Hi My agent advised our slack tenants 12 weeks ago that there lease would not be renewed (in QLD) Today is the last day of the lease & & they have not vacated. They are behind in rent (as usual) Spoke to the real estate agent who advised they need to issue a summons to go to court for an eviction hearing etc all of which may mean the tenants get another 6-8 weeks free living. Sureley there is a better way to get rid of these people instead of being held to ransom by them?
unfortunately the law favors the tenant rather than the landlord. This is why your property manager should have started eviction proceedings as soon as the tenant was behind by 4 weeks to minimize your lost rent.
Hopefully you took out Landlord s insurance to cover this loss of rent and any possible deliberate damage that may be caused by the tenant during this 6 to 8 week period.Under QLD law, tenants have 7 days to catch up on rent before you can give them a notice to remedy breach. If they comply, all well and good. If they don't you can then start eviction proceedings (Form 11 I think).
Unfortunately it sounds like the tenants aren't the only slack ones – it might be a idea to start shopping for another property manager.
Also, as far as I'm aware eviction disputes are usually taken up with the RTA, not the courts?
Interesting side note – squatting laws in QLD/Australia mean that even if the tenants are evicted, they may still be able to stay in the property – provided that one of them remains there at all times, otherwise as soon as it's vacant the police can move in and repossess the house.
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