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Hi everyone!
First of all i thank all of you for your advice, opinions and information! you've all been very, very helpful and i've learnt quite alot so far! i'll definitely be saving this thread for future references!
As for the annoying tenant, my dad went again today and finally found the tenant at the house. We've been trying to get a hold of the tenant for the past few weeks and he's just been avoiding the guarantor and never was never at home. We've found out that he's a constant gambler and that he's even borrowed other family member's money to try to gamble/win the rent back…
Anyways, that aside (and long story short), my dad went to see him today along with the guarantor and got given a bit more of what was owing. My dad was again told that he'll get the rest on Monday. My dad replied with an ultimatum that if the remainder (which is approximately 600) wasn't paid on Monday then he'd have to vacate the property within a week.
I wasn't there to help negotiate with my dad coz i had work. i kinda have a feeling that with my dad's bad english, he didn't quite get all his message across. He did tell the tenant that the lease wasn't gonna be renewed in the new year so i guess we only have to put up with them for a little longer…
Oh two questions:
1) In the time period that we allow the tenants to 'move out' do we charge the tenants rent? or is that up to our discretion? I think i might put that on the negotiation table and say that we'll give you 2 weeks rent free to vacate.
2) With the debt collectors, is it worth it to use them and how do they work? From the sound of things, pyramid, you made it sound as it isn't worth it to chase the $5ks and im guessing the cost of recovery would be equivalent/more than what you're gonna get back.I'll be there with my dad on Monday to make sure everything goes well. If the tenant doesn't pay at least we'll have to deal with them for a lot shorter. I'll update you guys when i receive more news!
Once again, I want to thank all of you for being so patient and taking the time to teach a newbie like me! It's been a wonderful learning experience! I hope you all enjoy a lovely, lovely new year eve/day with your families and may all of you be all the more prosperous with your investments the next year!
blay aka Jimmy
Oh and one more question:
The house is listed in my suburb as a "Heritage Listed" or something. I'm told that we're not allowed to knock it down/rebuild unless the place is in an un-inhabitable condition. Is there any way to get around this "Heritage listing"? Because i know for a fact that my dad's original intent was to flatten the house and build a nice new one instead of renting out this old War-era home…Hi tracey and propertypower! Thank you for replying! Good Morning and Merry christmas to you two also! hahaha I thought people would be sleeping in on Christmas day…
Anyways this morning me and my dad woke up early to go see the tenant. Unsurprisingly he wasn't home/didn't answer the door. We went to the Tenant's Guarantor's house (who lives just down the street). The Guarantor is also the Tenant's brother-in-law. He told us to tell the Tenant that he has until Saturday pay the rent or he has to leave the property.
What happens if the Tenant doesn't leave? I've read on the Fair Trading website that we can't exactly call the police on them and that it has to be an order from the CTTT (Consumer Trade and Tenancy Tribunal.
In replying to Tracey's post, I would love to use that idea but we just dont have that kind of money. We only have our own unit and this house. From reading Steve McKnight's book, this house isn't even providing cashflow, it still requires my dad to pay mortgage on the house straight from his own pocket. However, the Guarantor seems like a very honorable man, he's lived at the property just down the street from our Tenants' for over 5 years now and has yet to miss payment. He's told us that once the Tenant leaves, we can keep the bond, he'll pay whatever is remaining. He's also told us that if there's any damage to the property, he'll fix it himself and we won't have to pay a cent.
I think this is slowly becoming a civil matter and it looks like we dont even have the law on our side simply because we're missing a majority of the documents…
Oh and propertypower, we dont have landlord insurance… again i think it's because my dad can't afford it or he just wasn't aware it existed. I've just realised that there's alotta stuff that my dad doesn't know. Mainly because we went from crappy property management agents who have let the tenants trash the place before to managing this place ourselves. Once this tenant leaves I'm determined manage this place properly myself so stuff like this doesn't ever happen to my dad again.
