hi all
we are going through a disaster with an IP rented to unreliable tenants who are using it for a rooming house. We agreed to this as the property manager gave them a glowing reference and set good conditions regarding damage etc. 18 months on and the home has been trashed several times, there have been fires lit, graffiti sprayed, my garage which is off limits to them has been broken into rifled through, goods stolen and or used within the house and damaged, ducted heating deliberately broken, brand new hot water system ripped off the wall, front door glass broken, other windows repeatedly broken, oven used as heater with doors open, the property manager is scared of them, they have sent breach notices and letters to no avail.
Rent has never been paid until the 14th day late, just allowing them to get away with the rule about eviction for non payment of rent.
We got sick of this after another inspection recently where we found more damage and sinks ripped off walls, allowing sewage to flow unheeded, light fittings ripped out leaving bare wires.
took them to the court, with quotes for damages totalling $5000 plus 18 days overdue rent.. only to have the Member say we cant prove it was the sub tenant!!! Yes there was one incident where we even had letters from the police saying there is no sign of break ins and some damage which was reported to the police was done by a subtenant living there., witnessed by another subtenant.. Because we dont know who these subtenants are.. we cant locate them.. There have been countless incidents of damage but the Member refused to hear them or even look at the photos or quotes?
Since then we have found that the tenants have a long criminal histroy. This is public knowledge by a Google Search.
We have now lodged another notice to evict for non payment of rent 18 days overdue.
but with a system which so clearly favours the tenant. what hope have we got…id like to add though that all our other IPs function really well, its just the property managers in Melbourne not doing their job. and the court system is unfriendly.
I don’t know whether the rules are different in Queensland, but by the sounds of your house, it is uninhabitable. If you have raw electric wires and/or sewage coming out from pipes, you need to get the tenants out NOW.
Call your residential tenancy authority and get the forms to have the house declared uninhabitable as of NOW. If that means having the water and power cut off to make the decision easier for them to leave, do that.
It sounds like you have a big repair bill anyhow, and the risk is they will do further damage, but when we issued a notice to quit last year to a tenant who did some damage while “high”, I organised for the police to come round with me (I self manage) on the morning after they had to be out because I felt unsafe going myself.
I didn’t have to do this because they actually moved on the final day and we saw that they were moving, but the local police were happy to call around with me if I felt the need for them.
Take action right away, but get the proper forms filled out.
Good luck.
Wylie
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