IP left damaged by renters - what do I do?

[MPmelb]

Hi All,

Some renters recently vacated my rental property after 4 years and upon my inspection I saw quite a lot of damage they did.

For example:
multiple cracks in the glass shower screen
breaking and losing the light fittings
not reporting broken tiles in the shower which meant water leaked into the adjacent bedroom wardrobe over many years rotting it out. Now the wardrobe needs replacing
screwing holes in doors
affixing things on to doors
leaving large stains on the carpet
Using the kitchen benches as a chopping board, and even cutting out a section of the bench
the curtains were never washed and had turned yellow

By the time I did my inspection, my property manager had already done theirs and had released the bond back to the tenants. It now appears the property manager has also been pretty lax with the inspection reports over the years, turning a blind eye to the ongoing damage which occurred over this time. I never even saw an inspection report the whole time it was rented out.

I've been left stunned, furious and out of pocket with a lot of fixing to do before it can be rented out again.

The tenant has gone, and the property manager has gone into hiding refusing to discuss the situation.

So what do I do now?

take the tenants to vcat?
take the real estate agent to vcat (if possible?)
take them both to vcat? (if possible)
Claim it on my landlord insurance?
Any other options?

It just shows how important a good property manager is, but even more importantly it's your asset and only you can really care for it properly.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[Rolf Latham]

sounds like the agent on the line first and foremost if its been a long lease

ta
rolf

 

[MPmelb]

can I take the agent to vcat?

The vcat forms I received did not state I could take the agent to vcat

 

[fisherman]

The shower leak to the adjoining room is very likely to be failed waterproofing tray or membrane in the hob.

Replacing tiles or applying so-called waterproofing sprays/treatments will not work. Get a professional now.

BTW, it is not usually something insurance might cover.

 

[beachgurl]

I don't think there's much you can do now the bond has been released. I'm in the process of renovating an IP and there are so many small damages through the place. When pressing the agent on these, she said there's no record of the damage or what tenant had done so over the past 4 years. They've also lost security access remotes and claim they never received them in the first place. I've learned my lesson in ensuring I attend the inspections with the agent so these issues are picked up, not to mention the place falling into bad repair due to poor management.

 

[Propertunity]

...I never even saw an inspection report the whole time it was rented out.

With the benefit of hindsight, this should have been ringing alarm bells for you

You can take the PM to the Tribunal - yes, but you'd better have all your paperwork in order.
Insurance does not cover wear and tear or problems caused by lack of maintenance.

 

[Sez]

A lot of landlords insurance claims require a VCAT order so my first call would be to your insurance. You can make a compensation claim to VCAT for these items if need be - now that your PM has refunded the bond your chances of getting any money from the tenants are about nil BUT your insurance may cover some of the damages. VCAT and your insurance will depreciate though so how old are your carpets and how long since a paint job etc etc? Insurance won't cover any cleaning or as someone mentioned above the shower which is considered general maintenance.

I would be looking for a new agent right away - No inspections and no proper ingoing or outgoing inspection by the sounds of things...... this is why we PM's all get a bad name!

 

[Andrew_A]

Well their level of service seems consistent... not one inspection report the whole 4 years?

 

[Melbournian]

can I take the agent to vcat?

The vcat forms I received did not state I could take the agent to vcat

it is normally the tenants you take to vcat
but most of your claims should be able to taken to insurance.

i had a damaged property once - got paid out for loss of rent, etc etc

 

[MPmelb]

I certainly learnt some big lessons from all this:

(1) Having IP's can be like throwing money down the drain. The net rental yield in Melbourne is around a lousy 2%. Pathetic

(2) Most tenants don't care about your IP and will damage it.

(3) Most real estate agents don't care about your IP because they've got hundreds just like yours under mgmt. You have to carefully watch over your asset yourself to ensure it's looked after properly.

Update - I promptly got rid of the property manager and the real estate agent and am competently handling the repairs & re-letting myself. It's progressing well & not that difficult so far.

ps - if you want me to tell you the name of the property manager and the real estate agent she works for so you can avoid her and not have her ruin your IP, just pm me.

 

[Sez]

With a good PM you can avoid those listed problems biggest problem is that a good PM is as rare as hen's teeth!!!! Unfortunately when some people find out what I do for a living they take an instant dislike to me due to their bad experiences.... we aren't all awful ha ha ha .

 

[marg4000]

Problem is that the only way to know you have a good PM is to be vigilent in checking their work yourself. And even when you do this, you need to re-check frequently. We got caught out when a PM we believed was great (from checking things out ourselves) left suddenly and we found things had been let slide due to personal problems.
Marg

 

[Sez]

There isn't a huge difference between a good and bad PM when you have a good tenant. You want to test a PM give them your IP if and when it has bad tenants. If they are impressive then you can give them any and all other IP's happily!!

Be careful when taking the word of others in the office about your PM once they are gone. I have seen some great PM's being slandered by an office when they left because the company didn't want landlords to follow them and then the business is lost. People are not nice .

 

[Tim86]

What's the point of having a pm if you have to check all their work to make sure they are doing their job. Quicker just to do their job yourself. Unless you are many hours away from your IP I don't see any reason to bother with a PM. It's a pretty easy job. Tenants pay money, when they don't, you give them paperwork that tells them too, when they still don't, you kick them out and take their bond. Then you re-advertise. Rinse and repeat.

 

[MPmelb]

What's the point of having a pm if you have to check all their work to make sure they are doing their job. Quicker just to do their job yourself. Unless you are many hours away from your IP I don't see any reason to bother with a PM. It's a pretty easy job. Tenants pay money, when they don't, you give them paperwork that tells them too, when they still don't, you kick them out and take their bond. Then you re-advertise. Rinse and repeat.

This is what I've decided to do now - I'll manage it myself a lot better than any PM will. For most people, it's probably a time concern and wanting to keep the tenants at arms length that's why I always used a pm. But not after this bad experience.

Only you can truly care about your valuable asset. Don't rely on others - to them it's just a job.

 

[Sez]

Only you can truly care about your valuable asset. Don't rely on others - to them it's just a job.[/QUOTE]

Don't be so quick to lump us all in the same basket . I've met some property managers who genuinely care. You'll find that if they take the time to talk to you and build a relationship with you then they're going to take the time with your tenants and also with your property. I know that unfortunately it is too easy to become a PM which leads to problems like yours but to some PM's, helping you and keeping your investment safe makes their day. It's more than just a job.