Here is our situation, We have tenants in our house which we desperatly want to do up for refinancing and then our second investment. To do the upgrades will give us around $20 more in equity. The tenants are not very regular with there rent and arent very clean. They also refused to pay the $10 pw rent increase which was supposed to start when there contract ended in Oct 04. They said they didnt have enough notice and so wouldnt pay the increase and my manager (I`ve been through 3 since owning the property since April 04)didnt do anything just basically kept collecting the rent at what it was.Anyway I want to kick them out ,business wise its the smart thing to do more equity and also more rent when we re-rent the place. BUT the wife is pregnant they already have 3 kids and they cant find anywhere else to go so I`m feeling really guilty, part of me is saying well thats buisiness and this is for our future and the other part is saying but shes pregnant and moving would be to hard.
How do you cut of from this so you can do the right thing for yoursekf without feeling so bad.
JillYou probably shouldn’t listen to any stories, just get them to deal with the agent, but now that you know, it will be hard to get them out in this situation.
I had a similar situation with an unmarried woman on disability pension who also needed an operation. I just threatened to kick her out for being behind and she soon caught up.
Terryw
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Jill
I have had this problem before and in Western Australia you need to give 60 days written notice if you want to kick them out, which I think is a good idea any way because you if it ever went to court. But maybe you can work around them and they maybe prepared to pay extra when they get a newly renovated property. Having read Steve book recently I agree with him that tenants are our customers and they need to be treated as such. If they are bad customers make sure you have yourselve covered.
Regards
DavidI agree.. just give them the required 60 days notice (inform the agent that they must do this as that’s what they’re paid for!) and get them out if you want them out. Honestly, some other person will feel sorry for them and allow them to get behind in rent and be slobs.
Perhaps they will pull their finger out and take responsibility for themselves.
Oh yeh, and don’t bother finding out any more info than you have to… emotions are getting in the way of a purely business decision.
Good luck with this though.. I’m interested to see how it goes. Keep us posted!
Cheers
Tam
I agree with timtam. But I also have difficulties by bringing emotion to such situations. However you have to make a business decision here, after all you are the one going to work to pay the mortgage, and it is your property. Is anyone else going to help you if you fall behind in your payments and the bank comes calling on you. A big NO.
However to make the best of the situation, maybe you could offer to help them find other accomodation at a rent level that they can afford. They will either pay up or if your lucky may take up your offer. Your interest in their welfare may assist both of you.
You can only tryJules[biggrin]
JULES1
Email MeHi Jules,
I’ve had to find a new rental property twice when I was pregnant. Once I had to move 3 days after my baby was born. It’s just one of these things that you just have too get on with.So don’t worry too much about your tenants, you can’t be responsible for them.
LandtJules, the problem you have if you try and find alternative accommodation is that you are putting your reputation on the line for people that you don’t consider good tenants. Asking for trouble!
I would be approaching the agent and telling them to go to the tenant with written notice of eviction. Get him to talk to the tenant first and say that the owner is very unhappy and the new rules are that the rent is X and that the agent will be consucting a monthly inspection of the property to ensure it is being maintained. If they don’t like it, then give them the pre-prepared notice.
It is always difficult when the emotional cards get played but ultimately it is your business.
Good luck and hope it pans out ok.
Jill,
Good luck…getting involved with other people’s personal lives…and hitching your financial well being to those “goings on” which you have absolutely no control over is pure madness in my opinion.
Tenant being pregnant is one, but there is a thousand and one excuses why your rent doesn’t get paid and the house is a mess;
I split up with my boyfriend
Lost my job
Hurt my back and am now on compo
The wife just left me
What’s the problem – it looks fine…
We have 5 kids – houses look like this with 5 kids…It goes on and on…I disagree with Steve’s philosophy about having to wade into this mess and treat them like your customer. Of course, if you don’t, your wealth takes a huge hit so you’re left with no option but to wade in…yuk !!
As Landlord you provide a roof over their head without fail, every night. Does the tenant have the same commitment to provide the landlord with rent every night without fail ?? Some – not all, just don’t have that same committment level – it wouldn’t even cross their minds.
These stories re-inforce my decision to ban RIPs from my portfolio…dealing with professional business people and Govt depts as tenants beats the ‘domestic dross’ hands down.
