Break Lease - Victoria

[treehouse]

Not sure about procedure/steps to follow so looking for any advice from anyone else that may have gone through a similar experience?

Tenant signed a 12 month lease (Victoria) and after 2 months has changed her mind saying that her children are not settling in at new school and she has made a mistake as she was trying to get away from her husband. She notified the PM she was breaking the lease a month ago and she was advised by PM that she was legally required to continue paying the rent until a new tenant is found to takeover her lease. She initially agreed to this and continued to pay the rent whilst I have been charged a new reletting fee to advertise the premises for rent.

The tenant has now returned to her husband who has contacted the PM saying she has no intention of paying any further rent and the landlord can sue for loss of rent.

My landlord insurance covers loss of rent for 6 weeks, so far the only person who has applied to rent the premises has a bad rent history and has been blacklisted by previous PM's. So not interested for this person to takeover the lease.

What do I need to do to recover the loss of rent if I cant get another tenant for another 6 months? Apply to VCAT? How helpful are they and whats the duration of processing claims?

Any help/experience/advice would be most helpful/welcome

thanking you

 

[ozsupra]

Not speaking specifically from a VIC point of view your options are;

a) Landlords insurance for the loss of rent above and beyond what the bond won't cover.
b) VCAT lodgement if bond return is disputed
c) VCAT lodgement if you want to pursue the tenant for loss of rent, advertising expenses etc.

My experience and comments from others has shown that item c) is time consuming, usually fruitless and stressful.

Recommendations;
1) Lower rent being asked
2) Poke PM to relist property on Realestate.com.au (puts it back on top of the list)
3) Offer some form of rental bonus eg "free foxtel" and
4) Look at other ways to more effectively advertise.

A.

 

[kathryn d]

What is your PM suggesting you do?

This would be the test, imo, of how good your PM is.