The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
NOVAK PROPERTIES CREW and PROPERTY LEGENDS in the industry share their experiences and knowledge. Hacks and tips to make you a smarter property GURU :) Learn with exclusive content, advice, insider info and HOT real estate industry PRO SECRETS. For sale, for lease, residential, commercial, buying off the plan, finance, mortgages, interest rates, first home buyer, investments - all topics covered. The untold real estate info you've been waiting for.
The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
EP. 1385 Landlords: To aircon or not?
Ever wondered if installing air conditioning in your rental property is worth the investment? As temperatures rise and tenant expectations evolve, this episode illuminates the critical considerations around aircon installations. We'll share insights that both landlords and tenants need to hear, shedding light on how air conditioning can add substantial value to rental properties while enhancing tenant satisfaction.
Listeners will gain valuable information about the average costs of installation, the potential returns on investment, and essential maintenance tips for maximising the longevity of systems. Delving deeper into tenant desires, we highlight the importance of air conditioning in preventing high turnover rates and the overall necessity of climate control in rental agreements today. Additionally, we discuss the challenges landlords may face, including regulations surrounding installation permissions, all while ensuring a seamless experience through compliance and planning.
Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion filled with expert insights and practical advice. Join us as we explore whether air conditioning truly is a deal-breaker in the rental market—subscribe now and share your experience with us!
landlords out there thinking about putting an aircon, tenants out there thinking about wanting aircon. What's the value to a landlord? Expert property manager is going to tell us today. Cleo Witt, here, stay tuned, I'm the ringleader. So much love Aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon, aircon. Do you sleep with your aircon on at night?
Speaker 2:No, I've got a fan in my bedroom, but the kids have aircon, so we give them the luxury. Um, but it's a big thing, aircon, especially these days where it's so humid and muggy I don't know, because I'm getting older I just maybe getting the flushes, but it's hot, it's muggy.
Speaker 1:You need it, it's hot and muggy and you know what I think? I've been in a suit all my life and, uh, in, you know, I've had this thing tight and I've had these things on all the time, and summer, winter, I've climatized. So people go mate, no idea how you, how you do that. But I think aircon's one of those dangerous things that once you get used to it and I'm talking over years and years and years and years it's just a must-have for some people.
Speaker 2:It is, and definitely in the rental property market. It's one of those things, an inclusion that all new properties usually have. Most have either ducted or split system units and tenants have, like you said, become acclimatised to that. They're expecting air conditioning when they're at that high price point of most of the rental stock that we have available on the Northern Beaches.
Speaker 1:Cleo, a two-bedroom unit. One unit, let's start. Let's start entry-level. What would it cost to put an AC in?
Speaker 2:that to two and a half, something like that, maybe a bit less, depending on the size and whether you know you need to have any modifications done, but I'm usually around that point. Um, my dad just recently got a quote for his one bedroom and that was just a small split unit um in the lounge room and that would go all the way through to the bedroom and hallway.
Speaker 1:So, um, quite effective air con bigger pattern two bedroom unit air con.
Speaker 2:How much are you probably going an extra thousand? Maybe Just depends on the size. Yeah, probably about the three, three and a half, something like that.
Speaker 1:A three-bedroom house, air con.
Speaker 2:Oh, inwards and upwards, you know, and you know if you've got upstairs and downstairs it's going to cost more bedrooms down and lounge. It's going to cost more bedrooms down and lounge. But you know, most quotes that we receive are more competitive in winter as opposed to summer. So if you are thinking about upgrading your property with air con, probably wait till winter and you'll get a good deal for the summertime, when it's hot right now and everyone wants it right now. It's like anything. The price goes up a bit.
Speaker 1:Does a property manager care about the brand of aircon they're putting in?
Speaker 2:I have not experienced issues with brands in air conditioning systems. I really haven't. If you're maintaining the unit and servicing it frequently, as you should, then the brand shouldn't really matter. Most brands that we come across, like the Mitsubishi, fujitsu, all those different kinds have a warranty period. They're very simple to operate and the lifetime expectancy if you maintain cleaning and everything could be over 10 years. You know I've had some units in properties that have been there 15, 20 years and there's nothing wrong with them, like they were. You know, when they first were installed. Wow, yeah, so it is one of those things. Even my place our air cons are from the 70s and 80s and you know they run perfectly. We just clean them. The units are a bit noisier outside so they're not as sound efficient, but you know if they're working and you regularly take the filter out, vacuum the filter, you know they work fine, they work perfectly, yeah.
Speaker 1:Does your? Does a property manager care about the noise levels of an air con going in? So when you're doing an install for a landlord, are you asking the technician or that, or it's a given that they're quiet these days.
