Hi everyone,
Welcome to my nightmare. I have 2 properties in QLD that I have never had problems with, always been rented, ,no tenant problems.
My portfolio has grown quite rapidly over the years and I have a fulltime job so don´t really get the time to check my rental statements very often.
Was filling a couple of weeks ago and noticed that I had not received rent on both properties in QLD at $200.00 per week for over 13 weeks each , ouch!
rang the agents to find out what was going on, why I had not received a call, was there a problem? why were my tenants not paying? they knew NOTHING, they could only say that they would call them to see what was going on? I was slightly pissed off as you can imagine. I later found out that 3 people including the supervisor had been fired from the property management dept for not doing there job.
So tenants have now been kicked out and I am out of rent $6400.00 in total due to incompetant property managers and the real estate owner says he can´t afford to wear the cost.
No I didn´t have landlords insurance, didn´t think I needed it these tenants had been in the properties for years and never caused me a problem.I guess nobody asked them for money so they didnt pay it. The debt collectors are after them but that is too little too late and I may not see any of it.
Not happy ….any suggestions?
Hi
similar story for me.
I hadn’t been checking my rental statements. No rent for 14 weeks. Rang property manager who said oops, I’ll send an eviction notice. Took another 2 months to evict the tenant through the courts.
Luckily I did have landlords insurance and recouped most of the rental loss (21 wks worth)
The moral of the story for me as Steve said in a recent masterclass, manage your managers.
So I changed property management.
I now check all my statements
And most of all I see this an exellent learning curve.
You could maybe file a complaint with REBA on the grounds of breech of duty of care. REBA may conduct an investigation into your situation by liasing with your management company if the dispute is unable to be resolved between yourself and the company.Greetings Guys,
I have to wonder how or why you are waiting for statements and not checking bank via internetbanking. At least you would know the day after the rent is due to be deposited that it had not been. Easier to chase up then than 13 weeks later.
Trying hard not to judge here but seems slack on somebody’s part.
Good luck for the future rent. Cheers lenYeah plenty….but probably none that you really want to hear.
1. It’s your IP. You can palm off the day to day management to PM’s, but you can never palm off full responsibility if you want things to go smoothly. I consider PM’s to be babysitters, sort of looking after things whilst you’re not there but it ain’t there’s and at the end of the day, if it all turns to custard it’s still in your lap…as you’ve found out.
2. Maybe you pay insurance premiums for the things you don’t expect – that’s why it’s called insurance.
3. A Landlord with his eye off the ball is bound to find situations like this. 13 weeks is a long way off the ball however, I’m surprised you’ve got out of it so cheaply. My only suggestion to your nightmare is to wake up.
4. I note you’ve got your tenants out in 16, after being alerted to the fact after 13 weeks ?? Something doesn’t ring true there…anyone who’s had real trouble with non-paying tenants knows that in 3 weeks you can hardly submit the first round of paperwork on the lawyer circus that is all that is available to legally abiding citizens. 16 weeks sounds more the go – perhaps you are not telling it really how it is…perhaps your ‘awakening’ was something else…who knows but you only.
5. Don’t expect any great returns out of your IP’s if you give them that much attention in the future. PM’s do not equate to hands off.
Cheers,
Dazzling
“No point having a cake if you can’t eat it.”
dazzliing,
Am telling it how it really is, one of the tenants had left town and is working as a teacher they tracked him down and repossesed the property today as he had made promises to pay but never did.
The other tenant left voluntarily after being told to leave so it never ended up in the courts.
Insurance I have it for some of my properties, (I have 22 properties so can’t really afford it for all of them) I have taken it out selectively , these properties had long term tenants that had caused me no headaches in the past
It’s hard juggling a full time job, a husband , cooking meals , managing 22 IP’s and not being able to make personal calls from work.
but somehow I will need to find the time to check all my statements from now on, an important lesson learnt….a warning for everyone out there with IP’s
I totally agree with Dazzling
How can you say you can’t afford insurance when you are prepared to wear a loss of rent $6,400. Insurance would not cost anywhere as much as this (plus it is a tax deduction).
Being naive has cost you plenty. Set up reminders on a calender of when rents are due, internet/phone banking can be done from home.
Dazzling is right re PM’s you manage your Managers, ring/sms or email if your rent is late to find out when it will be in your account.
Interview PM’s as it is your business that you are entrusting to them, and PM’s will break you if you get a bad one.
Good luck
Jenny1
Did the PM still get paid their PM fees for the weeks that rent was un collected?
do you have a contract with the PM, that specifies their obligations and duties?
if I was you, I would target the PM and seek compensation from the PM, real estate co.
are they in breach of duty of care?
check out the small claims tribunal,
http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/courts/factsht/c07smallclaims.htmyou can do it for minimal cost and may provide remedy in your situation.
Also report the Agent to the State Real Estate Institute!!!
If they cannot afford to pay you the losses you incurred if it was their fault, they should not be licensed.
TMA
http://www.email4money.info
Essential Links
First Home Buyer WebsiteIf the PM was negligent, wouldn.t there be some form of insurance held by the estate agent or the REI to cover their mistate / error?
We are always learning.
22 properties is a great achievement.
hrm
Had a similar problem with a property in Tas.
PM went on leave, nobody in dept checked on rent.
Statement came in, 5 weeks behind in rent. PM returned admitted liability (wouldn’t like to be in dept when she came back) and suggested I ring the principle.Principle suggested I claim on insurance, I asked why as it was his negligence and he should pay. After a bit of tooing and froeng he agreed. Got full rent arrears plus some damage that the tenant had caused.
Tenant was evicted .
At least I have a PM who takes her job seriously
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
