I'm looking for a tenant to rent my residential property, do I need an agent?
No, you can lease out your residential property on your own without an agent.
You will need to manage the entire process of marketing your property for rent, arranging for viewing appointments, shortlisting tenants, and negotiating the lease terms such as number of years and monthly rental cost.
Eventually when you decide on a tenant, get a Letter of Intent (LOI) from the tenant and you will need to prepare the Tenancy Agreement (TA) for both parties to sign and complete the contractual process.
What do I need to know if I'm not hiring a property agent as a Landlord?
You may advertise on portals such as Carousell or Facebook Groups/Marketplace to reach out to potential tenants, however do note not to post discriminatory conditions such as racial preferences on your tenants. Unlike Property Guru or 99.co where only licensed property agents can post, these portals can be posted by anyone.
You may request for a profile from interested tenants (as long as it is not discriminating), because landlords do reserve the right to select tenants with a preferred lifestyle or living habits. For instance, whether tenants own pets or do heavy cooking.
What do I need to prepare if I'm not represented by an agent?
After you have decided on a tenant to rent your property to, get a Letter of Intent (LOI) along with either a good faith deposit (either 1 or 2 months of agreed rental amount) from your tenant. You may not accept other offers once the LOI is signed and the good faith deposit is paid to you.
Prepare the Tenancy Agreement (TA). Your tenant will also need to place an additional one or two month security deposit at this point. This is for any additional repairs or defects needed during the handover of property at the end of the lease.
Ensure the identities of your tenant by checking and making copies of their identification documents and work passes (if applicable).
You will then also need prepare the inventory list provided to ensure that everything that is included in the lease is in your property.
After your tenant move in, they will need prepare a condition report of the property for the defects you will need to fix, and the existing defects that were present but tenants are okay to live with. They will typically have one month after the move-in date to compile the condition report.