Evicting tenants

niyiaw

niyiaw

I'm in a situation where I need to get my tenants out of my IP so I can move in. I gave them notice back in April so that they would be out by end of May. They ignored the notice of termination so my property manager put in a CTTT application, hearing is due next week. The story goes that the tenants are trying to drag this out as they are currenly building a house and are a few months from completion. My manager is telling me I have to front the costs of the tribunal. Is this true? Just seems unfair the tenants get what they want scot free and I have to pay for the inconvenience of getting rid of them.

And for anyone who's been through the CTTT what is the timeframe they give for the tenants to remove themselves before the sheriff is involved? This whole situation is driving me nuts and I wish it was all all over already.

Edit: I'm in NSW and the tenants are still paying rent
 
Has the lease expired?

You generally will need to give 90 days notice for termination without cause if the lease is periodical ie on holdover, you cannot terminate the lease before the end of the lease unless there has been sufficient breach.

Otherwise, your PM should have served notice to terminate on the lease expiry date as per the lease ie 30 days prior to the expiry of the lease.

It would appear that notices were served for 30 days but was it served at the correct time?
 
Scott No Mates said:
Has the lease expired?
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Lease expired mid May. So when notice was served in April there was 30 + 4 days notice which is correct amount of time. If I takes another 6 weeks to get them out I think I'll need to scream at someone. How do they get what they want (to stay longer) with no penalty? And is there any way to apply for compensation?
 
Scott No Mates said:
As long as the tenant is paying rent, you are being compensated. There are no other payments which can be extracted from the tenant.
Click to expand...

Sigh... I had a feeling that would be the case. So are lease agreements and notices of termination really that worthless to a landlord if the tenant knows how to play the game? At the end of the day sure I get rent for the time they occupy the premises but so much for me having to rearrange leave from work and change renovation plans. I would have thought it was reasonable to assume that given the correct notice the tenants would leave on time.

I know I'm just having a useless whinge here, but these laws suck.
 
Unfortunately not unusual.

Many times now we receive notice from the tenant in place that they will be vacating the premises on such and such a date.

That really is only an indication that they will then start looking for another property. If they dont find one then they will simply stay longer in your property.

We had one recently where the tenant had been renting the particular property for 8 odd years. My son wanted to move in so we gave the appropriate notice (90 days). He stayed a further 2 1/2 months as he decided to buy a property in the same complex which took that time.

We are also finally in possession of another property where the tenant stopped paying we went to tribunal received order he failed to pay and finally we obtained eviction order. He then started paying and brought it right up to date and wanted to stay. I said enough is enough but it still took another month to get him out. Partly this was on our side wanting to maximise our rent. This unit happens to be in a problematic block which is a bit harder to lease out.

All up just part of the scenery. You can't predict what people will do and you can't really plan down to the minute based on those expectations.

Cheers
 
I have to say that you should have been aware of an issue....

You knew that the tenants were building a house....yes?
Put yourself in their position....
Their agenda is to get into their new house....
Yours is to get them out of your house....

And only a couple of months till they finish and move anyway - they will not want to rent somewhere else.

I am sure you will see the light and see why this situation has happened.

It is in your best interest to learn from your mistakes....take a deep breath and let some common sense happen.
You will be waiting at least 6 weeks anyway....

Did you talk with the tenants or PM before you started terminations...???

We had this exact same problem recently....young couple building a house that went past the expected completion date....good communication between LL, PM & Tenant enabled a workable short extension of lease time and less stress.

Prior planning prevents problems.

Good luck.

My 2c....
 
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robboat said:
I have to say that you should have been aware of an issue....

You knew that the tenants were building a house....yes?
...

Did you talk with the tenants or PM before you started terminations...???
Click to expand...

I knew the tenants were building. I asked PM to find out what was happening back in April. I was told it could take up to another 6 months. Hence it made more sense to let the tenants go and find another 6 month lease instead of evicting them in a few months time. Had they said at that point 1-2 months things may have been different. Or I could've been put in the exact same position as now. Who knows?

