Hi All,
We bought an investment prop in QLD in March this year. The agent we bought it from now manages it. We are from Sydney. They sent us a prop management contract but we never got around to signing it & they never brought it up with us. All of a sudden, they are withholding funds until we sign it. I only discovered this after I called to find out why I hadn't received a deposit as usual. They said they had done an internal audit & discovered they didn't have a signed contract from us in early October. I asked why they couldn't call/email/send a letter requesting a signed contract & they changed the subject several times.I now have a biiter taste in my mouth & want to get rid of this prop manager. I can't understand why I am paying 7% for the priviledge of them withholding payment whenever they darn well feel like it & not bothering to call or email me. I have spoken to them a few times about other small issues & asked them to confirm via email our conversation which they have never done. They still owe me over $300 from the initial rent that they paid to the old owner after I had settled the contract.
/rant offWhat are my legal obligations to this prop manager? How should I proceed in getting rid of them? Should I give them 4 weeks notice & organise a debt collector if they try to keep the outstanding amt? (currently $300 + $650 for 2 weeks rent). All comments welcome!
The compliance requirements for agents are pretty tough, so they are probably required by law to have these contracts in place before letting your property out and are now trying to protect themselves by getting this asap – but they have gone about it the wrong way.
Start talking to some new agents and tell them what has happened. The new agent can handle advising the old one that you are moving your business across.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
I agree with Terry let the new pm handle the situation and lift the file from their office.
You are not obligated to sign the agreement. They stuffed up as they should have had the agreement first before acting on your behalf. They can get into alot of trouble far beyond paying you what they owe you.
Tell them that you do not wish to use them as agents and you have chosen someone else also ask them to pay all money owed to you. They should not be deducting property management charges or letting fees or anything else and can't do that legally without an agreement in place.
Also if they have advertised the property on realestate.com.au without a written agreement they have breached the contract with that company as well!!!
Choose a pm that is a bit more on the ball. If they are stuffing up with their own agreements how will they be protecting your interests with contracts between tenants etc???
jambv wrote:Hi All,
We bought an investment prop in QLD in March this year. The agent we bought it from now manages it. We are from Sydney. They sent us a prop management contract but we never got around to signing it & they never brought it up with us. All of a sudden, they are withholding funds until we sign it. I only discovered this after I called to find out why I hadn't received a deposit as usual. They said they had done an internal audit & discovered they didn't have a signed contract from us in early October. I asked why they couldn't call/email/send a letter requesting a signed contract & they changed the subject several times.I now have a biiter taste in my mouth & want to get rid of this prop manager. I can't understand why I am paying 7% for the priviledge of them withholding payment whenever they darn well feel like it & not bothering to call or email me. I have spoken to them a few times about other small issues & asked them to confirm via email our conversation which they have never done. They still owe me over $300 from the initial rent that they paid to the old owner after I had settled the contract.
/rant offWhat are my legal obligations to this prop manager? How should I proceed in getting rid of them? Should I give them 4 weeks notice & organise a debt collector if they try to keep the outstanding amt? (currently $300 + $650 for 2 weeks rent). All comments welcome!
It seems as though the unsigned Contract slipped through the cracks at their end.
But, you should have signed it and sent it back. Fault apportioned all round I'd say.
If the service since March has been ok, then it may be advisable to just put this down to a gliche in the system and get the Contract signed and move on. As Terry said; the agent's requirements are strict.
We have PM's that sign on our behalf, while another sends us the leases and asks them to be signed in duplicate and send them back. Weird, but anyway…
PM's are not the greatest communicators in the world I've found; tend to ignore you until they need a repair fixed.
See how they go service wise for the rest of the year and re-evaluate if the trend continues.hi Jambv,
they dont sound like very good operators . But even more importantly,if yr not happy now you will probably never be happy with them.I would do as others have said and get the new PM to lift the file from them.If they wont give you the money owed try threatening them with legal action as they should have followed up the contract.The way they are handling you their prized customer is not satisfactory and not good enough.
Luke Taylor | Hope Property Investing
http://hopepropertyinvesting.com
Email MeProperty Support,Strategist and Buyers Agent
Quick question without naming names. Where is the property located.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Qlds007 wrote:Quick question without naming names. Where is the property located.Hi Richard,
The prop is located in Crestmead, QLD.Hi jambv,
I totally agree with the all guys here, maybe it's time to get a new PM.
I had a similar issue wtih my IP in mt warren park… Where my PM was withholding money for no apparent reason. And when I call up to question it, I was always told that its for some invoice which never turned up. After about 2 months of phoning them up I usually get the money back. I'm in the midst of changing to a new PM after the existing PM was quite rude to my then potential tenant amongs a list of other things.
At the end of the day, you are paying for a service and if you are not getting your money's worth then it's time to go elsewhere. You might want to give them one more go but if they still don't measure up then you might want to do something. There are alot of good PM out there !!!
Good luck with it
cheers
elsAnother point
Not having a signed contract with the agent also doesn't mean the contract is not valid. You have been behaving as if you had the contract in place, so it may be valid. If so, you may have to meet the requirements on giving them a certain amount of notice that you are removing them as property managers.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
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