recommendations for becoming landlord

My brother and I will become landlords for the 1st time in January as we are moving out to buy individually.

Ive worked out I will need landlords insurance and I am going to do it through an agent because from what I understand to get landlords insurance you must do it through an agent??


Because its on a decent sized block (750 sq metres) and its sloped we are going to include mowing the lawn in the rent price and do it once a fortnight. Any problems associated with that? The only reason we want to do that is to ensure the lawn is looked after.


Its a 5 beedroom approx 800 metres from the nearest primary school so I guess it is going to be either a family or a shared rent situation.

Other than that we are ensuring all is prepared in the leadup i.e. New Carpets, new paint, new oven/stove top/rangehood and replacing one of the fire alarms that is broken.

Also as some of the ceiling fans don't work properly we are just going to replace them with lights as the house already has airconditioning. I figure if the fans are not there in the first place they cannot complain they are not working properly.

In the scenario the tenant doesnt pay rent am I fully covered by the landlord insurance until I find a new tenant?

Any comments/suggestions welcome