A good reason to keep control

[Sleeper]

Just got a letter from my managing agent -

" Tenants will be vacating on the 23/12/05 "

Ahe!! I don't have a rental lease expiring 2 days before Christmas

Dig into filing cabinet follows.

No, that lease expired on 08/11/05. Plenty of time to get new tenants before Christmas, as previously planned

Phone call to agent -

Without transcibing the whole thing. They sent out a renewal notice but the tenants wouldn't get back to them. (Obviously the tenants knew what they wanted to do)

Following a load of cods wallop about them being allowed to go on to a periodic lease the agent seemed to think there was a fare chance it would be tenanted before Christmas. Yeah right!

So what happened?

1. Through bad management they overlooked the lease expiry? Including notifing me to confirm any changes of requirements for a new lease.

2. Through bad management they notified the tenants but failed to follow up in time? They just forgot about the owner side of things.

3. Through bad management they allowed the tenants to dictate when they would leave with full knowledge of there intentions

If I would have been in control I would have known something was wrong and been able to follow it up when I hadn't received notice of the agents intentions on lease expiry.

Sometimes getting too busy can cost you lots of money! I guess it all adds up to bad management.

 

[yadreamin]

Sleeper
You may also find that you had no or very little insurance cover during this "lapsed" lease period.
Perhaps having a friendly chat with your PM and informing them, that they would have been liable if any damage occured, may encourage them to better management in the future.
cheers yadreamin

 

[willair]

Sleeper,
if the property is local,then why not self manage yourself,its much the same as having a PM only you do the work yourself,if you have the right tenants in place from day one, then its just like any other business,only property runs itself 24/7...
good luck
willair.......

 

[Sleeper]

willair
The property is in Brisbane but I do have some here that I'm starting to think seriously about self managing.

yadreamin
I didn't think about the insurance side of things. I'll look into that one. Thanks.

 

[see_change]

Sleeper
You may also find that you had no or very little insurance cover during this "lapsed" lease period.
Perhaps having a friendly chat with your PM and informing them, that they would have been liable if any damage occured, may encourage them to better management in the future.
cheers yadreamin

Yadreamin

I haven't heard of that . Do you have specific experience with that happening ?

See Change

 

[DavidMc]

Following a load of cods wallop about them being allowed to go on to a periodic lease the agent seemed to think there was a fare chance it would be tenanted before Christmas. Yeah right!

I think it's quite normal for a 12 month lease to convert to a month to month basis after it expires. However, it does seem your PM has failed you by not letting you know this occured.

Good luck in finding a new tenant... I guess on the brightside it was a week before Xmas! I'd say you'll quickly get someone in the first few weeks of the new year (when ppl have holidays and can look around and move in) - which would mean you'd have a vacancy of 2-3 weeks. I've had worse mid year. Hope it works out!

 

[yadreamin]

With my landlord insurance, AON, a lease must be in place and valid to be covered by the insurance.AON must be notified if the lease becomes periodic because if the tennant does a runner you are then only covered by a very limited loss of rent with restrictions.AON also has restrictions on terms of periodic lease.They have a minimum of time that they will accept.I am sorry but l cant seem to find my handbook of rules at the moment.[l burnt boiled eggs yesterday not been a good week]
We had a very long term tenant who wanted to go onto a periodic lease when her home was near completion.We new her very well by this time and were happy to take the risk with her.It was monthly and AON would not accept this.Even though we had proof off her exellent record.By the time she actually moved out we had no landlord cover at all as it got down to week by week, but the building insurance was still in place.
cheers yadreamin

 

[Sleeper]

I think it's quite normal for a 12 month lease to convert to a month to month basis after it expires. However, it does seem your PM has failed you by not letting you know this occured.

I think the agent should have let me know before we went to a periodic lease so there would have been a choice to allow it or not. In this case I wouldn't have. They would of have to have moved out on the the lease expiry date. They haven't been the best tenants so I wouldn't have gone out of my way to accommodate them.

