Landlords and estate agents RESPONSIBILITIES

If you are a landlord or estate agent, you must, by law, give your prospective tenant a copy of Renting a home: a guide for tenants (PDF, 734KB), on or before the day they move in. You may be fined if you do not do so.

Before asking a prospective tenant to sign a Residential tenancy agreement (PDF, 944KB), you must give them a copy of the unsigned agreement.

Once the agreement is signed, you must give the tenant a signed copy within 14 days.

Rooming house owners

If you are rooming house owner, you must, by law, give every new resident a copy of:

• Rooming houses: a guide for residents and operators (PDF, 1.9MB) 
• the house rules (if your rooming house has them)
• Rights and duties of a rooming house resident poster (PDF, 202KB).

You must provide every resident with these documents on or before the day they move in. You may be fined if you do not do so.

You must also give them a:

• Notice to proposed rooming house resident – exclusive occupancy right (PDF, 52KB) or 
• Notice to proposed rooming house resident – shared room right (PDF, 54KB).

These notices inform the resident if they have an exclusive right to their room or if they have to share it.

You must also advise residents of any extra amount that will be charged for additional services provided such as cleaning, linen or meals.

If you enter into a tenancy agreement with a resident who has ‘exclusive occupancy’ rights to a room, you must follow the Residential Tenancies Act 1997’s requirements relating to ‘tenancy agreements’.

We recommend you read Rooming houses: a guide for residents and operators in conjunction with Running a better rooming house: a best practice handbook. This handbook, produced by the Registered Accommodation Association of Victoria, includes practical information to help owners improve their operations. Download or order your free copy from the RAAV website.

Caravan park owners

As a caravan park owner, you must, by law, give prospective residents a copy ofCaravan parks: a guide for residents, owners and managers (PDF, 2.5MB) on or before the day they move in. You must also give them a copy of the caravan park rules. You may be fined if you do not do so.

You must also give residents a Notice to prospective caravan park residents becoming a resident at this caravan park (PDF, 49KB), which explains their responsibilities.

The Victorian Caravan Parks Association can also provide more information to caravan park owners.

Site owners

If you are a site owner you must, by law, give prospective site tenants a printed copy of Movable dwellings: a guide for residents, owners and managers (PDF, 1.8MB) on or before the day they sign the site agreement. You must also give site tenants a Notice of cooling off period for site tenants (Form 2A) (PDF, 439KB), which explains their right to withdraw from the site agreement within five business days of signing it.

The Victorian Caravan Parks Association can also provide more information to site owners.

Contact details

As a landlord, agent or owner, you must advise tenants or residents of your contact details in writing on or before the day they move in. You could face a fine if you do not provide these details.

You must provide:

• your full name, address (either a physical address or post office box) and telephone number; agents should also give a fax number
• an emergency telephone number that can be used out of business hours, preferably 24 hours a day.

If your contact details change during a tenancy or residency, you must advise the tenant or resident in writing within seven days.

If you are an agent managing a property, you must advise the tenant or resident, in writing:

• your full name and address, address, telephone number and fax number
• whether you can authorise urgent repairs and, if so, the maximum amount you can authorise
• the telephone or fax numbers to be used for urgent repairs.

Ending a lease early

You and your landlord, caravan park owner, rooming house owner or site owner can agree to end an agreement early. It is important to put this agreement in writing.

This written notice should include any agreed costs, terms and conditions, and the date the lease is to end.

If you have a fixed-term lease but need to end it early, you should give written notice as soon as possible. Breaking a lease may require you to pay compensation to your landlord or owner.

Tenants, residents, landlords and owners can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to reduce the period of the tenancy agreement on the basis of severe hardship.

Beginning a lease or residency in AUSTRALIA

 What is a lease?

A lease, also called a residential tenancy agreement, is a legal contract between tenants and landlords. A lease outlines:

• the amount of rent and how it is to be paid
• the length and type of tenancy
• the amount of bond required
• other conditions and rules.

