Any private landlords using TICA?
- Thread starter Magnum9
- Start date
The only experience we have had with TICA suggests it's not foolproof. We aren't private landlords but we had tenants who were listed with TICA but managed to get into our property anyway. They just applied to another RE (before the listing became official) and lied about their rental history. They said they had no rental history because they had been living with their parents up til now and because they were very young we gave them the benefit of the doubt. It sounded plausible.
We only found out about it because our RE sold their rental roll to another RE - the same one that had listed them.
Even then we weren't told about the listing until we were in the process of evicting them for much the same reasons they had been listed on TICA in the first instance, failure to pay the rent, and not looking after the place.
We were a little bit luckier than the original landlord. They had learned that if they paid the rent, (always late but not late enough to be evicted), they could do pretty much what they liked and still slip under the radar. So we didn't lose any rent. All we had to do was repaint the dirty and damaged walls and replace the stove that was not only filthy but had bent hinges stopping the door from closing properly, among other things like dirty blinds etc. Mostly down to fair wear and tear according to the adjudicator. They had been there for three and a half years and had three kids during that time.
Lesson learned, no rental history, probably means they are lying and three and a half years and three kids means we should expect the place to look like a tip.
We only found out about it because our RE sold their rental roll to another RE - the same one that had listed them.
Even then we weren't told about the listing until we were in the process of evicting them for much the same reasons they had been listed on TICA in the first instance, failure to pay the rent, and not looking after the place.
We were a little bit luckier than the original landlord. They had learned that if they paid the rent, (always late but not late enough to be evicted), they could do pretty much what they liked and still slip under the radar. So we didn't lose any rent. All we had to do was repaint the dirty and damaged walls and replace the stove that was not only filthy but had bent hinges stopping the door from closing properly, among other things like dirty blinds etc. Mostly down to fair wear and tear according to the adjudicator. They had been there for three and a half years and had three kids during that time.
Lesson learned, no rental history, probably means they are lying and three and a half years and three kids means we should expect the place to look like a tip.
I'm not a private landlord, instead a PM - and I think TICA is definitely valuable when looking for a tenant.
Sometimes when people come in to apply for a property, you have a fairly good inclination that they might be on TICA, and sure enough, they've left a trail of damage and arrears behind them.
Even more surprising however is that probably 70% of people we find to be on TICA are applicants we would not have suspected - and any private landlord would have jumped at - possibly without doing any checks.
Also - most tenants who get behind in rent are not low-income earners. In my experience the ones who are on centrelink and paying $150-$300 per week are much better at paying rent than the executive singles and families paying over $500pw.
You just never know - and that's why TICA comes in handy. It's not a perfect system - as alplant mentioned, if they apply and are approved for a property before they have moved out of the previous one, then they get away with damage and rent arrears that time. The next time they move however, the PM will see it. Also - you may not list tenants if they pay for their damage from the bond or insurance etc. They can only be listed if they have outstanding rent or costs for damage/cleaning. So if they are the worst tenant in the world, but their bond covers their damage, then there's nothing we can do to penalise them.
Matt
Sometimes when people come in to apply for a property, you have a fairly good inclination that they might be on TICA, and sure enough, they've left a trail of damage and arrears behind them.
Even more surprising however is that probably 70% of people we find to be on TICA are applicants we would not have suspected - and any private landlord would have jumped at - possibly without doing any checks.
Also - most tenants who get behind in rent are not low-income earners. In my experience the ones who are on centrelink and paying $150-$300 per week are much better at paying rent than the executive singles and families paying over $500pw.
You just never know - and that's why TICA comes in handy. It's not a perfect system - as alplant mentioned, if they apply and are approved for a property before they have moved out of the previous one, then they get away with damage and rent arrears that time. The next time they move however, the PM will see it. Also - you may not list tenants if they pay for their damage from the bond or insurance etc. They can only be listed if they have outstanding rent or costs for damage/cleaning. So if they are the worst tenant in the world, but their bond covers their damage, then there's nothing we can do to penalise them.
Matt
I guess also if there is a couple and only one name on the lease, they could apply for the next property in the other name and avoid detection. The other advantage is if you use the application they provide, dodgy tenants get spooked just seeing the forms with TICA written all over them.
Lost in terminology. New and Learning here. What is TICA?
It is the magical tenancy database that all the agents here in Perth say only they can access and that is why you should not manage your own property. Anyone can join for around $200 which includes 10 searches with no expiry date.
www.TICA.com.au
www.TICA.com.au
I have membership with Tica, but interestingly have not checked on any of the tenants I took on.
Last tenant I took on had no checkable rental history anyway - damn, losing him soon.
The few checks I did do were the ones that looked good but had my alarm bells go off nonetheless, and yep, 2 were on the data base.
I think it's good to have however, even if only to give applicants paperwork to sign that they agree to a Tica search.
Last tenant I took on had no checkable rental history anyway - damn, losing him soon.
The few checks I did do were the ones that looked good but had my alarm bells go off nonetheless, and yep, 2 were on the data base.
I think it's good to have however, even if only to give applicants paperwork to sign that they agree to a Tica search
.I sent one TICA application to a prospective tenant who sounded extremely keen and never heard another thing from them, says a lot in itself I reckon.
I did my first search today on another tenant which has extremely good references, but figured I have paid for the service, I might as well use it. I didn't realise it also gives a history of whether anyone else has ever done a search, regardless of whether the person has been listed or not. No history either so I assume that agents don't even use TICA for people with references that check out in every other respect.
I did my first search today on another tenant which has extremely good references, but figured I have paid for the service, I might as well use it. I didn't realise it also gives a history of whether anyone else has ever done a search, regardless of whether the person has been listed or not. No history either so I assume that agents don't even use TICA for people with references that check out in every other respect.
There are a number of tenancy databases which operate in NSW, including TICA, National Tenancy Database and Trading Reference Australia - perhaps tthe agents in question were using one of them that wasn't TICA.
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