Didn't hear anything from them until I got PM to suss things out a week before termination and now the story is another 2-3 months to go. So what am I supposed to believe? Negotiations are a two way street, if they had no intention of budging they should've said so when served notice. Not that it matters anyhow as they're getting what they want. All I can hope is that the get out of my place ASAP.

So is 6 weeks the best case scenario I'm looking at? That and the 3 weeks it took to go to tribunal will have given them 9 weeks of overstaying.
 
I self-manage and have been through the CTTT twice.
From my observations with Tribunal Member decisions, they will usually grant 7 days :)
 
niyiaw said:
So are lease agreements and notices of termination really that worthless to a landlord
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That's up for debate...it's been debated on here many times. Have a squizz at past threads. They all end up in the same bucket. It's not up for debate really.

It usually goes along the lines of { this happened....I want the Tenant to do or pay this....it's so unfair...who pays ??....the LL pays....how come....read the RTA....OMFG - really ??....yep really....}

niyiaw said:
if the tenant knows how to play the game?
Click to expand...

Ouchy mumma....nothing more dangerous to your wealth than a Tenant who knows the residential laws. Basically you're screwed. The nightmare scenario of course is leasing to one of those Tenancy Union advocates. You'd never hear the end of it.

niyiaw said:
I know I'm just having a useless whinge here, but these laws suck.
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I was a slow learner. It took me 9 years to finally come to that conclusion. In our state, the laws were tightened even further last year, giving the Tenants even more power. Sailed through both houses of State Parliament with nary a peep from any of the Landlords.

Folk who purchase houses and flats with this quaint notion that they are "in charge" of their Tenant always get a rude shock when then finally discover what the arrangement really is.

I'd suggest it all stems from the misnomer "Landlord". With the current laws in place, it should be "Landslave".

If the whole country embraced the term Landslave most of these issues would not arise. It's all in managing the initial expectations you see. Just imagine the salesperson when selling the place "Hello fellow investor, this is a great buy.....buy this property and you too can be a Landslave. Install your very own master Tenant and you can start being their slave. One click of their fingers and you will come running."
 
Unfortunately the law is very much on the side of the tenant. If proper notice is given the landlord should have the right to turn up with the Sheriff/Bailiff and forcible remove them on the day after the notice period expired.

I have my own more informal ways of getting tenants to move on. I am more than fair but wont be messed around like this.
 
Dazz - you always bring a smile to my face and now, I will forever think of tenants like cats. Superior & in charge of their human pets :).

It is an unfortunate situation which can occur although I must admit, in my experience, rarely. Although the typical termination date set by tribunal is 7 days I think that you may find if the tenant goes in to tribunal with evidence of the date that their new house will be finished the member may grant them permission to stay until the house is built.

I don't think it's right but just want to warn you of the worst case scenario.

I've often thought that in a few years time I may write a book about some of my experiences in property management over the years. Like you say, a worst case scenario warning! Could be a long book.........
 
Dazz said:
That's up for debate...it's been debated on here many times. Have a squizz at past threads. They all end up in the same bucket. It's not up for debate really.
Click to expand...

Well to me they appear worthless since the tenant can ignore them at will with no penalty.

Sez said:
It is an unfortunate situation which can occur although I must admit, in my experience, rarely. Although the typical termination date set by tribunal is 7 days I think that you may find if the tenant goes in to tribunal with evidence of the date that their new house will be finished the member may grant them permission to stay until the house is built.
Click to expand...

That had crossed my mind. I will be beyond pissed off if they cough up some sob story and get anothet 2 months out of me.

I've often thought that in a few years time I may write a book about some of my experiences in property management over the years. Like you say, a worst case scenario warning! Could be a long book.........
Click to expand...
I'd buy that...
 
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