# Formalities before the big move



## samwise (Apr 27, 2017)

Good day to all,

I am planning to move to South Australia (Adelaide) sometime within a year with my partner. I have already visited Adelaide and Sydney in Oct-Nov 2016 just to get a feel of the life there and also to do my first landing after getting my PR. I have a skilled nominated (SA) subclass 190 - Permanent visa, which i understand, makes it mandatory for me to live in SA for first 2 years.

I have been looking at properties for rent and buying just to get an idea of the market. I would like to know what are the first few things I need to get in place to start my life down under? I hear there is some credit or point system even if I want to rent a place. Can someone kindly shed some light and guide me about the process?


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## tijanaoc (Mar 13, 2017)

I've not heard of any point/credit system for renting, maybe that is something new? I know in the US they check your credit rating before you can rent a property, but when I left Aus 9 years ago they were not doing anything like that. At that time to rent a place you needed to be able to pay the rent (usually this means you have to be employed) and a favourable renting history, such as a reference from a previous landlord. If you're just starting out I recommend bringing with you written references from previous landlords (even if from overseas). I'm not sure they will take it into account, but it can't hurt to have these. And if you have a job bring either recent payslips or a letter from your employer (on letterhead) stating your position, start date and salary. If you don't have either of these (at one point when I was just moving out on my own I didn't have either, though I got a job a month or so later), then offering to pay several months rent up front may well make a difference, provided you have enough savings to cover that (it made a difference for me).

Hope that helps. Again, I'm not sure how much things have changed in the last nine years. Perhaps in the main cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane) it has got more difficult to rent, due to a very tight housing market. But from what I can see Adelaide's rental market is nowhere near as bad as that so hopefully it won't be too difficult.


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