Hi
We purchased the house with the current tenant four years ago. There have been 2 rent increased in that time. Up until six months ago he was paying regularly.He is currently three weeks behind in rent. When I phoned to ask for the rent he said he didn’t have it at the moment and then informed me that he would probably be out by the weekend. I went over to see him/the house and he had obviously been planning to move for some time as a lot of his furniture and very large workshop equipment had gone. The house is very dirty, I don’t think the curtains or windows have been washed since he has been there. The four elements on the stove don’t work I would think because of neglect. The floor of the shower recess is black. The carpets are disgusting. The grass and weeds have gone wild. The guttering has trees growing out of it. I was there 12 months ago and we cleaned out the guttering, cut down shrubs and generally cleaned the outside of the house.
I have told him he owed 3 weeks rent plus two weeks notice. A total of $1550. He said he will pay but then said I had the bond money anyway which is only $1020.
My question is – if he does come up with the rent money. What repairs, cleaning, etc are covered by the bond?
Thanks
MarleneI don’t know if you self manage or not. It sounds like you do and if so, get a copy of the ingoing condition report. As far as I am concerned, he should be up for cleaning the house and grounds to a standard that he started with. Of course, he is not up for general wear and tear but as far as dirty windows, shower recess etc, he needs to leave it how he found it.
I don’t know about guttering. I would think you cannot hit him for cleaning the gutters out. That would be your responsibility I would think as a maintenance item.
About a year ago we had tenants who turned into a nightmare. They left a skip full of rubbish and by the time we got them out, I was so worn out by the mental anguish that I could not face cleaning their pigsty leavings.
We got professional cleaners in. It cost us under $300 (from memory) but they did a fantastic job. We also paid for a skip and we had the locks changed. These tenants had stopped paying rent and by the time the paperwork was in order to get them out, our bond did not cover our clean up costs. All up it cost us about $1000 but I am pretty cool with that. I look at it as an expense that is a rarity, it is tax deductible and let me stay clean and sane.
I wouldn’t want to pay it to too often though.
I’d push for him to keep paying rent until he actually leaves and try to appeal to his common decency to pay you any back rent he can so you can keep the bond back and deduct any cleaning he neglects to do from the bond.
Wylie.
Thanks for your comment Wylie. I’m going there today to chase the rent – if he’s still there! The idea of professional cleaners appeals to me – I’ll check the phone book.
Marlene
Maybe take the tenant to the residential tenancy tribunal and get a judgment against him for the repairs and cleaning. You can then chase him for the money -using a debt collector if necessary.
Terryw
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He said he will pay but then said I had the bond money anywayHi marlene,
I’ve heard that so many times during the last good while. What they are really saying is that you money grubbing rich Landlords have got our money anyway and as a special leaving bonus you can have the pleasure of cleaning up our disgusting mess. Marvellous choice isn’t it – the bond money is usually not enough to cover the rent shortfall, let alone all of the costs (time and effort or straight dollars if someone else does it for you) associated with bringing the house back to how you gave it to them. Either way you lose.
This is yet another example of tying your wealth prospects to people’s private living habits…..not for us.
The RTA only allows you to charge 4 weeks rent as a bond, unless the place was directly previously your PPoR, but even then it’s pitifully low.
We, as a minimum, charge 1 month bond, 1 month in advance and 2 months cash bank guarantee…..4 months on the nose before they walk in…..they think twice about trashing your investment knowing they have 4 months money tied up. You sleep alot better at night with this also.
Anyway, good luck cleaning up his garbage. I wonder which ressy Landlord will cop him next ??
Hi
Thanks for your input. He didn’t have the money when I went the other day, says he will have it tomorrow, Sunday, when he moves out. In the meantime I’ve bought a new stove top and arranged for the whole house to be recarpeted. I took some of the curtains down and they had wasp nests in them!! yuk!!Fortunately I have some tenants who want to move in on the 20th and I’ll take your advice about getting more money upfront.
Thanks again
MarleneOK, good luck trying to extract more marlene, but….. unfortunately the chaps at the Tenant’s Advisory service have beaten you to the punch on this one. They had alot of input into the drafting of the RTA and hence there is a maximum you as an Owner of a residential property can charge as an entry cost to a tenant.
If you go over the maximum, and somehow the tenant is unaware of their rights and pays you, it could get nasty for you if things go wrong again and you end up in tribunal.
The clever people who are trying to protect the poor hapless tenant against the big bad nasty property Owner might take a dim view of proceedings if they find out you tried to protect your investment with an unlawfully large bond.
This is but one of a raft of reasons why we don’t play that type of game anymore.
There is not much you can do and I question the value of chasing him through the legal system for the money.
Sometimes it is worth cutting your losses and moving on.
Lets look at how this happened.
Seems to me regular inspections would have made a big difference. If this had been picked up earlier and at a time when he wasn’t planning on moving out you would have had the upper hand – now he has. He is going anyway so he has nothing to lose. Especially after you told him you were kepping the bond any way – that removed any incentive for him to pay the back rent or clean up. Look at it from his perspective.
Sounds like a lot of the mess is fairly superficial. Spending some money on a cleaner will prob make a huge difference.
If you have a mnagaer I would change. Same advice if you self manage.
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
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0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
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