Housing trust tenants

[sparky23]

I have been told by my rental agency that they have been approached by the housing trust who want to put in one of their tenants but I am worried about the quality of tenant that they would be placing, has anyone had much experience of this?

The rent would be reliable as it is paid by them directly and apparently they also take care of maintenance issues so that would be good but is it because they expect there will be a lot of issues due to the tenants they house. I don't want to be insulting towards anyone but I just haven't come across this before but I understand they place low income people and as my properties are not cheap to rent I am used to having no problem tenants. The house is as new only about a year old and I would like it to be looked after.

Can anyone advise me?

 

[jaycee]

What are housing trust tenants ?

 

[silversands]

housing commission...

That's another how lng is a piece of string Q Sparky. If it was someone like my mother I L they placed in your home Sparky or her neighbours, you couldn't want for better tenants.

 

[silversands]

oops! fumble fingers bumped the reply too soon!

Anyway, I wouldn't consider it unless they were prepared to tell you something about the type of tenant you could expect to have. I really don't know if they'll consider doing that.
Is it because of demand for housing and a chronic under supply or is it because they can't house this particular tenant or family in their main stream offerings due to problematic issues. See what you can sleuth from them.

Interesting proposal I must say.

 

[cgw]

Most housing trust tennants are very low or no income tennants. Unless you know about the tenant it would be a high risk. Depends on the area. Does the housing trust guarantee to fix up any malicious damage, that may occur via domestic violence acts, drugs, or wild parties etc.

 

[sparky23]

Yes they will take care of any maintenance issues. I am trying to get more info on the family, I have found out that they have 3 children which can be more of a problem than pets but it might lower the risk of other things that could happen there. Rent will be dependable but if there were any criminal activities the house could be seized, but I guess there are similar risks whoever the tenant is, I might give it a few more days I know at least one other lady has taken an application.

 

[Perp]

Does the housing trust guarantee to fix up any malicious damage, that may occur via domestic violence acts, drugs, or wild parties etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do, actually.

You need to find out more about the conditions of the agreement, sparky, including what the housing trust will do to "clean up" if it all goes horribly wrong.

Also find out how easy/hard it is to evict if the tenant is a problem; will it be normal conditions (which are challenging enough for landlords!) or even worse? It's almost impossible to get evicted by the housing trust, so make sure that by going into an agreement with them, that you don't have the same limitations foisted upon you.

Yet another concern: what kind of neighbourhood is this? If the neighbours are p'd off about having housing trust residents in the street, can they make your life difficult?

 

[sparky23]

I have decided to proceed with the housing trust on this one, we built this house at the back of a block that we sub-divided and consequently it fronts onto the laneway at the back and as this is Port Kembla and doesn't have the best reputation it can be a bit tricky to find tenants. The last ones stayed for a year but we have just had a few vacant weeks despite a lot of lookers.

With the housing trust they pay the full rent in advance and also pay between tenants so there will be no more weeks without rent and they are obliged to take care of any damage the tenants may cause so all in all I think it is the best thing for this particular property. We shall still receive the increased rent of $350 per week for 6 months and then an option to increase again.

I imagine this is a good thing in the eyes of the banks too as when they look at servicability they take off 25% (I think thats right) for vacancies but with the housing trust paying rent 100% of the time they won't be able to do that!

 

[Savanna100]

I wouldnt trust commisiion tenents (or the like) to look after the property and I 'd certainly never rent any property to someone like that.
Remember the case where the little girl staved to death,(see article below)
Extreme perhaps, but you dont know what could happen.

"A SYDNEY couple who own the house in Hawks Nest where a seven-year-old girl starved to death last November want the state Government to buy the property, which is still filled with the tenants' putrid furniture, and burn it to the ground.

The couple say they rented the house to the girl's parents, who are now in custody awaiting trial on charges of manslaughter, after the NSW Department of Housing faxed them a reference, including 38 pages of the couple's banking history and a note saying they had been good tenants. The department told them a house in Matraville the parents had been renting had been well kept.

In fact, five truckloads of debris, including human faeces, had been removed from the Matraville property when the couple left, and there had been dozens of complaints about the way they neglected their home and their children.

The couple have also learned that the girl's father had the words "Death" and "Hate" tattooed across his knuckles but he wore gloves when he went to pick up the keys to their house.

The lanlord said that they had been dragged into this mess due to the apparent negligence of three government departments," he said in a letter to the NSW Premier. "We had intended to retire and live in the property. Our ability to lease out the house, to live there or to sell it have been seriously affected by these events.

"When (the couple) applied to lease our house, they nominated the Department of Housing as their current landlord and as somewhere we could obtain a reference. Our real estate agent contacted the department and was told their rent was always paid on time and that the property they were leasing at Matraville had been well kept.

"We understand from press coverage we have seen that when they left that home, five truckloads of rubbish were taken away, and the rubbish was knee-deep in the house."

The landlord said the stigma hanging over the house would make it difficult to lease or sell"

 

[pully]

yes i read that story too. a truly tragic case. does anyone know what penalty was given to the 2 parents ?
i wonder if the landlord had any redress from the govt agency that apparently gave a less than accurate reference for those people?
a horrible story.
regards

 

[Propertunity]

I wouldnt trust commisiion tenents (or the like) to look after the property and I 'd certainly never rent any property to someone like that.
Remember the case where the little girl staved to death,(see article below)
Extreme perhaps, but you dont know what could happen.

Mmmm it is knid of drawing a long bow to paint all housing comm tenants with the same brush (to mix metaphors).
There are many good things about these tenants. The rent is guaranteed. Damage if it occurs is covered.

Also many of these ppl are fine ppl. Just like there are some better off folks that do the wrong thing - Justice whats-his-face and the dead friend driving his car. Madoff and his investing ....etc

 

[sparky23]

In the end though there are plenty of bad tenants in the regular rental pool aswell so I guess it is just the luck of the draw, our real estate agency will still do their regular checks and if there is anything we are unhappy about we will ask the housing trust to replace the tenants. As the trust also do inspections we might actually be better off as the house will be inspected twice as often as it would have been, plus we are only 20 minutes away so we shall also keep an eye on things ourselves.

 

[eastside]

Community Housing

I have had a property tenanted with Community Housing for years now. Community Housing is the NSW equivalent of Housing Trust, I think. She is the best tenant and never gives me any trouble, something I can't say for the blue ribbon property I also let in the city. I even cut out the estate agent from the deal, and manage directly through Community Housing. I have asked the organisation concerned to let me know of any other properties that come up for sale they may want to sub let from me. The rent is always in the bank, guaranteed, and they also guarantee to repair any damage (a contract is signed to that effect when you take over the lease) and they do regular inspections. I would recommend going ahead on this one, who else can guarantee you rent during these times! Don't judge all these people by 'today tonight' standards, a lot of them are simply aged pensioners who will take lovely care of your home.

 

[fernfurn]

My partner has one of these. His house is in a blue ribbon district. His contract is actually with the HC. They pay the rent all the time, maintain the garden, including cutting the 2nd storey high ivy going beserk. If ever any damage they will restore to new, (totally different to private tenants). He has a lovely family in, a mother and her two 10ish yo girls and their grandmother. Never hear a peep, just money in the bank. Bring it on

 

[sparky23]

Hmmmm sounds as though I should be approaching the housing trust with all of my properties! Does anyone know who the equivalent body is in WA?