Issue with tenants - need some advise

Guys,

This is a great forum and I'm after some advise from the pros.

I have a property with a main house and studio, both rented out separately. I have a property manager for the main house and manage the studio myself. New tenants moved in last year and are now causing trouble - they want the person in the studio to leave, despite the fact that they were told of the arrangement and the studio was tenanted while they were at the inspections etc.. The studio is separately fenced and accessed there's no real disturbance, but they claim stuff like privacy etc. Tenants are playing dump and cannot remember the arrangement. They've even contacted the council (behind the pm's and my back) saying its an illegal arrangement and I had the hassle to deal with the inspections and hearings from council which was annoying as this is all taking time away off your day.

I have the studio separately metered (water, electricity) however those meters are hanging off the main electricity and water grid from the house. Tenants complained to the property manager that the reading cannot be correct and the pm advised me to simply get the utilities under my own name and then separately invoice both of them. I've then changed the utilities under my name. Since then tenants are refusing to pay (tricked me) as it's not an official meter in their eyes and the tenancy agreement states that the landlord has to wear the costs. Great setup since it's now under my name and I'm getting the bills.

I'm furious as the property manager is just passing information on rather than being proactive, and the tenant is surely playing games. Tenant has contacted consumer affairs and want to go to tribunal and all that, and the pm doesn't really play hard ball but just flip flops around. Not really worried about the hearings but simply the whole situation and how this unfolds. Tenant is just trying to look for a way to get something out of this, and the pm is playing nicely into it.

What options do I have and what do you guys suggest given the situation? I'm also interested if you guys feel the pm isn't doing a good job. I certainly feel the pm doesn't really have a plan and just acts as an admin rather than a manager. Should I take over control and manage the situation myself? Don't want to step in while I'm supposed to have a "pm".

Cheers,
JM

Issue the tenants in the house a notice to vacate, get better tenants.

And get a new manager.

Agree.

If you can manage the studio, why not manage the main as swell?

As the others have said: ditch the current PM. He/she has given you bad advice re utilities in your name etc.

New house tenant is in order too.

Find a better PM or manage yourself if you feel comfortable with doing so. Make sure new lease for the house specifically excludes the studio (if it doen't already).

1. Sack the PM - the advice she is giving you is beyond incompetent!
2. You should never have been advised to put the electricity under your name, there was no need to. As an owner you have the legal right under the RTA to seek reimbursement for the cost of utilities when they are separately metered. As long as the meters are legals and correctly installed you can take the tenants to VCAT to get reimbursement.
3. The simple solution is to disconnect the electricity! It is the tenants responsibility to arrange connections of electricity - if they want power they can get it connected. Your only legal obligation is to provide the infrastructure to allow electricity to be supplied to the property. As long as that is in order you have nothing to worry about.
4. Ignore the advice above to 'evict the tenants'. It isn't that simple! You can't just evict tenants. Your PM should be able to advise you what your options are: i.e how long until the lease expires? If it is more than 90 days away then you can serve an NTV to end the fixed term tenancy. If that isn't applicable basically your only other option is to serve 120 day No reason notice - however these tenants seem to know the loopholes and if they take the notice to VCAT and challenge it would be pretty easy for them to prove you are serving the notice in retaliation and VCAT would then invalidate the notice.

It is my firm belief that as a PM we are not here to be friends with owners or tenants. we are here to uphold each parties obligations under the RTA, and to do that we need to be firm at all times. When i am training a new staff member one of the first things i tell them is to never waiver, never bend and always stand firm. When a PM starts to wobble the other party will try to push you over and that is when a situation gets out of control and lasts longer than it should. If you PM had been firm in the first place this would never have happened! If your PM had a grasp on the limitations and expectations of the tenant under the Act then she would never have advised you to put the power into your name.

Go and find a PM who knows what they are talking about, go and find one with experience to handle this, one who has been doing this job for longer enough not to believe the bullpoo that tenants will try to pull.

If the studio is fully fenced off you do not have an obligation to note it in the lease agreement. the tenants inspected the property, the property was not advertised as including a studio, therefore they would have been aware of the proximity to the main house and potential privacy concerns they may have had would have been evident at the inspection. Once again, this is about your PM not being firm enough with them and allowing them to try an get away with this irrelevant argument. The tenants are trying to scam you, and it sounds like you via your PM are allowing this to occur!

Good luck with it! I hope it gets sorted out soon!