’s integrity. We conduct cross-referencing with national tenancy databases to exclude applicants with prior tenancy breaches or unresolved disputes. Our verification framework includes:

Financial Vetting: Authenticated income verification and affordability assessments.
Identity Confirmation: 100-point ID checks compliant with anti-fraud regulations & database checks such as National Tenancy Database and TICA.
Tenancy History: Validation of current/past rental agreements or property ownership.
Third-Party Validation: Direct consultation with employers and previous landlords.

This multi-layered approach ensures tenant reliability while aligning with legislative standards, minimizing risks of arrears, property damage, or contractual disputes.

In order to prevent any breakdowns, discrepancies or disagreements between you and the tenant, we recommend centralising rent collection through our managed accounts system.

This allows:

Real-Time Payment Monitoring: Automated tracking of tenant payments with transparent reporting.
Proactive Fund Allocation: Guaranteed liquidity to cover recurring liabilities (e.g., council rates, strata levies) and urgent maintenance invoices.
Compliance Assurance: Timely disbursements aligned with statutory deadlines and contractor agreements.

By integrating these processes, we minimise payment delays and optimise cash flow stability for your investment.

Our team inspects properties every 3-months to ensure that tenants are respecting the premises and to check if any maintenance is required. We keep you updated about the property’s condition with these regular reports, which include several photos.

Landlords retain statutory rights to conduct property inspections under Western Australian tenancy law, subject to the following provisions:

Notice Requirements: Written notice of at least seven calendar days must be provided to tenants prior to each inspection.
Frequency Limitations: Inspections are legislatively capped at 4 inspections per annum, excluding emergency or mutually agreed additional visits.

For comprehensive guidelines, consult the Western Australian Department of Commerce’s Residential Tenancies Act 1987 documentation.

Our multistage tenant vetting process—incorporating financial, behavioural, and historical evaluations—significantly reduces risks of arrears, property damage, and lease breaches. While no screening protocol can entirely eliminate exposure to macroeconomic factors (e.g., job loss, health crises), we implement continuous tenancy monitoring to identify early warning signs and collaboratively address emerging challenges with property owners. We’re actively monitoring any rental arrears daily and will work with the tenant to ensure they catch-up quickly, and in the case they can’t, proceed towards the eviction process as per the standards of the WA rental law.

RENTAL FAQs

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