Devastation by evicted tennant

[shezza100]

Well it really is a gloomy day today for some of us...
At 9.00am this morning I met a representative from the RE agency who manages my IP to find out if evicted tennant actually left (keys were supposed to be handed in a couple of days ago).

Firstly, her rent is 2 months in arrears (went to tribunal 10 days ago and was awarded her bond, plus an order for $600+ which is balance of rent owed to the tribunal date). Need to have that date changed to incude the 7 days she was given before she had to leave.

BUT that's not the worst of it:
The house has been completely trashed.
Carpets are so stained throughout the entire house they will need replacing....there's bleach stains as well as other disgusting matter in-ground.
Walls throughout the entire house marked and a hole punched in the wall of main bedroom.
Vertical blinds are damaged, stained and broken.
Oven is SO dirty I don't think you could clean it (mould growing inside in clumps!).
Garden is in disarray.
Bathrooms are covered in scum.
She has also left LOTs and LOTs of rubbish and very tatty pieces of furniture behind. Quite sure she's not coming back for them.....the trampoline has a hole in it, there's kids bikes that are really old, couches and arm chairs that are badly stained and torn, a double bed and base that even the Salvos wouldn't take, and cupboards that are falling apart. She even left food on the kitchen cupboards and old lamps and video/computer equipment in bedroom cupboards. Basically there's not one space that's clean or untouched by these ferrels.
Nextdoor neighbours told us the boys were constantly on the roof, there's one of those finial things been pulled of the facia, and we are yet to have the tiles checked. (neighbours are really nice people and they've had to live next door to this for 12 months)
They painted something on top of the letter box in bright red paint and therefore left two big red squares behind
The picket gate and fence has broken pickets and one completley missing.....
(I cannot believe that anyone could live like this?)


Sorry for the long list but need to give you all a picture of this devastation before asking some imperative questions:

Will the tribunal change the order to include the cost of all this damage when we apply to have the arrears amount updated (PM says to change the arrears amount won't cost, but expect adding the damage bill to her order will?) Or, does the insurance company pay out our claim then chase her? If not, we want to find a debt collector to find her. What advice do people have? I am absolutley devastated and at the same time angry as hell

Cheers
Sheryl

 

[Dazz]

Hi Sheryl,

I suppose nothing can console you from the devastation and loss of faith in the human species after one of it's members treated your investment like that. The only comfort you can take is to know that many people, including myself, have had that happen to them.

It's heart breaking and makes you as mad as hell I know. People like that seem to lurch from crisis to crisis, and usually have everyone and their dog chasing them for all sorts of things. Video rental companies, insurance companies, banks, credit providers, mobile phone providers and a myriad of other agencies leave a trail of stuff. Just watch the mailbox over the next couple of weeks as you re-group and clean up her mess, the notice of demand letters from all and sundry chasing her will eventually arrive.

Best thing we found was to dust yourself and try again.

Chasing her with a debt collector can be a good move. If she "gets away" with doing that to you, it will embolden her to try it again with other LL's.

This identical thing happened to us in 2000, and it took 25K and 3 months to recover from. At the end of it all, once it was spick and span again, and ready for the next onslaught of 'ferals', we felt OK again, until we realised that it was likely to happen all over again due to the "median" area the house was in, and the "median" type of renters attracted to the suburb.

After it happened again, then we got really depressed and dumped the property as a bad joke.

Our group found the only way to totally avoid your situation, 100% guaranteed, was to do what the big institutions do, and that is not invest in those type of assets that are occupied by, and rely on those type of tenants.

 

[shezza100]

thanks for your thoughts

Thanks Daz, you obviously know our pain.

Doesn't help that I went through financial ruin when my ex left and lost my family home in that period. After renting for a while I moved in with my elderly grandmother to save for a new place for myself and two little ones. This is the IP I'm writing about today, so it meant a bit to me when I put it on the rental market in the first place.

Well I'm really and truely over that sentiment now, and you are SO right. We were just about to put our unit in another Melbourne suburb on the market because we are losing on a weekly basis with the two IP's. BUT today we decided to keep the unit (with our lovley, clean and good natured tennant), clean up the trashed one, find a short term tennant (there's still building going on in surounding subs and still some tennants who want to rent short-term) and put it on the market. Get out while the going's good. Also we were worried about CGT but found out that it's calculated from the time I moved out and it became an IP. This means we will pay some CGT but not as much as first thought.

Being a 3 bedroom with a good size yard I think it's always going to draw families and those renting in this area are most likely on some kind of benefit of some sort, if you get my drift.......?

anyway thanks for your advice, I'm off to have a couple of reds and good cry and then pick myself up and fight for the money owed..........

Cheers
Sheryl

 

[The Y-man]

, does the insurance company pay out our claim then chase her? Cheers
Sheryl

Yes, your landlords insurande should cover you, and pay out - if not immediately, then soon upon completion. Our propoerty manager usually lodges the claims on our behalf.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[yadreamin]

Land lords insurance should help out big time.
BUT what about the pm were they doing regular inspections???????????
if they were and charging you for them l think they have quite a lot to answer for.
Good luck.Jump up and dust off and hang in there.
cheers yadreamin

 

[mitch]

Gday Shezza,

sounds like the tenant l had a few years ago.

Same sort of damage and a dud car etc left for us .

l look back now a couple of years later and it dosnt seem that big a deal , but at the time l think l was in the same place you are now.

The agent copt a lot of my anger due to the neighbours calling me to say the tennants are trouble (cops & drugs ) but answered my calls with its all ok ! l live a couple of hours away so it was an effort to visit , but when the agent says its ok and the neighbours dont the only way to find out is to visit.

