How Does Renting an Apartment Work? Is There More Payments? (Melbourne)

The Milk Man on 13/05/2021 - 22:58
Last edited 14/05/2021 - 09:55 by 1 other user

Hi! :)

I'm looking at renting an Apartment in one of the high-rise buildings in Melbourne, whether I'll go through with it or is it a good deal or not, I'll have to decide for myself depending on our needs in the future and lifestyle - but there's just some things I would appreciate knowing if anyone has an insight on the matter

For example: 1 Freshwater @Melbourne

So let's say I rent an apartment -
I pay rent to the Agency / Landlord
I pay utility Bills such as water / gas / electricity - is it directly or is it a shared commodity of the building?

Besides these 2 payment aspects, do I need to also pay the Building for maintenance and keeping its facilities running? or is that payed through the Landlord?

I'm just wondering is there other payments besides Rent and Utilities (still not sure how utilities work in those buildings)

Thanks in advance to anyone who may have an insight :)

Home & Garden

Comments

  • SF3 on 13/05/2021 - 23:03
    +7

    Generally, you pay Rent + Utilities (e.g. Elec, Gas, Internet).

    Covered in your rent, paid by landlord = Strata, Water, Council rate.

    • The Milk Man on 13/05/2021 - 23:06

      Brilliant , thought as much! Thank you so much!
      Few fun questions if I may

      1) Wth is Strata ? Lol, sorry! new houseowner-to-be :)
      2) So like, I wouldn't be expected to pay for maintaining a pool a yard or the Gym?

      Once again, thank you so much.

      • jjjaar on 13/05/2021 - 23:09
        +4

        1) strata is what owners of the apartments pay to maintain all of those shared facilities, such as elevators, cleaning hallways, yards, pools, gyms, etc…
        2) no you wouldn’t pay this directly, but an apartment that offers a pool or gym will cost more in rent than one without, so you will indirectly be paying for it through your normal cost of rent.

        • The Milk Man on 13/05/2021 - 23:15

          Thank you both so much, gave me some clarity regarding the matter.

          Thank you 🙏🏼

      • Tech5 on 14/05/2021 - 00:33
        +1

        In an apartment, you would only be up for rent and utilities. In a house/townhouse etc. you may be responsible for the pool/garden etc. In that situation, it would depend on the landlord and what your contract says.

        • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 01:16

          Yeah, I've rented houses before, not too fond of the constant maintenance and so many things to cost in bills. I'd rather someone else worry for the cleaning and maintenance, I'm 22 years old not young, darnit! Lol.

          Thank you!

          • onetwothreefour on 14/05/2021 - 06:18
            +5

            @The Milk Man:

            I'm 22 years old not young

            Yes, you are really old!

            • RockyRaccoon on 14/05/2021 - 07:24
              +5

              @onetwothreefour: And should now take out Funeral insurance and invest in a walking stick when the next bargain offer comes available. 👨‍🦯

              • onetwothreefour on 14/05/2021 - 07:54

                @RockyRaccoon: Yep and should own his own house by now, what has he been spending his money on all these years?

                • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 13:09

                  @onetwothreefour: Nobody asked, but, I'll let the Australian Government know your opinion on how fast (or rather- slow?) they process my citizenship and get back to you with an update 😎👌

      • coffeeinmyveins on 14/05/2021 - 09:41
        +1

        1) Wth is Strata ? Lol, sorry! new houseowner-to-be :)

        Make sure you understand that renting is not owning. Renting an apartment you'll be treated like an absolute scum for every little ding and mark on the walls. You don't own anything.

        • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 13:06

          I didn't think it's the same, tho my declaration still stands , never been a house owner, I will be, not yet experienced in that field

          Thank you tho 🙏🏼🫂

    • Mechz on 14/05/2021 - 10:56
      +2

      What I love about my apartment is that there's gas, but no gas bill.

      • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 13:07

        Yo , that'll be fun with water or electricity instead , barely using gas anyways 🥲

        • Mechz on 14/05/2021 - 14:44
          +2

          I cook on gas every day and water is about $110 a quarter, electricity less than $100 a month after discounts. Pity I don't own the place or I'd put in a gas oven.

    • capslock janitor on 11/11/2022 - 12:49

      is "rent" generally spoken/paid weekly or fortn.ly?

  • trustnoone on 13/05/2021 - 23:40
    +1

    A little bit of addition to above, sometimes there is an extra cost for parking so best to check in.
    There's also sometimes an extra cost for a security card, usually its a one off payment, but you may need to do it with everyone in your family and you may need to pay if you lose it.

    Some other things I've found living in a middle of city apartment. Internet can be harder to setup, sometimes you need to get someone in (to the MDF board? or Comms cupboard) to make a connection to your apartment so worth looking into early if thats important to you. Also some places have certain zoning rules, one place I stay at have a maximum contract of 3 months (then it go's month to month) (I don't understand why).

