Ballad of a landlord .. Rant

[mumbai]

IP# 1- Tenant broke the lease and is no longer contactable. Bond only covers 3 weeks rent. Their lease was supposed to expire on 30th September. They left on the 2nd and rent paid only until 2nd.

They painted walls in different colours. The house was initially off-white. They painted a room, light brown, one of the walls painted bright purple, one of the walls in a bedroom painted dark brown. Not a professional paint job as well. TV was mounted on a wall and holes have been left there. A small section of a wall (10cm by 10cm) has been kicked in.
I have to get the walls fixed and redo the painting!

To top this up, the copper pipes under the house was stolen.

Installed new kitchen and shower screen. Getting it repainted and walls fixed.

Property for lease since 2 weeks but no luck yet.

IP#2: Settled 30th August. Got new kitchen installed immediately. For lease since then, no luck!

 

[Sez]

Do you have landlords insurance with a specialised landlords insurance provider? Get everything fixed at IP #1, have the PM go to tribunal for bond and compensation and lodge a claim with your insurance company.

IP#2 - how is the rest of the house and how is the price? If you share the ad I'm sure some of us can have a look and share some thoughts on how to get it tenanted!

Tenants can be frustrating and a pain! Property investment should be rewarding for you though, try not to stress on these things. The ball is rolling and everyone is working on it!

 

[mumbai]

Do you have landlords insurance with a specialised landlords insurance provider? Get everything fixed at IP #1, have the PM go to tribunal for bond and compensation and lodge a claim with your insurance company.

I have insurance with EBM. They say it either has to be a malicious or accidental damage to claim. Painting the walls in different colors and leaving holes in the walls with nails is neither malicious nor accidental damage according to them.

I can only claim rent arrears without excess.

I have to pay excess for Copper pipe theft claim.

IP#2 - how is the rest of the house and how is the price? If you share the ad I'm sure some of us can have a look and share some thoughts on how to get it tenanted!

The house is very clean. The price seems in line with other properties in that suburb. Here you go:
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-rochedale+south-413932471

 

[thatbum]

Painting the walls in different colors and leaving holes in the walls with nails is neither malicious nor accidental damage according to them.

What a joke. I hope you're disputing that with them.

 

[miss green eyes]

don't worry, brettc will be along shortly to answer all your queries

In regards to claiming insurance - there are a few threads on this forum about LLs being banned by insurance companies after a few claims.
So, if you can afford it, perhaps DON'T claim and pay it out of your own pocket?
This way, you can save your insurance for the day a tenant REALLY trashes the place....

 

[miss green eyes]

Have you had ANY offers at all on IP#2?
I don't know the area AT ALL so can't offer too much advice.
If other properties in the area are being rented out, but yours isn't, your agent should know what's missing - do you need to provide a nicer place, or realistically drop the rent, especially if there's oversupply in that area?
BTW, I don't know too much about the 'wants' and demographics of the tenants of the area, but I might advise that the place might look a bit nicer with blinds instead of curtains (blinds always look tidier and more modern), or perhaps nicer curtains? Also, I've never seen door-less cupboards in a kitchen before. Would this be a factor?

 

[Beanie Girl]

Looking at the layout diagram in the ad, there seems to be 5 rooms, not 4.
Maybe advertise it as a 5 bedder?
Also, you have an electric vergola, that should be a plus
Spacious garden, do you mind pets in the IP? Maybe 'Pets will be considered' and ticking the box on 'Pets allowed' on the real estate ad might help.

If it's any consolation, I had to wait 4-5 weeks till I got a good tenant in the same area. There were quite a few applications, just not the desirable tenants we wanted.

 

[EN710]

If it's any consolation, I had to wait 4-5 weeks till I got a good tenant in the same area. There were quite a few applications, just not the desirable tenants we wanted.

I'd say that's too damn long if it's 1 year ago... after the troubles with tenant this year, I rather wait 4 weeks than 1 week and cry after haha... hang in there, my IP in south Brisbane also coming up so you might have a friend soon

 

[mumbai]

Have you had ANY offers at all on IP#2?
I don't know the area AT ALL so can't offer too much advice.
If other properties in the area are being rented out, but yours isn't, your agent should know what's missing - do you need to provide a nicer place, or realistically drop the rent, especially if there's oversupply in that area?
BTW, I don't know too much about the 'wants' and demographics of the tenants of the area, but I might advise that the place might look a bit nicer with blinds instead of curtains (blinds always look tidier and more modern), or perhaps nicer curtains? Also, I've never seen door-less cupboards in a kitchen before. Would this be a factor?

Does not look like an over supply. The kitchen has been renovated, which you can see in the last picture. The PM is awesome and have no complaints with her.
Will wait n watch

 

[D.T.]

Calm you shall keep and Carry on you must!

 

[mumbai]

Calm you shall keep and Carry on you must!

Breathing in .. breathing out!

 

[mumbai]

Looking at the layout diagram in the ad, there seems to be 5 rooms, not 4.
Maybe advertise it as a 5 bedder?
Also, you have an electric vergola, that should be a plus
Spacious garden, do you mind pets in the IP? Maybe 'Pets will be considered' and ticking the box on 'Pets allowed' on the real estate ad might help.

If it's any consolation, I had to wait 4-5 weeks till I got a good tenant in the same area. There were quite a few applications, just not the desirable tenants we wanted.