Once its all fixed , change agents if your not comfortable and stress to the new agent how much trouble you had.

l was super picky with the next tennant (a single dad , now been there for almost 3 years) as my unit is the only renter in a block of six.l stressed to the new agent the neighbours will call me if there were to be a problem and we dont want that.

fix it up and look forward ,good luck , its not too hard to get a great tennant.

Regards Mitch.

 

[shezza100]

thanks for everyone's replies, been back today and thrown out all rubbish inside now have to meet with pm tomorrow. Hubby coming along to help me find out how it got to this. Once it's cleaned up it will be as good as new.....it's just the inconvenince now of getting things done. PM is going to look over our Landlords policy and help with the application, she owes us big time I say AND she better be ready with decent short term tennant. We're going to try selling it over the summer. Put our profits into our unit and have some stress free time before deciding where to buy another unit in the future..........


cheers
Sheryl

 

[AnneDe]

Hi Sheryl,

We also recently found ourselves in a similar situation where tenant was evicted and left damage and mess behind. Full story is on another post in this thread: "Tenant's Revenge".

We are currently in the process of trying to recover our out of pocket expenses. After getting over the disappointment and distress of seeing our property trashed, we have shrugged it off to experience.

Reading other posts and replies on this forum shows that quite a few property investors have had 'bad' tenant experiences. Things will hopefully work out for you with a 'good' tenant experience just around the corner

Cheers,
AnneDe

 

[toony]

Put down to Experience

Just put it down to experience. I am yet to have any properties thrashed, but think of the bigger picture. These are just short term issues.

I always chase my property managers to make sure they inspect these properties every 6 months. That way nothing can get out of control.

 

[Pushka]

I just don't see how Property Managers can walk away with no blame. Isnt it their job - isnt that what you pay them for?

 

[Xenia]

Why was the rent 2 months in arrears???
The PM should have given them an eviction notice as soon as they were 14 days late (not allowed to earlier due to legislation).

I can't believe that some properties are managed so poorly!!

 

[shezza100]

Hey Pushka and Xenia,

Your thoughts are our setinments exactly, do you know if the PM should be liable for any of this? I've checked the file and only one routine inspection was conducted in May this year, which was just before the lease expired. PM has lackies doing the work for her (every time I ring there's some new one overseeing my property!) and the guy who did the inspection in May contacted us to say...............the walls and carpets are dirty and the place smells pretty bad, she's a pain of a tennant, was a month behind in rent then........and basically said - get her out. That's when he gave her notice and she stopped paying rent - got 2 months in arrears, didn't answer their calls or aknowledge letters, then left the place trashed. Aren't I paying them to inspect every 6 months? Shouldn't we have been notified as soon as she got into arrears?

We are in the process of contacting Centrlink about the tenant collecting rental assistance. Spoke to Consumer affairs and they are sending a from our that we complete which balckbans her from recieving any credit/loans etc for 15 years......we're also going to engage a debt collector.

You know what else is infuriatiing? She turned up at the tribunal over the arrears two weeks ago with a representative from the Tenancies Union and cried. So she. got an extra week in the house, then left it in the state it's in? We're going to take our pictures of the place into their offcie on Friday and ask them if this is the type of tenant they support and stand up in court for? Bloody outrageous!

Where's our legal representative as landlords when the PM doesn't do their job?

Cheers
Sheryl...............I really have to get over this! Say no more?

 

[kathryn d]

I really feel for you.
We are in the same boat with a similar tenant. Our live in supers have had to call the cops about 4 times in the last 3 weeks.
She would pay rent when she felt like it and always promised to "in a couple days".Then she become trouble and decided to live rent free.
Tenant is about 3 months behind in her rent. The directer for the tenancy went away on holidays , so that delayed everything about a month.
Aug 29 we have a hearing. Hopefully, we will get an eviction granted for her and she will be gone by end of next week.

A set of parents came screaming outside her unit yelling "we want our daughter" Their daughter (14 yo) had been there a week.This happened twice.
The other day a teenage girl ran screaming from their unit...dropping all her makeup and what seems to be a house key. She seemed terrified, according to our supers.
Our tenant, when confronted, seemed to know nothing about it...

The smell of drugs was coming from her apartment. The cops told our supers there was nothing they could do. They couldn't prove anything.

So...
We have become more cautious. Thanks in part from all the great information available thru stories here on Somersoft.
We have signed up about 4 new tenants in this building, all with a 2 month term lease.If everything goes well with them , we will sign them for another 2 months.We have decided this may be our standard thing. This way we can avoid going thru the tenancy board to get bad , and unpaying tenants out faster.
At the end of the 2 months, we can legally go in and change the locks.

Actually Aug 29 we have 3 hearings. The other 2 weren't bad tenants, just didn't clean when they left and figured they didn't need to pay the last month they were there.

Good luck

 

[crest133]

Really feel for you Sheryl, wish you a speedy recovery back to leased.

Slack PMs ! They're the biggest problem.

If only :

they'd spend the lousy $180 a year and use TICA and vet tenants properly,

get off their chairs and do the regular inspections & react to warning signs

hammer any arrears from day one

issue the termination notices at day 15 and follow through to evictions,

Unfortunately, some of them don't do what they're paid to do.

Hope you can handle the cleanup ok and get it fixed up and re-let again asap to regain the cashflow.

cheers
crest133

 

[Brenda Irwin]

Sorry to hear the tenant made such a mess. Just be very, very glad they are gone and didn't turn into squatters. Good thing you have a pm who knows the eviction procedures.