    • The Milk Man on 13/05/2021 - 23:49

      For the last thing, I wouldn't know better but I'm sure an agent or the landlord would be able to elaborate on that, nonetheless, thank you.

      When you mean about the parking, if the contract already comes with parking, you think it'll cost more? Or you meant just the addition of a parking spot could make a contract more expensive?

      Internet thing is important, so thanks for that too!

      Thank you so much for sharing and sparing of your time 🙏🏼🫂

      • trustnoone on 14/05/2021 - 00:30
        +1

        When you mean about the parking, if the contract already comes with parking, you think it'll cost more? Or you meant just the addition of a parking spot could make a contract more expensive?

        It kind of depends on the place, I assume it says the place has parking, not that there's parking available? Some of the bigger ones you can pay for a space (or a few spaces) while others if its part of the unit you may just need to pay a deposit for the key fob to open the gate.
        You might also need to register your car with strata as some people try to rent out their car spaces in the city for extra $$$ as being cheaper then paying for parking and strata doesn't typically like it.

  • Snakeoil on 14/05/2021 - 01:02
    +2

    Just be careful of embedded electricity networks in high rise apartments. Depending on the apartment, attractive rents can be offset by higher electricity bills.

    https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/11653…

    • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 01:15

      Thank you!
      Tho that's a bit of an old article, couldn't the residents have become a bit more aware and probably took care of that?
      I wouldn't know, but that's definitely worth inquiring about, asking for past bills when inspecting too!

      Thank you so much 😍

    • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 01:18

      Also username checks out , seems like deceit is your field of expertise :p

  • Snakeoil on 14/05/2021 - 01:26
    +2

    Ha. It is a bargain website. ;) Check to see if there are google reviews by tenants relating to the apartment managers and the cost of electricity. Embedded energy networks are the issue. You can’t usually shop around for cheaper deals.

    • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 01:28

      Thank you once again, a brilliant advice :)

  • Snakeoil on 14/05/2021 - 01:37
    +1

    You’re welcome. I hope you find somewhere nice.

  • forrester on 14/05/2021 - 05:27
    +2

    Make sure that you're prepared to live through a potential prolonged lockdown in an apartment, the common facilities are closed and 2-3 people in a lift at a time and no/limited outdoor space and the CBD becomes a ghost town. Large numbers of people have moved out of apartments due to this and WFH to escape where there's more space eg backyard.

    • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 05:35

      What are all of these 'extreme' measures for? :((

      • forrester on 14/05/2021 - 05:37
        +2

        Oops, forgot to mention: COVID restrictions/lockdown.

        • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 05:38

          Like , is that the day-to-day situation, or only when there's news of potential outbreak that they do the things you mentioned 🥲

          • forrester on 14/05/2021 - 05:40
            +1

            @The Milk Man: Depends on government restrictions, last year the lockdown lasted almost 3 months. Hopefully we don't have that again, but shorter lockdowns are still likely

            • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 05:41
              +1

              @forrester: Thank you for your take on things, didn't think of that possibility 🙏🏼🙏🏼

              • forrester on 29/05/2021 - 08:37
                +1

                @The Milk Man: Just remembered this post and the exact situation is happening now, and we are back in lockdown due to COVID cases…

          • coffeeinmyveins on 14/05/2021 - 13:52
            +2

            @The Milk Man: Are you coming from overseas or something?

            Australia is one of the best place to be in the world right now. We haven't had a proper lockdown in a while and at the moment they're due to outbreaks. Our version of an outbreak is 1 or 2 cases btw.

            • The Milk Man on 14/05/2021 - 13:55

              @coffeeinmyveins: Haha, yeah. I've been in Australia since very early 2020, left later 2020, gonna be back soon, wanna shake things up

              Had enough of renting and maintaining multi story houses drove me mad with responsibilities and work - bf was no help either ;p

              I've been vaccinated with the finest that is Pfizer , so I feel rather safe.
              Flown through the world multiple times during the outbreak, as far as I'm aware I've gotten fairly lucky not to have someone cough into my eye.

              And just in general, past corona, Australia is quality af 😩👌
              The people are fantastic which is something rare, alongside very high quality of life.

  • FreeUyghur on 14/05/2021 - 14:39
    +1

    Do NOT pay Water.

  • Snakeoil on 14/05/2021 - 15:37
    +2

    I second the comment about life in a high rise apartment during a COVID outbreak. No thanks. You’ll find that due to there being no international students the costs of 1 bedroom apartments in Melbourne has decreased. You have choice now and may be in the position where you can negotiate the price. Saying this, the Federal government is being lobbied by universities to start a uni specific quarantine program. I’d try to get in before this happens.

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