I got an IP at Sunshine West of Melbourne while I was at Auckland currently. The IP was left to BarryPlant Sunshine to manage it from Last Nov. The property manager got a tenant in Early Dec. Since then, I only receieved 2.4 months' rent payment(about $1400).
That is after some deduction for garden and house cleaning, lock repair, one week rent for looing tenant and management fee before the tenant move in. 2.4 months later, the tenant stopped paying rent as he said the garage got no power and the rangehood is not working. My property manager insist that is the condition he should know before he move in. The tenant complained to consumer fair party(?) while the manager got a quote about $1000 for rewiring the garage and replacing the rangehood.
It looks I am making free for these 2 parties to enjoy their benefit. Anyone can contribute some suggestions, Please! I need your guys' help.
It is fair for a tenant to expect the range hood to be working and the garage to have working power. I am under the impression that the property manager did not notify to you immediately to the tenant's reasonable request. When a tenant does not see any form of repair or action they get annoyed and frustrated and resort to not paying the rent. I have after sacking my previously bad property manager now got a good property manager who notifies me if the rent is behind by 2 weeks and when things need fixing.
At the very least your property manager should ask the tenant why the tenant is not paying the rent and advise you of the repairs immediately.
You have a few options
(1) Keep ringing the property manager and ask for two other quotes for the work required.
Make it clear that you will get the items fixed ASAP but that if the rent continues to not be paid you will consider whether an eviction may be needed.
Make it very clear to the Tenants that if they do not pay you rent you can't pay the mortgage and other expenses and you will be forced to sell the house causing them to have to let a lot of strangers into the house to inspect it for buying purposes and that they may be required to leave when the ownership changes.(2) Ring up another property manager company and ask them to take over the management of the property from your current property manager and explain the mess your situation is in and ask if they can they sort it out.
I had my recently new tenant complain about a power point not working on an air conditioner , cooker hotplate and griller not working , taps leaking and a window that will not open.
This Tenant did not know the condition before he move in. Why because the power is not connected when a tenant checks out a property nor is the GAS. I rang the property manager immediately and asked for these items to be fixed immediately.
When people rent they expect things to be fixed ASAP.P.S. the repairs are tax deductible !
Anyone have any suggestions for a good PM in the Sunshine area?
Not all garages are powered, If the garage has lights & powerpoints then a tenant would expect that the garage has power. If there was no sign of any power at the garage it would not be expected for the owner to have power installed to the garage they are only required to maintain the property and appliances that are allready at the property. We have a number of properties with garages at the rear that do not have any power connected. this is pointed out to prospective tenants at inspections so that they are well aware.
You would be required to maintain any appliances at the property. I would want a copy of Consumer Affairs report and a copy of the maintenance request that the tenant lodged with the agent as under the VCAT act all repairs must be in writing. If it has got to the stage that consumer affairs is involved is must have going on for some time. If their report is in favor of the tenant they could also claim compensation. You need to get the pm onto ASAP and have fixed before the tenant takes the next step and applies to VCAT. But check about the power situation to the garage first before spending the money.
One major problem you have is that you are remote from the location of your property. You may need to consider getting these things fixed directly by contacting a service company and asking them to liase through the property manager for site access with the Tenant.
Companies like Service Central – see http://www.servicecentral.com.au/ or possibly
Grey Army see – http://www.greyarmy.com.au/ or
hire a hubby see – http://www.hireahubby.com.au/
Husbands on the run – 03 9310 3389 based in Tullamarine.may be the quickest way to get this fixed ASAP.
I used grey army when I was about 240 km away from the property about 7 years ago but they have changed their business structure to a franchise network since I used them. My property manager does use hire a hubby for some of their maintenance work.
P.S
I had a Garage in one house where the light power was tripping the Safety Switch in the fuse box and when it was checked by an electrician it was being caused by the roof leaking onto the light fitting. This was after I had just purchased the house and rented it out.
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