Agent did not do routine inspection now lot of damage. Sue agent??
- Thread starter cam
- Start date
An agent in NSW is required to carry out a min of 2 inspections per year and not permitted to do more than 4 per year. Had you stipulated how often they should go? Have they done any inspections? Did you not notice that you received no inspection report? If they never inspected how did you know the tenant was not looking after the property to kick them out? This is why you MUST take out landlord insurance, do you have landlord insurance? If it is the PM fault have you spoken to the owner of the agency for compensation? If you still believe it is their fault and they wont compensate take them to NCAT. If you go to NCAT make sure you have proof, costings and know exactly how much you are claiming for.
not all agents take photos for routine inspections
Unless you have deep pockets and want to throw more good money after bad at a problem that you probably won't have much success in "suing" or achieve the outcome your desire I would just concentrate on getting your IP back to a liveable/rentable condition ASAP.
Unfortunately the REA are the heavyweight pro's in this type of situation and you are the lightweight amateur so unless its a significant loss it will cost more than you are likely to recover if you take them on in the courts.
Just follow the advice above and report it to their regulatory body and cancel your current MAA with the REA and find a new PM/REA while also taking out LL insurance for <$400 p.a. to cover you for next time.
Hard life lesson in relation to understanding your MAA, the need to monitor your PMs ongoing performance and the value of insurance but other than that there is not much more that can be gained from taking on the REA.
The best you will get out of your PM is a discount or exemption of management fees unless you are prepared to take them thru the courts (at your cost).
Somewhere in their docs they will have the " e & o e" caveat. (errors and omissions excluded).
So grit your teeth, shake it off and move on to the next PM who hopefully will look after your interests ahead of their own (*.... choke*).
Somewhere in their docs they will have the " e & o e" caveat. (errors and omissions excluded).
So grit your teeth, shake it off and move on to the next PM who hopefully will look after your interests ahead of their own (*.... choke*).
An agent in NSW is required to carry out a min of 2 inspections per year and not permitted to do more than 4 per year. Had you stipulated how often they should go? Have they done any inspections? QUOTE]
Hi Salvatore,
Are you able to point me to the bit of legislation that shows we must do inspections twice a year?
I thought it was only once.
My agent does them annually, so if by law it must be twice a year (is that bi-annually....or does that mean once every 2 years
Thanks
Hi Mrs Green Eyes
Quickly looking on the internet found
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/b.../During_a_tenancy_information_for_tenants.pdf
States up too 4 inspections per year, these sheet has to be handed to all tenants when they sign a new lease. They must also sign the lease that they have received the attached.
I am not in the office yet but also stated in the tenants lease which your PM should have.
Not easy to look on NSW Fair Trading site but I know this is 100% correct, min 2 per yr and no more than 4 times.
Quickly looking on the internet found
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/b.../During_a_tenancy_information_for_tenants.pdf
States up too 4 inspections per year, these sheet has to be handed to all tenants when they sign a new lease. They must also sign the lease that they have received the attached.
I am not in the office yet but also stated in the tenants lease which your PM should have.
Not easy to look on NSW Fair Trading site but I know this is 100% correct, min 2 per yr and no more than 4 times.
Thanks Salvatore.
If you find the legislation, please let me know.
As far as I know, it's not compulsory by law to have any inspections.
But my insurance requires an annual inspection, and my agent already does that as a matter of routine.
Out of curiosity why do you only choose to have one per year?
In WA it's pretty standard to have them every 3mths but I have pushed mine to every 4mths so 3 a year which should pick up any issues with tenant behaviour/damage.
If I had a good long term tenant I'd move them to 6mths once they have been a tenant for 18-2yrs
Agent's standard operating procedure I guess.
Frequent inspections can annoy tenants too.
For a new tenant, agent does one every 3, 6 and 12 months.
After that, if the tenants renew and it was all good in the first year, annually.
I rented for 10+ years, only once did an agent even inspect. That agent was very particular. The others never inspected. Most agents didn't bother to fix anything, or do a proper income or reference check either. Didn't bother me as a tenant (judging from other threads in this forum, I think I could call myself the tenant from heaven, even if I do say so myself) but as a landlord, I wouldn't have been happy. I think those landlords weren't too fussed as long as the money kept rolling in.
So, I should be grateful my agent even does them annually!
My family rented a place for 7 years and only had 2 inspections in that whole time, and more recently I rented a place for 3.5 years and only ever had 1 inspection (to be fair with that property though, the managing property agent changed 3 times throughout our tenancy).
Mrs Green Eyes, I have to admit that I was wrong re the ruling on min inspection per year. I have read all that I can find and there is no min. mentioned only max of no more than 4 per year. Even if I had a long term tenant, which I do, I don't think 1 per year is enough to check on the tenant but also need to do regular checks for any wear and tear or maintenance issues which the owner needs to maintain. At the start of the management agreement with each new owner I ask how often they would like me to attend and they decide. If they leave it up to me I do the first inspection after 4 mths then every 6 mths after that. BUT if I found something really bad I could be back with in a week or two to ensure all back to an acceptable standard. Also what has happened to Cam who listed this discussion. Cam do you have any further info for us to help you?