Cheers,
Dazzling
“Go hard or go home”
Hi Gonnaberich (you won’t be Gonnaberich for long if you don’t take some action!)They have already cost you approx $160 for addtl rent they are not paying since Oct and more if they are not regular with their rent.
Firstly, are these people on a lease (esp if you are going to have a clean up after them)?
Tell your agent your not pussy footing around any longer, you need for him to communicate to tennants they need to pay the increase now or they are in breach of their lease..How long are you prepared/afford to support these people. We all have sad stories to tell but unfortunately some people play on it.
Don’t get involved with the tennant that is what you pay an agent for.
Take care of yourself first.
Good luck
Jenny1
“The tenants are not very regular with there rent and aren’t very clean.”
So they don’t tend to pay you on time and they don’t really keep the house clean?
“They also refused to pay the $10 pw rent increase which was supposed to start when there contract ended in Oct 04. They said they didn’t have enough notice and so wouldn’t pay the increase”
So they decided not to pay you any $$$ even though a $10 increase dosen’t sound that bad or taxing…
Look these people aren’t helping you at all, so why help them? Treat others how you would be expected to be treated. It sounds like they are using a sob story to stay in the house, not pay the extra $10 and probably keep paying irregularly, while they don’t have to bother with the cleaning.
Eviction notice. These people have decided to act in this way!
Rgds.
Lucifer_auHi Everyone,
Thanks for that, youve given me strenght to ring my agent and get onto it. I need to move forwards and now I wont feel so bad doing it.
Abundance and prosperity to you all.
Cheers Jillso glad you made that decision
hope your have acted on it ….ridiHi Gonnaberich
Most landlords agree that the tenancy laws favour the tenants so it would be reasonable to direct the property manager to take the necessary legal steps to remove the tenants. The law makes sure they are not disadvantaged. They haven’t been sufficiently co-operative to deserve more consideration than they just gave you when whacking you with the legal stick about insufficient notice to increase the rent.
Get the PM off it’s tutu, move ’em out fast and legal, and get on with your own plan. Don’t fall into the trap of being a social worker.
cheers
thecrestthecrest | Tony Neale - Statewide Motel Brokers
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Get your agent to give the the statutory notice. No one is gonna give you a hand out if you go bad.
You have no legal or moral obligation to give hand outs.
I am A licensed agent and a landlord..I put my properties in the hands of another agent in another company to keep at arms length.
You should also set out the parameters for your agent so that the moment things look like going pear shaped he can swing into action without havng to wait around for you.
My agent is is intructed to apply for a tribunal hearing 10 secs after the stroke of midnight once the rent is 14 days over due..The tenats are advised of this when the sign the leasde. its upto them to ask for help not for me or the agent to discover they have a problem.i’ve just had the same sort of problems.
tennant late with rents- about a month behind now.
been to the tribunal and she paid 200 dollars and now pays 205 dollars rent instead of 175 to make up the difference. a month later (thats now) she’s behind again. the PM is great, does all the legal stuff for me. i dont know how people manage their own properties.
my tennant is a single mum, the PM and myself have done everything to help her. the jigs finally up for her now though. off to the tribunal next week to kick her out.
sounds harsh i know, but at the end of the day you cant help someone who wont help themselvescheers
shaun
Lead, Follow or get out of the bloody way
Originally posted by Gonnaberich:BUT the wife is pregnant they already have 3 kids and they cant find anywhere else to go so
JillLast time I looked there were very attractive government benefits and subsidies on children and bonus’s for babies. For a low income, there would also be a rental subsidy available to them.
Why are you feeling guilty, are you a charity or an Australian government?
I have a tenant also, who has defaulted 3 times and then caughtup because he worked a few days then left and there were delays in regaining his unemployment benefit. Well, no more, he is being evicted. I do not feel sorry at all for him, especially after my PM told me about the new boat and 4WD in the yard, when she went to find out why no rent was being paid.
If you want to get out of a hole, first stop digging.
Don’t fall for the mistake of not putting up the rent for a few years as the tenant will realise in 3 years time that they are on a good deal. While other properties have higher rents they pay less and they will soon realise that it will cost them more to find another dearer rental.
My own experience was that my tenant let the property run down and then abandoned the property when I put up the rent after 7 years by $5 a week. While the property was abandoned the local kids came in it and trashed the property.
The first owners grant makes it easier now for a tenant to abandon or trash a property and then purchase their own home.
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