Melbourne Story - 5. Moving House

After living in Box Hill for a year, we moved to Doncaster, about a ten-minute drive further away. Our previous house had three bedrooms, and it felt cramped for my wife and me, our grown son, and our two daughters. It was also rather modest.

Our eldest daughter had just started university, and although she would likely marry and move out in a few years, my wife insisted that, for the limited time she would still live with us, she wanted her to have memories of living in a good house, in a decent room. Persuaded by her reasoning, we decided—somewhat beyond our means—to move into a detached house with three bedrooms and a study.

Twenty years ago, the rent for our Box Hill house was $240 per week, or $1,020 per month. The Doncaster house, however, cost $350 per week, or $1,750 per month (about 1.2 million won at the time). It was by no means a small amount. Still, since rental bonds in Australia are relatively modest and typically require a deposit equivalent to three months’ rent, and because rent is paid monthly through a real estate agent, we believed that if both my wife and I continued working, we could manage. It would be a burden, but I agreed with my wife that her argument made sense.

March 20 was our lease renewal date, and about a month earlier we received a renewal notice along with an inspection date from the real estate agent.(In Australia, tenants never deal directly with landlords; all contracts and communication go through real estate agents.)

If you wish to renew the lease, a phone call is usually sufficient. However, if you intend to move out, you must submit formal written notice to the agent.

The inspection date refers to the condition report attached to the original lease agreement. This report contains detailed records—often with photographs—of the garden, windows, walls, floors, and overall cleanliness of the property. Both the tenant and the agent keep copies.

To receive the bond back in full, the condition of the house at move-out must closely match its condition at move-in. If light bulbs are broken, carpets dirty, or the lawn overgrown, the tenant must restore them. Otherwise, repair costs are deducted from the bond. On the inspection date, the agent visits and checks every detail.

Although inspections are conducted regularly, they are often more of a formality if the tenant continues living there. In our case, however, despite informing the agent by phone that we would not renew the lease because we planned to move, the message was not properly to the agent. Since we had not submitted written notice, we were told we could not vacate on time and had to extend our stay by one more month.

The reason was simple: our English communication was not fluent.

In the end, we had no choice but to pay one additional month’s rent while continuing our house search. My wife and children and I had already spent weeks driving around to inspections, and the fuel costs alone were adding up. After countless hours searching online, we finally found a place that seemed right.

In Australia, house inspections are not arranged individually. Instead, the agent sets a specific date and time, and multiple applicants gather together to view the property for about an hour.

After viewing the house, my wife said it was clean, spacious, and exactly what she had hoped for. She desperately wanted us to get it, and we submitted an application.

The application required detailed information: the number of family members, current employment, monthly income, contact details of friends or acquaintances, and workplace references. Some properties even prohibit pets.

Because there are often many applicants, competition is fierce. The agent reviews applications, calls employers to verify jobs, contacts references to confirm rental history, and then submits suitable candidates to the landlord. The landlord considers everything—whether tenants will share the house, whether rent can be paid reliably, the number and age of children, even nationality. From a tenant’s perspective, it is hardly a pleasant process.

Having viewed dozens of houses already, we hoped desperately that this one would work out. But a week passed with no response. Each time we called the agency, we were simply told to wait. The date we needed to vacate our current home was approaching, and the thought of starting the search all over again was exhausting. Eventually, unable to endure the uncertainty, my wife and I went directly to the real estate office.

The agent told us that we had already been eliminated in the first round. Another applicant had been selected, but they had not yet responded, so the agency was waiting.

When we asked why we had been rejected, the agent replied: “The landlord is hesitant to believe that tenants who paid $1,020 per month for the past two years can suddenly afford $1,750.”

Only then did it fully sink in. We were not full-time employees of established companies, and both my wife and I worked casual jobs with fluctuating incomes. In Australia, stability of employment and rental history matter far more than how much property one owns. I realized, somewhat bewildered, that even moving to a slightly larger house was not something one could do freely. I also felt that I needed to let go of Korean ways of thinking more quickly.

Though we had failed the first round, we told the agent that we could absolutely pay the rent each month and left. That evening, my wife—who had been visibly dejected—confessed that she had stopped by that house every day on her way home from work to pray, hoping with all her heart that we would get it.

Two days later, we received a call from the real estate agent. After confirming once more that we could reliably pay the rent, he told us that the initially selected applicant had never responded, and we had been chosen instead. My wife’s joy was unmistakable; even now, I can vividly recall the expression on her face.

Before moving into a new home in Australia, if the property has been vacant, tenants must contact the electricity provider at least a week in advance to request reconnection. We assumed the electricity would already be on—but it had been disconnected when the previous tenancy ended. Unaware of this, we spent four evenings living by candlelight.

The same was true for the telephone line. Although we applied two days before moving, we were told that due to Easter and public holidays, installation would take two weeks. It felt slow to the point of frustration, but at the same time, I thought: this really is a country where people are scarce. Living in Australia clearly requires an extraordinary amount of patience.

Before leaving our old house, my wife and I set aside an entire day to prepare for the final inspection. We hired professionals to clean the carpets, wiped every light fixture with towels, cleaned all windows, cupboards, dining tables, and the gas stove with detergent. Even so, the agent pointed out several issues, which we had to re-clean before finally passing the inspection.

Through this experience, I learned once again that in Australia, even moving in and out of a house requires strict adherence to rules and procedures—and that you cannot simply live where you wish, just because you want to.