Tennats ignoring phonecalls/rent

A

atti

well i am faced with situation where its been days of unpaid due rent, i self managed, i've sented 2 messages and 4 phonecalls no answers.

tennant has been back from holidays on 7th of jan he said.
i only live around the corner so i went over to check 2-3 times, 1 at night, 1 at day, 1 just this afternoon, seems like no one their most of the time accept night where i see lights in backshed.


what sort of actions should i take to try minimise a risk of this tennant not paying rent and communicating ? he has been good so far last 2 months all of sudden i feel something dodge is going on, iam trying to make excuses for him in my head that he lost his phone, but he should still know its been 8 days late.
 
Wow atti !!!!

Surely you had some sort of idea what your next steps should be before you decided to self manage?

I have no idea what the next step should be, I just pay a good PM to look after these issues, money well spent as it seems you may well find out.

What has the search function on this forum or google told you?

Dave
 
Check the laws in your state - anyone who self manages should have a good understanding of the act.

Also contact fair trading in your state they may be able to advice.


A quick google seach enabled me to find all the information you need - you just have to read it

I would go to the property and talk to them and find out their intentions. If you don't get a satisfactory reply I would find out how I could terminate.

http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/RESIDENTIAL%20TENANCIES%20ACT%201995/CURRENT/1995.63.UN.PDF

http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/R/RESIDENTIAL%20TENANCIES%20(GENERAL)%20REGULATIONS%201995/CURRENT/1995.210.UN.PDF

http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/R/RESIDENTIAL%20TENANCIES%20(WATER%20RATES)%20REGULATIONS%201995/CURRENT/1995.172.UN.PDF

http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/tenancies/res/index.html
 
A competent PM should definitely know the appropriate course of action. :eek:

Phone calls and knocking on the door are probably useless forms of notice, and the same as no notice. You must ensure that notices are in the format and delivered via the method specified in the lease agreement; I suggest you read it, and become familiar with the appropriate tenancy legislation. And if you're not prepared to do that, then perhaps you should engage a PM to do it for you.
 
You can only annoy tennants so much before you are sued for harrassment. keep emotion out. Have a standard procedure that you will notify them on days 3, 5, 8 then send a warning letter that you will send a termination notice if not paid on day 15. send on day 16 and follow through with procedure.

Property investing is a business. If your phone bills are late you don't expect telstra to knock on your door. you need to minimise risks at your end and keep emotions out of it! Don't get involved in their problems or excuses, treat it purely as business.

A PM works this way! (well should anyway ;))
 
If they're really smart they'll keep a log of when you go there, and take out an intervention order against you, saying you're harassing them.

Best to keep it at arms length from now on. People do desperate things to avoid paying their bills.
 
in another thread, the advice given to someone else was that they visit & knock on the door & ring them till they get a response. Wheny they answer the door / phone, the advice was to ask them where the rent money is.

I guess, becuase you said you self manage (as I do) and admitted not knwoing all the laws, particularly at the top of your head (as I admit), the conversation got sidetracked at the unpreparedness of people such you & I....

Basicallly, you cant send out a termination notice if the tenant if 14 days or more overdue. Got to your state's fair trading website, and you might find all the details you need - I am sure the world will not fall over and your investment will not be permanently ruined cause you didn't know everything form the get go !
 
Certified letter with demand for payment and referral of debt notice to debt collection agency. Definitely an eye opener but only send if prepared to follow up.
 
BoatBoy said:
Atti, Have you got LL's insurance incase its required?
Click to expand...
I would think failure to issue appropriate notices would have jeopardised a pay-out anyway. The insured has an obligation to minimise their losses, which means acting promptly to redress late payments - in the format specified in the lease, at the first opportunity.
 
BoatBoy said:
jaycee, Is that supposed to read "unless the tenant is 14 or more days overdue"?

Dave
Click to expand...

NEITHER !

It was meant to say .... Basicallly, you CAN send out a termination notice if the tenant if 14 days or more overdue.

