Guide to Renting in Sydney. What do I need?

Make a criteria list of what is important for you in your new rental property. This will reduce the amount of time looking at undesirable properties. Some possible factors that you might want to consider as important when choosing properties to view are:
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Proximity to local shops, schools, child care, leisure and restaurants
- Commute distance to work/study or other commitments
- Air conditioning and heating
- Feel safe in the area and home, is a alarm system important?
- Storage: built in robes, linen storage, shed/garage
- Garden to maintain: positive or negative
- Internet access options in suburb
- Eco-friendly: solar system, water tank, grey water
- Pet-friendly
- Furnished or unfurnished
- Outdoor area: courtyard/balcony/backyard/pool
- Is the property suitable for all occupants? e.g. children
- Proximity to public transport
- Parking options both off street and off street

Many of these can be used in the homely search function to narrow your result to get better results based on your selection criteria. Go to the ‘More’ dropdown on the left of the page to display all the additional filters available.
www.homely.com.au/rent

Documentation is needed when submitting your application using the 1 form website. If you are doing a paper application you will still need 100 points of ID.

Identification and supporting documents
You will need 100 points of identification and at least one requires a photo. There were some real estate agents that wanted an item from each category as well not just 100 points however this is not the case with most agents.
Examples of these are:

50 points (Photo ID)
- Drivers license
- Passport
- Proof of age

30 points (Secondary ID)
- Birth certificate
- Student card
- Medicare card
- Health care card
- Vehicle registration

30 points (Rental History/Proof of Address)
- Rental Receipts
- Signed lease
- Utility bill
- Bank statement
- Rental reference

20 points (Employment/Proof of Income)
- Payslips
- Letter of employment
- Employment reference

Other information you will be asked
- References: one personal and one professional. Neither can be relatives or partners.
- Current and previous address, timeframes and monthly rent
- Current and previous landlord details
- Current and previous employment, address, manager, timeframes and salary details

Real estate agents like you to think the application processing time is lengthy and complex however there are only a number of things needed to be done which are:
- They check that all applications are received from all wishing to apply for the property.
- Make sure all documentation is completed so we have all the required information.
- Cross check your IDs to make sure they all match to ensure you are who you say.
- Proceed with a affordability test based on income and rent costs
- Contact your employer to ensure your income and employment details are correct.
- Screen candidates through the rental tenancy database to check for any past discrepancies.
- With all this information contact with the owner will be made who will make a final decision with recommendations from real estate agent.
- Contact with successful applicant will be made by phone to organise signing the lease and bond payment
- Once lease is finalised good real estate agents will notify unsuccessful applicants.

Hope this is useful.

I found this article on how to ace a rental application really helpful when I was looking to move: http://about.homely.com.au/blog/2016/3/2/how-to-ace-your-rental-application

Yesss Fitzroy girl I used that too it was super handy!!