Speaker 2:They're quiet these days now they're a hundred percent quiet. I've never had issues, the only issues we come across with the units on the balcony sometimes being coastal they rust. So having a cover over the units on the balcony, yeah, because they're exposed to the elements as well, um, and, and sometimes the piping and everything can you know perish out there, especially if you've got a lot of sun on your balcony. So, um, I've seen landlords do a wooden case structure which then turns into like a nice shelf for a barbecue or something, so you can be in yeah, it looks nice.
Speaker 1:I um, I believe you can buy them from bunnings these days as well. Yeah, does um the difference? Does the landlord need to put a ducted or a split?
Speaker 2:they don't need to do ducted. Ducted are more for big family homes with dual zones um the townhouses in warwood, for example, that have got four bedrooms upstairs, lounge room downstairs, that they tend to be ducted um. Ducted is good except for when it needs to be serviced. It can be very costly. Maintenance and repairs on ducted you're looking at maybe double or triple what you would pay for a split unit. Think of ducted like you know a European car, for example. You know it costs more.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, I've had a landlord rip it out. If you just tuned in, we're talking about air con units with expert property manager Cleo about whether they should go in or should not go in Cleo, the crunching question that people will always ask. So I think it's an unexpected cost for a landlord and it's a cost for a lot of landlords that go. You know what? It's been fine for 10 years. It's going to be fine without it for the next 10 years. What do you think of that response?
Speaker 2:Well, it may have been 10 years ago, the tenants' expectations weren't as high. You will have more turnover with a property without air con during the summer period. It's just a given. I have tenants that move specifically because their properties are too warm. In summer it's too hot and they say we can't live here anymore. I've had a property for this very reason that the landlords had over eight tenancies rollover, rollover, rollover and it's because of that summer period. It's a west-facing apartment. It gets really, really warm.
Speaker 2:If you can't sleep at night in your rental property, um, then that's an issue. Um, sometimes putting a fan in is a small, um, you know, medium having a bedroom fan, a ceiling fan, because some properties and some units you can't actually have air con, like winter garden properties and things like that but it definitely adds value. If I was going to relight a property, I would definitely put an air con in. You may get a little bit more rent as well, but that longevity of your tenancy is going to improve. Especially, you know the summers that we have, the humidity that we have, and even in winter you know having a gas heater or electric heater can cost a lot more. Having that split system and heating option is more beneficial for tenants financially.
Speaker 1:Do you ever get an air-con body corporate if you're installing air-con on your unit, knocking back an air-con after you ask?
Speaker 2:Very rarely. But yes, it depends on the diagram your installer has given. Sometimes they're finicky on how it looks, how it's going to look on the common property. So you have to have a good, reputable air con company that can give strata the paperwork they require, because then you don't get held up in that paperwork. Litigation side, with the committee going back and forward. Um, I did have a property a while back where the tenant just installed it without permission. She had to remove it and then it had to be improved, uh, approved, through the whole process, in which case she then didn't bother putting it back in. So it's one of those things if you go through the compliance you're out and do it the right way, the right thing in the beginning, then it shouldn't be an issue for you down the track. But most starters have. You know aircon as a common daily thing that they they do with the committee and a strata plan. So it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be hard okay for the granddaddy big poo bar question.
Speaker 1:Two bedroom unit in dy in pacific parade. In Pacific Parade, red brick block, no air con. You install air con into that unit. What sort of money will you get more for that unit with the AC per week?
Speaker 2:I'd say anywhere between $150 and $200 a week. What, yeah, yeah, we just did one. We just did one. We just did one. The tenant negotiated $150 increase and now she'll have air con.
Speaker 1:That pays for itself off in six months, yeah, and it's tax deduction and it adds value to the unit when they get a valuation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, most tenants have that. Sometimes they do have that buffer, and if you offer them something that is going to add value to their tenancy, they're willing to pay for it.
Speaker 1:I can't believe that number. Why don't you put in my property? Oh my God, leo, hurry up, get them in Wayne Street, get them in. That was your idea Always. Hurry up, put them in, get them in Wayne Street, get them in.
Speaker 2:That was your idea Always, always improving.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, All right, what a great session. Thank you very, very much today for that. That's all things. Air con in the landlord's world. I think you did a bit of a king hit at the end it's a pretty clear answer.
Speaker 2:It is, but it's worth it. And yeah, have a great day and hopefully the aircon in your office isn't too cold.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks Ed. Everyone have a great day. Good luck with people in the cyclones. Good luck, good luck, good luck, yes, true, yeah.