There are generally two types of leases:

There are generally two types of leases:

• Fixed term – a fixed-term agreement is for a set period of time, usually six or 12 months. After a fixed-term lease expires, a tenant can sign a new fixed-term lease or roll automatically onto a periodic lease.
• Periodic lease – a tenant will usually roll over to a periodic lease when their fixed-term lease ends. In a periodic lease, the tenant does not sign a new agreement, but must still follow the rules set out in the original lease.

Leases can be written or verbal but both need to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (the Act).

Consumer Affairs Victoria recommends the use of written leases.

Written agreements must use or follow the wording of the official Residential tenancy agreement (PDF, 944KB).

Extra terms and conditions may be included, but these must otherwise comply with the Act.

NOTE : A tenancy agreement is a legal contract 

between you and your landlord. 

It outlines: 

• the rent you need to pay and how 

to pay it

• the length and type of tenancy

• the amount of bond required

• other conditions and rules. 

The features the Examiner look at in your Writing & Speaking

These criteria that are marked : 


1. Task response : means how well you understood and response to the question.


2. Coherence and cohesion : how you organise your answer 


3. Grammatical Accuracy and Range : the Examiner is looking at the variety of sentence you are able to use. You shouldn't rely on just using simple sentences and structure.


4. Vocabulary : the Examiner will look at the accuracy of your spelling and rage of words you use.


THE CRITERIA FOR SPEAKING TEST
1. Fluency : is the ability to speak smoothly and easily.


2. Pronunciation : is speaking clearly and at a nature pace. your voice needs to be strong and clear.
visit study english at : australianetwork.com/studyenglish

Fun story

A young man called his mother and announce excitedly that he has just met the woman of his dreams. Now what should I do ? 
His mother had a idea : "why don't you send her flowers and on the card invite her to our place for a home cook meal ?" 
He thought this was a great strategy and arrange a date for for a week later. His mother called the day after the big date to see hows had gone.
"The evening was a disaster," he moaned.
"Why didn't she come over ?" he ask his mother.
"oh, she came over, but she refused to cook.

A fun story

Before going to Europe on business, a man drove his Rolls-Royce to the bourke street branch of the ANZ bank and went in to ask for immediate loan of $5,000. The loan officer was quite taken aback, and requested collateral . "Well then, here are the key to my Rolls-Royce", the man said. The man officer promptly had the car driven into the bank's underground parking for safe keeping, and gave him $5000. 
Two weeks later, the man walked through the bank's doors and asked to settle up his loan and get his car back. The loan officer checked the record and told him, " That will be $5000 in principal, and $15.40 in interest." The man wrote out the cheque , thanked the loan officer, and started to walk away.
"Wait sir," the loan officer said, "while you were gone, I found out you are a millionaire . Why in the world would you need to borrow ?" the man smiled."Where else could I securely park my Rolls-Royce in Melbourne for two weeks and pay only $15.40 ? "

WRITE A LETTER TO CUSTOMER

Your TRUE electricity and gas prices are changing


Dear Mr Kelly


I'm writing to let you know that your electricity and gas prices will increase from 1 July 2012. you'll find your new prices on the back of this letter. If you have any discounts or rebates on your energy prices, they won't change. This increase won't just affect TRUE customers - most energy retailers throughout Australia will be increasing prices as the cost of supplying energy continues to become more expensive.
The increase is largely related to the introduction of the carbon price by the Australia Government on 1 july 2012 . visit cleanenergyfuture.gov.au for more infomation on the carbon price.


Change to your contract terms and conditions


we've made some changes to our terms and conditions due to business needs. I've enclosed your new terms which form part of your agreement with us and include a summary of the key  changes. For more infomation about what the carbon price means for you,  visit true.com.au/carbonprice.


Yours sincerely




Adrian Berwick
Executive Manager, Retail 

perfect being Ronaldo

Self-loving Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has rated his season for the Spanish Champion a perfect number ten. While Real's effort in becoming the first La Liga side to reach 100 points - to go with a record 121 goals - only rated a nine, Ronaldo handed himself full marks for his 46 goals in just 38 league matches.
"I would give my season a 10 on an individual level and collectively a nine , because we wanted to win more titles , the champions league for example", he told. Ask if he can deliver again next season, Ronaldo said : "Anything can happen, I always believe in my self and in improving."