Property care agreements | Investing with DHA

When you lease to DHA, we act as both tenant and service provider for your property. We manage it under the terms of the Property Care Contract, which outlines the services we provide throughout the lease term as part of our service fee.

Services provided under the Property Care Contract include:

vacancy management
repair
scheduling and facilitation
rent review.

You can find a comprehensive description of services provided, exclusions, and definitions in the Property Care Contract.

We keep your property occupied and manage the occupant throughout the lease term, including:

arranging for Defence members to move in and out of the property
managing the occupant
conducting inspections
providing inspection reports at periodic intervals.

If the property is between tenancies, DHA will also undertake general grounds maintenance, water gardens, prune trees, mow lawns, and collect mail to ensure the property remains in good condition and appears occupied.

We are responsible for organising and covering the cost of most non-structural repairs and the replacement of fixed appliances as needed.

A comprehensive description of repairs included in our service and exclusions can be found in the Property Care Contract.

Any work to your property will be undertaken by a DHA-appointed licensed or suitably qualified trades-person.

Where repairs and maintenance fall under your responsibility, we will contact you to discuss the work and options available.

At the end of the lease agreement, we ensure your property is returned to you:

cleaned to a professional standard
with appliances clean and in working order (except fair wear and tear)
the dwelling, grounds and landscaping are in a neat and tidy condition.

In the event of an emergency—where an action is needed to preserve the property and protect human health, safety and security—we will act quickly on your behalf. Examples include flooding, fire or a breakdown or failure of any essential service.

If the emergency arises from an item for which we are responsible for the repair, we bear the costs. If the emergency falls within your responsibilities as the landlord, we will contact you so that you can provide your instructions to repair or notify your insurer of the situation. Any reasonable costs incurred by DHA will be invoiced as an additional payment to the service fees.

We will carry out inspections of your property at periodic intervals and provide you with an inspection report.

Should you, your contractors or insurer require access to the property, we will arrange appropriate times for these inspections.

At periodic intervals outlined in your lease, typically annually, DHA will engage an independent licensed valuer to provide a recommendation for the rent based on current market values. This review will determine if your rent increases, decreases, or remains the same for the following period outlined in your lease.

If you are unhappy with a rental review, you may appeal the decision by engaging an independent licensed valuer to conduct a valuation on your property. This additional valuation will be at your cost and not covered under the Property Care Contract.

As with any property investment, you, as the landlord, retain some responsibilities, such as:

maintaining essential services such as water, electricity and gas
maintaining appropriate insurance cover
repairing damage to the structure or infrastructure caused by subsidence, pest infestation, fire, lightning, flood or storm
repair work covered by any warranty held by you
major landscaping
other specific exclusions as outlined in the Property Care Contract Schedule 2.3.

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Rent may be subject to abatement under certain circumstances such as loss of enjoyment or amenity, or breach of lease terms. Rent is paid where the property is habitable. Should a property become uninhabitable during the term of the lease, or lessor breaches the lease terms, the rent may cease or abate and the lease may be terminated by DHA. Guaranteed rent is subject to the terms of the lease. DHA does not take into account an investor's objectives or financial needs. Investors should always seek appropriate independent advice before making any investment decisions with DHA.