Filthy Tenants absconded on the weekend

Had a call from my PM today letting me know that she arrived at work this morning to find a box full of keys and remote controls on her desk. Seems one lot of our tenants did a runner over the weekend.
I drove by the house this afternoon and had a look, it is filthy, the back fence has been knocked over and the palings broken, and there is rubbish strewn around the yard.
PM reckons we will have insurance cover for the fence with malicious damage, and the rent will be covered until a new tenant is found/house is habitable, and the cleanup will come out of the bond.
Weird, they are paid up to date with their rent, had never had any bad reports about them, only that last property inspection they were told to clear up some clutter. The re-inspection was going to be done next week.
Fingers crossed Terri Scheer don't try to find a loophole.
 
Had a call from my PM today letting me know that she arrived at work this morning to find a box full of keys and remote controls on her desk.

Fingers crossed Terri Scheer don't try to find a loophole.
Sorry to hear of the drama Angela.

Isn't it odd that the tenant returned the keys and remote controls etc. The same thing happened to me some time ago (no damage but some mess to clean up). You'd think the tenant would just up and go and (hopefully) leave keys etc at the premises.

Let us know how the insurance pans out. Hope all goes well.

Regards
Marty
 
Look on the bright side, it could always be worse. They could have not returned the keys, skipped town and you might have been none the wiser until they were seriously in arears.

Your insurance should be fine to cover this.
 
sorry to hear about the mess, but insurance will help and no doubt you are better off without them.

wonder where they are now??
 
yeah, it's really strange, they have been there for 18 months, have never missed a rent payment, haven't whinged about anything, and seemed like the perfect tenants.
I was surprised that they dropped the keys off to the RE office, oh well, they must have a bit of a conscience.
I'm having a look right through the house with PM tomorrow, hopefully it is just grime and not damage inside.
 
Well, looks like I might have new tenants lined up already.
I posted an ad on Gumtree last night and had about 3 replies so far. One of them is currently with the agency I use (different PM), and they are looking for a bigger house for them and their 7 kids!!!! They have spoken to my PM who rang me about 10 minutes ago, and said they have been with them for 3 years, are clean and tidy and pay on time.
This house has 5 bedrooms, and is massive, so it sounds perfect for them.
Does anyone else use Gumtree to advertise? I know I shouldn't have to do it, but I have always been the proactive type.
 
Look on the bright side, it could always be worse. They could have not returned the keys, skipped town and you might have been none the wiser until they were seriously in arears.

Your insurance should be fine to cover this.

Agree.

Could even have been much, MUCH worse and transformed into the sort of houses that Nathan buys :eek: when fed up landlords dump their IP's with haste.

As long as there is no malicious gross damage internally, be thankful it is only grime and filth.

In such a scenario, despite having returned keys, I would still at least be re-keying the security doors (assuming it has those front and back). It would give me some peace of mind that had they a spare set copied, they would not return to intrude on your next tenants.

Good luck with your future letting. :)
 
yes, I think we didn't get off too badly, although I am inspecting the house with PM today, so fingers crossed it is just filth.
The prospective tenants are also having a look.
 
This house has 5 bedrooms, and is massive, so it sounds perfect for them.
Does anyone else use Gumtree to advertise? I know I shouldn't have to do it, but I have always been the proactive type.

I used gumtree to advertise. Got a LOT of responses.
And managed to tenant my house in 1.5 days. PM had 4 weeks or more and dared chuck hissy fit saying that all the opens she did were a waste of time. :D
 
I used gumtree to advertise. Got a LOT of responses.
And managed to tenant my house in 1.5 days. PM had 4 weeks or more and dared chuck hissy fit saying that all the opens she did were a waste of time. :D

I've used it every time we have had a vacancy on one of our houses, and always get heaps of responses. I know it's the PMs job to source tenants, but my houses are MY priority not hers, she has heaps of other people to look after as well, so at least this helps get some interest. I never meet with the people or talk to them, I just pass on PMs phone number.
 