As they say everything is negotiable. Maybe we could have drawn up a short lease to get them their six and a half weeks extra and also cover me over the down period around Christmas/New Year if there wasn't another tenant available to move in. Maybe a nine or ten week lease. It is a good property and normally easily rented so it may not have cost them anything extra.
But due to the agents incompetence this wasn't an option.

 

[Peter 14.7]

The PM is not incompetent as much as slack.

The tenants are very smart and good on them. They probably have gone on a long holiday.


My advise is to self manage and advertise hard to get someone in.

Offer a free weeks rent or more as that is what you will lose anyhow.

Peter 147

 

[agent 86]

.....but I do have some here that I'm starting to think seriously about self managing.

Sleeper,

If you do decide to go down that track, Duncan has posted his "Application for Residential Tenancy" word doc here before.

A86

 

[Brenda Irwin]

Always keep an eye on tenant leases, never trust PM's to do it all. I now keep a spreadsheet of all the lease dates, expiry dates and rent levels. I am also going to keep it on my annual calendar and make it my business to manage the property manager. I will notify by phone when leases are drawing to an end. More importantly, I may ask for a rent rise to be advised to the tenant via the pm, well before the lease expires. In Qld, a tenant on an expiring lease requires 30days notice of a rental increase, before the lease expires. On a periodic, month by month lease, the tenant needs 60 days notice. One of my pm's has been a bit slack and a couple tenants have lapsed onto periodic tenancies. Now I have to wait two whole months for a rent increase.

 

[crest133]

Hi Sleeper
What commission and fees are you paying this PM ?
Should you pay full price for substandard services ?
crest133

 

[duncan_m]

Always keep an eye on tenant leases, never trust PM's to do it all. I now keep a spreadsheet of all the lease dates, expiry dates and rent levels. I am also going to keep it on my annual calendar and make it my business to manage the property manager. I will notify by phone when leases are drawing to an end. More importantly, I may ask for a rent rise to be advised to the tenant via the pm, well before the lease expires. In Qld, a tenant on an expiring lease requires 30days notice of a rental increase, before the lease expires. On a periodic, month by month lease, the tenant needs 60 days notice. One of my pm's has been a bit slack and a couple tenants have lapsed onto periodic tenancies. Now I have to wait two whole months for a rent increase.

You're every PM's worst nightmare Brenda! Good on you

 

[Sleeper]

Result

After a few phone calls the agency principal informed me he had spoken to other agents in the area and he was using their help to get tenants before Christmas.

Had a call back about the 19th saying they were checking on an application from some foreign students who wanted to take a 6 month lease and move in before Christmas. This included a 3.2% rent rise.

And that's it, no more communication until I received the monthly statement yesterday.

The students have obviously moved in.

I hope they did thorough searches and it's just not a consolation tenancy.



The agent has sent out a letter asking for feedback on their service. Where do you think I should start?

What about something starting with C?

 

[monoply]

This is all new to me. I thought it was pretty standard to just let the tennant stay on indefinitely once the initial lease expired, unless asked to move out.
I have been renting my home (as a tennant) for the last 5 yrs. I signed a 12mth lease, and was never asked to sign anything after,

I also rent out (as landlord) a property. First lease was 6 mths. Tennants were never asked to sign another, and have been there for 4yrs.

So, I think your been a bit harsh. I thought it was pretty standard, that anytime they stay after the initial lease is a bonus, unless you give them thier marching orders.

The bit about insurance, and no cover if no current lease sounds interesting.
I may have to look into that.

Cheers

 

[Sleeper]

There seems to be different approaches to this and some of it appears to be due to location.

To me having the tenant's on a lease encourages the managing agent to do a formal inspection towards the end of the lease and allows a chance to re-negotiate the rent for the next lease period.

From my experience a periodic lease allows the agent to become slack and not bother with inspections or rent reviews.

 

[The Y-man]

I think the agent should have let me know before we went to a periodic lease so there would have been a choice to allow it or not. In this case I wouldn't have. They would of have to have moved out on the the lease expiry date. .

In Victoria, I understand the notice to vacate for no reason at the end of the lease is 90 days (for leases greater than 6 months). So you will need to make the decision pretty early on. Once the notice is given, the tenants can challenge the reason for the notice.

Cheers,

The Y-man