Real Estate Law

Question: Describe aboat the real estate law. Answer: Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 in Australia, an owner of a property can sell his property while the property is on a fixed term tenancy agreement. Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, a property owner is referred as a lessor (Australia 1995). The lessor under the Act has the right to show or advertise his property to potential buyers and it is the responsibility of the lessee to allow them to enter the property for the said reason. Under the said, the lessor can enter his property to show it to potential buyers at any reasonable time, on number of reasonable occasions and after he has provided the tenant with reasonable notice of the same in writing. Reasonable time under the said Act refers to 8am to 6pm on weekdays, 9am to 5pm of weekends or at any other time decided mutually between the tenant and the lessor (Butt 2016). The Residential Tenancies Act 1995 fails to define reasonable notice however, the same can be negotiated between the lessor and the tenant and if t he lessor wishes to show his property to potential buyers regularly, the tenant can negotiate a reduction in rent as a compensation for inconvenience. However, the final negotiation needs to be in writing signed by both the parties. The said Act makes it an obligation on the tenant to allow entry however if the lessor fails to give prior written notice, the tenant can considered it as unreasonable under the Act. The tenant is not obliged to take any special efforts to make the said property look beautiful or attractive, the only obligation under the section 51 of the Act is for the tenant to keep the property in reasonable state and clean and not use it for any illegal purposes. Moreover, if the lessor is selling his property, it does not automatically terminate tenancy contract. However, the lessor and the tenant can still issue a no ground notice for termination of the tenancy agreement. But my advice in the present case to the property owner, when it comes to fixed term lease agr eement is that the lessor under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 cannot force the tenants to vacate the premises before the expiry of the fixed term which is 12 months in the said case. In case, the property which is on fixed term lease agreement is sold, the new buyer purchases the said property accepting the tenancy agreement and takes over all the rights, responsibility and obligation of the previous lessor. Moreover, if a fixed term lease agreement is terminated for no reason before expiry, compensation can be claimed by the tenant (Bradbrook 2011). Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, a property owner has the right to sell his property while it is on a lease agreement. The property owner under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 is termed as a lessor. The tenants as well as the lessor enjoy certain rights and privileges under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995. The tenant has the right to enjoy the property on lease with quit, peaceful, comfort and privacy (Wilcox 2010). Likewise, if the lessor wishes to sell his property and wants to show it to potential buyers, he has the right under the Act to enter the property on lease after he has given prior notice of the same to the tenant in writing. However, this right of showing property to reasonable buyers is only availing to the lessor at reasonable time, on reasonable number of occasions along with prior written notice to tenant. The definition of reasonable time is defines under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 and it states 8am to 9 pm on weekdays, 9am to 5 pm of weekends or any time pre-decided by the lessor and the tenant. Reasonable notice is not accurately defines under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 however, it should be send correctly at the address of the premise and specifying the day when possession is claimed back. The said notice can be delivered by post, email, in person or by fax (Jennings 2013). However, selling a property to a potential buyer does not terminate a tenancy agreement and termination of a tenancy agreement usually depends on the type of the agreement it is. Thus, according to section 93 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, in periodic tenancy agreement, the lessor and the tenant have the right to issue a no ground termination notice which does not require the parties to furnish any reason for the termination. This notice of terminating the tenancy agreement can be given by either of the parties however, if tenant is giving a notice for termination of a tenancy agreement 90 days prior notice is required under the Act. Thus, in my opinion the owner of the property has to give a 60 days prior notice in writing to the tenant to end a period lease agreement (Cradduck and Wharton 2011). Every property is leased after the lessor and the tenant sign a lease or a tenancy agreement which defines the terms and conditions according to which the tenancy period, prices and the rights and obligation which both the lessor and the tenant have to abide by are determined. Thus, this tenancy agreement between the lessor and the tenant define the rights and obligation in relation to water supply and usage. Thus, at the time the tenancy agreement is signed, the lessor and tenant can determine on who will be responsible for paying for water supply and usage. Section 39 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 states that a term which includes who should bear the water supply and usage cost should be separately mentioned in the tenancy agreement. Water charges can be of two types in Australia namely the water rates and the water consumption charges (Obeng-Odoom 2012). The water rates are the service charge for the supply of water which is received in and out of the property, whereas the water consumption chargers are price for the usage of water in a property. The water rates are usually the responsibility of the owner in case the tenancy agreement states otherwise. However, the water consumption charges are billed by the Corporation to the owner of a tenancy property, however, the owner is allowed to pass this bill to the tenant for payment. However under the section 39 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, the tenant can deny to pay the said charges unless the owner of the property furnishes him with a proper bill of the same from the Corporation. However, in case, a tenancy agreement fails to mention a clause which determines the responsibility of payment of water supply and usage, for lease agreements which are entered on and after 1 March 2014, the tenant is responsible for payment of all the water supply and usage charges however, the rule is applicable for separately metered properties only. And for lease agreements signed before 1 March 2014 that do not m ention any clause defining the responsibility of water supply and usage, the tenant is responsibility for payment of water usage over 136 kilolitre each year. It is the tenants responsibility under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 to immediately inform the lessor after noticing any leakage of water taps in the leased premises, if the tenant fails to inform the tenant of a leaked water tap, he is responsible for the extra usage of water due to leakage and has to bear the expense for the same (Tennant et al 2010). Many a times, property owners who intent to sell, lease, rent or dispose their property, prefer employing a property agent to do the same. Therefore, in Australia, the Land Agent Act 1994 was adopted to set rules and regulations along with code of conduct which a land agent and a client needs to abide by while dealing together in Australia. The property owners usually sign a Residential Management Agreement with property agents or manage which allows a property manager to manage the property in the best manner possible according to the wishes of the owner (Nelson and Minnery 2012). A Residential Management Agreement is usually in a form of a template which has columns of number of landlords who collectively own a property and wish it to be managed by an agent. Thus, the said agreement sets out all the rules and conducts which is expected out of agent and a client. Thus, in the present case, it was the duty as mentioned as a code of conduct under the Land Agent Act 1994 for a property agent to correctly inspect every detail of a property including its number of owners and only after signing an agreement and confirming with all owners the agent should lease, rent or sell the property. In the present case, it was agents fault in failing to inspect whether all the owners have signed the Residential Management Agreement. Secondly, the Residential Management Agreement can be terminated with a notice by the owner of property in the said case as he was dis satisfied with the manner in which their property was handled. As far as the lease agreement is concerned, the said agreement will be valid for its said term and the validity of the agreement can be challenged by the owner who was not a party of the Residential Management Agreement (Bell 2012). Reference List Altmann, E., 2015. 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