You might see then pop up on ACA or Today Tonight whining about being homeless and not being able to get government housing

mmm, dunno, their rent is paid right up to date, and they never fell behind. It's very strange that they just took off. Never had any negative stuff from them, until now.
 
I have used Gumtree a bit and did so recently, and referred the applicant directly to the agent who I had looking for a tenant (we take over management once a tenant is found).

When I used it last June (finding tenant myself using newspaper ads and Gumtree - not able back then to get onto re.com myself) I had a LOT of issues with at least three people who were nearly scammed by someone using my advert plus the photos from another advert for a unit. One prospective tenant sent a deposit to (you guessed it) Nigeria.

It was not the fault of Gumtree, and the scammers could just as easily have picked up details and photos from re.com or domain, but I suspect that the people looking on gumtree are a different demographic to those looking on the other sites, as there is a lot of "backpacker" adverts and it seems to me to be a younger group that uses Gumtree. (I know that is a generalisation, and don't mean to start an "issue" by saying it.) I believe scammers used it because the people answering the adverts tend to be younger and less savvy and perhaps can be pursuaded more easily to part with a deposit to "hold" the house.

The type of answers I get on Gumtree compared to the queries from ebay is miles apart. Gumtree just is aimed at a different person IMHO.

So just be aware, and next time I advertise on Gumtree I think I will put in the advert that they contact the agent direct. That way, anyone looking to avoid agents will probably not bother answering.

It will not stop scammers, but nothing can do that, it seems.

(I also had my ebay account hijacked years ago by scammers who tried to sell motorbikes from my account. That was the first I knew of phishing emails, and was a very early wake up call. I find it hard to believe others still get caught, but until you are personally affected, often the lessons fall on deaf ears..... the "it won't happen to me" belief.)
 
well, the house was pretty much as I expected. Filthy, stinking, a couple of holes punched in walls, apart from that not too much damage. Carpets are obscenely grimy, makes the head spin to imagine how one can raise children in such an evironment.
PM advises that the $1500 bond should cover most if not all the cleaning, and the damage will be claimed as malicious damage.
On the upside, looks like we have two lots of potential tenants wanting the house as soon as it is ready, and I have upped the rent by $20/wk.
The runaways also left behind a nearly new Fisher and Paykel dishwasher.
 
just a thought and question.

that sort of ...housekeeping would not have happened overnight?

when was the last inspection and how did it read?

sorry 2 questions.

and a comment, when agents have checked and recommended tenants it would be nice/desirable if the agent could be held accountable in some way if the tenants turn out to be a liability instead of an asset.

instead we all have to rely on insurance to pay for this sort of situation.
 
I had a similar situation to IP recently too. What is it with these tenants to make them to want to do malicious damage ??? i just don't understand why someone would want to punch a hole in a wall. I mainly had issues with mess/cleaning/rubbish/furniture left everywhere. Which was probably more annoying because insurance doesn't pay for that.
 
Well, looks like I might have new tenants lined up already.
I posted an ad on Gumtree last night and had about 3 replies so far. One of them is currently with the agency I use (different PM), and they are looking for a bigger house for them and their 7 kids!!!! They have spoken to my PM who rang me about 10 minutes ago, and said they have been with them for 3 years, are clean and tidy and pay on time.
This house has 5 bedrooms, and is massive, so it sounds perfect for them.
Does anyone else use Gumtree to advertise? I know I shouldn't have to do it, but I have always been the proactive type.

Nothing wrong with proactivity Angela - I'd just ensure that if you've found the tenant, the agent shouldn't be charging the usual listing and advertising fees. These should be adjusted/not charged on account of the work you've done sourcing the new tenant.
 
there is absolutely no way i would let this rest...that is the problem with many investors, they are happy to let insurance companies pick up the tab............

this is why investing in property has a bad image often..

Chase the tenant, its easily done, take photos of all damage, take the scum to small claims and make them accountable...

any criminal damage should be reported to police...

I note your place is not too bad but most people just say insurance will cover it...defeats the purpose...these scummy tenants will only go and do the same thing to others,,

make them accountable, they will soon learn not to destroy others property and will help in cutting down on issues like this.
 
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