I will ask my PM to make those changes wrt the bedrooms and ask her to mention the electric vergola as well.
I do not mind pets, so will get that actioned as well.
Helpful as always BeanieGirl

 

[brettc]

I have insurance with EBM. They say it either has to be a malicious or accidental damage to claim. Painting the walls in different colors and leaving holes in the walls with nails is neither malicious nor accidental damage according to them.

Have you submitted a claim? It's very hard to give a definitive answer without seeing a full claim submitted but on what you have said, this appears to be absolutely incorrect. The painting in this way would not be classed as malicious but almost certainly is classed as accidental damage.

If you private message me your phone number I will have Sadi (a claims officer) call you to discuss and get it sorted out.

If you have spoken to someone at EBM and been told this please also private message who it was and any details you can provide, as that is clearly not what should be instructed unless there is a whole lot more to the story.

 

[Salvatore1]

Unsure rules in Qld but if a tenant breaks their lease early in NSW there are break lease fees to pay (4 weeks rent in your case). This should be covered by your insurance company as well.

 

[mumbai]

Have you submitted a claim? It's very hard to give a definitive answer without seeing a full claim submitted but on what you have said, this appears to be absolutely incorrect. The painting in this way would not be classed as malicious but almost certainly is classed as accidental damage.

If you private message me your phone number I will have Sadi (a claims officer) call you to discuss and get it sorted out.

If you have spoken to someone at EBM and been told this please also private message who it was and any details you can provide, as that is clearly not what should be instructed unless there is a whole lot more to the story.

It's beyond me how the painting falls under accidental and not malicious. Anyway, an accidental damage has $400 excess! That almost defeats the purpose.

Also, using nails to wall mount the TV (and not reinstating it) was not considered malicious.

I do not remember the name of the person I spoke to, but it should be in your records for the property (which I will PM you soon).

 

[depreciator]

It's beyond me how the painting falls under accidental and not malicious.

Yes, somebody doesn't accidently paint the walls of a house a different colour.

And it's probably not malicious - unlike kicking in a wall or stuff like that.

Insurance companies almost need another category for 'idiot damage'.

 

[brettc]

It's beyond me how the painting falls under accidental and not malicious. Anyway, an accidental damage has $400 excess! That almost defeats the purpose.

Also, using nails to wall mount the TV (and not reinstating it) was not considered malicious.

If you look through posts on Somersoft forums you will find detailed explanations regarding this, it's been the subject of numerous of my posts. In brief, Malicious Damage is a very specific term, you need to prove that the tenant did it with "malicious intent", as in their sole purpose of the act was to cause damage. This is not an insurance definition this is a legal definition. Proving malicious damage is extremely difficult hence why the need to have a policy that includes accidental damage, or at the very least "deliberate and intentional" damage, which this is also likely to fall under.

In this instance the tenant has deliberately painted the walls, but they didn't do it with "malicious intent", as in they didn't paint it to cause damage, they painted it (presumably) to make it look better (in their opinion). For ours, we would expect it to fall under accidental damage in the policy. Policies that only cover malicious damage simply wouldn't cover it.

Same situation with the nails in the wall, they didn't put them there with the purpose of causing the damage. A good yardstick is to consider what the police would say if you rang them because your tenant used nails to mount a tv. Basically unless you can get a report number from the police for the damage, it won't be classed as "malicious".

There are much more detailed explanations within the forums, I can probably even find flyers where I have detailed the differences that I have written in previous times. I have some favourite examples of things that are not classified as malicious that I roll out every now and then.

 

[brettc]

Anyway, an accidental damage has $400 excess! That almost defeats the purpose.

I forgot to mention that this all depends on how you structure claiming. Essentially use your bond for minor damage and cleanup, and also the excess. Don't use it for the rent loss. You claim the damage (excess paid with bond) and claim your rent loss which has no excess.

It doesn't mean there will never be a loss but structured correctly you will find it is dramatically minimised.

 

[Sez]

I just want to be awful and touch on the advertising. I had a look at what else is in the area and price wise, you compare very well. I would consider fluffing the ad up a bit, you said you put a brand new kitchen in that one how about;

"4 Bedroom family home with beautiful landscaped gardens. This property features 4 good sized bedrooms (insert number of bedrooms) with built in robes. Brand new kitchen with electric cooking appliances and meals area, a central family bathroom with separate toilet and separate laundry. Large living space with (insert type) cooling to (is it just to the living or the whole house?) and (insert heating type here) for when the weather gets a little cooler. Undercover entertaining area overlooking the garden and off street parking.
This property is close to (insert amenities here) and is sure to please the fussiest of tenants! Don't miss out and book an inspection today!"

Sometimes a little bit of fluff is all that is needed! Have you considered including gardening in the rent, the garden does look like it might be a bit much for a tenant to maintain.

It seems the dot point advertising is fairly popular there but I have found that while it works well when there is plenty of demand tenants are often attracted to the fancy write up when demand isn't as high .

The photos are great too which is usually the first problem!

I can also see that they are doing an open today at 2.45pm - how did that go? Not any opens advertised for Saturday so that time isn't ideal for people working.

I hope that your sad landlords ballad is soon turned around into a jaunty tune!

 

[mumbai]

Thanks Sez.
You were a property manager in your past life??

The open home yesterday was better than previous ones. Two groups took the application and looked positive. One they have filled and handed it in, PM will go through the checks and let me know.

If that does not work, I will ask her to edit the ad to what you have typed above.

On another note, getting the painting and floorboards done for the IP#1 tomorrow. Hope it will attract more prospective tenants.