Welcome to the Forum which you joined 14 days ago, and welcome to your  first posting.

Why don't you introduce yourself first, before just slapping something unsigned and anonymous on the "notice board", and howza bout you  tell us a little bit about you, and take it from there. ?  Otherwise it just looks to me like a suckers game of collecting forum members and investors names and contact details without even saying who you are.
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Cheers

thecrest

My suggestion is invite the local Catholic priest to "clear" the premises, conduct a service, bless the place, etc etc, they have various rites and ceremonies outlined in their service books, including exorcisms  – certainly any sensitives would find being in the house very distressing whether they knew its history or not.
After all, it's the behaviour of occupants that creates the history, not the house, but the bad vibes live on until cleared.
Believe it or not, that's how it is. 
Cheers
thecrest

I'm just a dummy around Council matters, but I reckon from a logical point of view, if you don't own the property then the DA is worthless, isn't it ? So unless you own the property, it's a moot point.
Cheers
thecrest

Hi Dimitri
Been there. From someone who lost his shirt and clawed it back, congratulations on reaching the turning point of asking for help or advice.
I would examine the who or what behaviour got you to this level of debt, and remove or change the behaviour otherwise you will bring that with you into your comeback phase and be doomed again.
You don't have the skills or you wouldn't be where you are, so get expert help, and when you get the rescue plan, live it. 
Include financial and investment education, plus personal development in your plan to fill the gap in your knowledge.
You could search this forum for popular "must read" books listed by members. Motivation is necessary on the recovery road.
Good luck
cheers

Interview the target group at some location where they clump, and get it from the horse's mouth, or get the stats from someone like famous gun demographer Bernard Salt of KPMG.
We are constsntly told of the large group of baby boomers hitting retirement and what they will want and need.
With such a large well financed group and deteriorating personal security  it makes sense to cater for them.
That's thinking well and truly inside the square from where I'm looking, solid strategy, not even close to off the wall.
Cheers
thecrest

Last time I spoke with an insurance company handling landlord insurance and tenant defaults, they required the landlord / PM to secure a Tribunal judgement and money order against the tenant. That is then handed over to the insurance company as a claim, the landlord doesn't have to do anything more, and the insurance company is in a position to pursue the debt through the courts if they deem it worthwhile. 

" I cannot see how someone being paid a low salary to manage numerous properties of various strangers is going to have the time or personal interest to be proactively involved."

In business, particularly PM, professionalism is the missing ingredient of which you speak.
PMs who act in a professional manner always act in the best interests of the landlord, otherwise they're negligent and liable.

Yes professionalism is hard to find and yes they certainly are underpaid considering the difficulty of the job which I like to describe as – being required to have the knowledge of a lawyer, builder, maintenance man, IT Techie, Real Estate Agent, Tribunal Member, Mediator, private investigator, while being stuck between 2 parties , landlord and tenant, neither of whom really want to pay you the money that's required for the rent or upkeep of the property.
With the amount of verbal abuse, illwill, tension and stress and conflict involved, including death threats, it's not a job for the faint hearted, nor for the poorly trained, uninformed or unprofessional. Yes I was a PM.
Pms need to fully understand every aspect of the job, know all the laws and have immediate answers, be able to say NO in a nanosecond and be authorative take charge control freak kinda people, and hold the line for the property owner against tenant pressures. 

Andrew is correct, PM's need to be scrutinised during their selection, and held accountable. 
But I look at it this way, like attracts like, so the level of quality of a property attracts a similar tenant.
However, a good PM can weed out 99% of the bad tenants in the selection process.
 A good PM can't handle a bad tenant, only remove them,  because the laws overly protect tenants.
So assuming you have a good PM then it's like this – Bad tenant, bad behaviour,  Good tenant, good behaviour. 
 
Important vitals in brief – Nice property, good PM, tenant selection selection selection.

Good luck
cheers
thecrest

Don't know where the property is located. Tenancy laws vary between states of Australia and the recourse options will vary accordingly.
Self management is a gamble, moreso at a distance. 
Contact the database TICA based in Concord, NSW, ask options. Used it extensively myself . Very good people. They had to fall into line with the recently tightened privacy laws which still favoured tenants. My understanding is that to list a default tenant on the database, you must be a subscriber to TICA as a landlord or PM, and have provided ample warning about your subscription  to a prospective tenant prior to agreeing to rent them a property, so the tenant is deemed to be adequately warned about the database consequences of a default. It's still so one-sided that it's easy to  feel like you're the only one on the see-saw.

Usually too hard getting money back from a fled tenant, especially a damaging one, you're obviously not in their league, you're too nice. Rarely do they have any assets anyway.
Suggest you photograph the damage extensively, file it away, avoid slander or your property might change hands, cop the cost, fix up the property quickly, get a good PM who is tough on screening tenants, doing photo inspections,  and uses a database like TICA. Insist on being in the loop to vet tenancy applications so you can see if the PM is screening them closely and which ones they favour.  The type of property will attract the corresponding type of tenant, but tenant selection is critical, like position position position.  
All the above is based on very little info from your post, just offered as suggestions up front to save time.
Good luck
cheers
thecrest

Hi Helen
As just one of the mob here, welcome and hope the forum is great for you also.

Just found out myself last month what a Town Planner does when not working inside a Council.
 I needed to find out how to change the title of a property from Strata to Torrens, and if it was possible in this case, then how to get plans drawn, estimate costs, get DA prepared & submitted to Council and shepherded through those hallowed halls of the gods etc – enter the independant Town Planning Consultant  who someone nameless at Council recommended – so things are now looking brighter again. 
Had no idea what they did.
Hope you enjoy it and also hope you can start creating some wealth for yourself, no doubt somewhere in property development so you're in one of the right places here. Good luck 
Cheers
thecrest

Hi Dr Markie
From the financial gain perspective, perhaps you should run all those scenarios by your personal financial expert while also considering your exit strategy.
Will you be staying there until you retire ?
Will your practice grow and include more medicos ?
In the future, can you on-sell the practice or lease or freehold to another practitioner or investor ?
If not, and you plan to move out of premises you own freehold, you'll be trying to sell commercial premises without a tenant or rent income, which affects the value.
Depending on how many medicos the area needs or will support, you might consider early planning for the extra space in your premises and business infrastructure to allow for future growth.
Good luck  Doc 
Cheers
thecrest

Hi JBJ
Suggestions only, make your own decisions.
Don't despair entirely.
You've gained some priceless benefits from this experience.
REA has breached the agreement so you are entitled to move to another one immediately.
You now know the 3 most important tasks for a PM are tenant selection, tenant selection tenant selection.
TICA is excellent and you can request your next PM give you printouts of searches on that database.
 Don't use a PM who doesn't use TICA.
Insist on immediate ruthless action by PMs on arrears.
Insist on max inspections and photos and reports.
Ease off a tad on model tenants if you find any.
Ask prospective PM for written statement of expertise and how defaults are handled.
Insist on being in the tenant selection process. 
Only expect tenants to be as good as your property.
Don't accommodate the unemployed.
Ask the PM to sneek a peek inside the applicant's car when showing the property, it's an indication of how your property will look in a few months.
Good luck
Cheers
thecrest