How do people put up with me...

Ozperp, I thought the person said the tenat is 8 ddays over due only, if a breach of contract/termination notice is only sent after 14 days, how is this late as you suggest in your post ?
 
jaycee said:
Ozperp, I thought the person said the tenat is 8 ddays over due only, if a breach of contract/termination notice is only sent after 14 days, how is this late as you suggest in your post ?
Click to expand...
I don't know what the process is in that state, but usually there's a list of actions and dates they can be taken, eg it might be that you can send a reminder letter after 2 days, another reminder letter after 7 days, a termination notice after 14 days etc. Whatever the actions are that you can take, you'd better make sure you've implemented 1) all of them, and 2) implemented them at the first available opportunity, or you could jeopardise your ability to redress.

So if the rules were as per my example, and you issue a termination notice without having sent reminder letters first, or don't send the first reminder letter until rent is 4 days overdue (rather than 2 days), etc, then you may jeopardise your ability to terminate under the Act, and/or your ability to obtain a payout under your landlords insurance.

Having taken no action (since I'm pretty sure phone calls and site visits wouldn't count) until the tenant is at least 8 days overdue is unlikely to qualify as being sufficiently vigilant. But if the Act in that state prohibits any written notices being issued before that time, then there's no problem.
 
i just rang the state office, they said there are 2 forms which needs to be filled out appropriately,

first one is exactly after 14 days (including weekends) i can pop a form 2 (rent in arrears) notice.

after another 7 days if nothing happens, i can apply to tribunal with form 7.
then the tribunal will send the tenant notice.



the main problem here is, i dont know where, what the tennant is up to, is he alive ? no form of contact what so ever, his phone is always on voicemail, i never see his car at the place. should i call police attendance so i can inspect my property if posibility of Dope propergating, suspicious activity ?

also i served notice to inspect property on 10/12/08 to inspect on 28/12/08 but no replies to that as well. last time i heard from him was 06/01/09 (from his friend which given me previous fornights rent).
 
atti said:
i just rang the state office, they said there are 2 forms which needs to be filled out appropriately,

first one is exactly after 14 days (including weekends) i can pop a form 2 (rent in arrears) notice.

after another 7 days if nothing happens, i can apply to tribunal with form 7.
then the tribunal will send the tenant notice.



the main problem here is, i dont know where, what the tennant is up to, is he alive ? no form of contact what so ever, his phone is always on voicemail, i never see his car at the place. should i call police attendance so i can inspect my property if posibility of Dope propergating, suspicious activity ?

also i served notice to inspect property on 10/12/08 to inspect on 28/12/08 but no replies to that as well. last time i heard from him was 06/01/09 (from his friend which given me previous fornights rent).
Click to expand...

You have only one course of action:

Don't worry about what the tenant is up to now. Do your paperwork, follow the law and take all steps of legal action possible.

Good Luck

Regards JO
 
atti said:
the main problem here is, i dont know where, what the tennant is up to, is he alive ? no form of contact what so ever, his phone is always on voicemail, i never see his car at the place. should i call police attendance so i can inspect my property if posibility of Dope propergating, suspicious activity ?
Click to expand...

Thats why I advised you to go to the property (at different times), knock on the door - leave a not on the front door- you need to see if the tenant is still living there, check the letter box see if there is any mail - check the post mark date - look though a window if you can - see if there is any furniture inside. You need to do this first - the tenant may have abandoned the property - the ACT should account for this situation (NSW ACT does). - this should be your first step - you should be doing this now - don't waste anymore time - take a friend with you - and don't be aggressive be passive - if the tenant is there tell him that you were worried about him etc..


Second step - if the tenant is still in posession send him an arrears letter, and then follow up with a termination notice - you need to know the law in your state to ensure that these are issued correctly.



Then once the matter is sorted get a PM.

I may add that most PM's won't take it on at the moment because of the present problems, if you are able to rectify the issues with the tenant without termination - great, as soon as you do give it to a PM.
 
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