Late rent. Ph switched off.. Notice sent

[jaycee]

Young tenant missed one week's rent payment, paid the next week and then missed last week's.

I rang her (whether that's the best thing to do or not I'm not sure). Both her previous and current mobile number are switched off and calls automatically go to messagebank, left messages...

So yesterday I sent of the Notifcation of Breach due to non payment of Rent form.

I reviewed the prcess online at WA's DOCEP website and printed off their flowchart indicating steps and number of days notice periods exactly, incuding waiting the day or 2 for the letter to arrive.

I wondered if I needed to contact her next of kin, for the life of me, I can't find her original application to lease (shakes head).

So I rang DOCEP to confirm a couple of things and they told me what Id understood from reading the website. I asked about the possibility that she's moved out and if that was the case, she would not see the notice, would that matter. No I was told, if sent to the rented address, it's considered as sent/served.

An option I do have is to go there and knock on the door to see if they are still there.

IF they are not and say by looking through a window it looks abandonded (lady told this would be my judgement call), I could effectivley go in, confirm it's abandoned, change the locks, clean up if needed and claim costs from the bond.

Now I did go there Friday afternoon. No one was home. I jumped to peer over the back fence, but couldnt see much at all.

What prompted me to ask about that, was she is already 2 weeks behind. I have to wait another 14+ days, if she doesnt pay then, she will be 4 weeks behind. Bond should cover that I guess, but what about the next week or whatever before she leaves (this is assuming worst case scenario I realise) ? What about any clean up costs....

So going there and confirming if abandoned, in case she actually has taken off, makes sense..

Then I thought, do I really wanna go there ? alone ?

 

[locko24]

That's why i use PM's

 

[jaycee]

Have you ever had a PM go through the process locko ?
What was the result ?

 

[locko24]

I'm no help there - never had to evict anyone (touch wood) - but i sure don't want to be jumping fences to find out if the tennant still lives there!! Though the advantage you've got, is that things should happen a lot more quickly if you're doing it yourself.
Maybe you can get the cops to go 'round with you?

 

[sammmeee]

That's what landlords insurance is for. Claim out of pocket expenses after the bond. I use ebm and they are great.

Jaycee in my lease I have a clause that states that there will be no breach letter sent only a order to evict due to non payment (not exact wording) otherwise if she still doesn't pay up after breach and is still there you have to send an order of eviction due to non payment(not correct name) and then wait another 14 days and then apply to magistrate to evict. By this time it could be six weeks before you can get a new tenant.

Are you insured?

 

[jaycee]

Hi Sammee

Yes I have Rent Cover Plus through EBM.

I am concerned at the amount of weeks the process will take.

Obviously this is the first time I've done this, in the pas I've sent a letter to a tenant and they've responded within a day with a phone call and we worked it out.

Hehe, I shoud send a plumber around for a 7 am appointment.

 

[russellpeter]

Place a form 9 Entry notice and in 24 hours enter the property to see if tenant is still living in the property.

 

[jaycee]

Thanks russellpeter.

Currently having fun looking for the equivalent WA form...

 

[locko24]

Hehe, I shoud send a plumber around for a 7 am appointment.

Haha - Why not? Or the lawn-mowing dude - The back yard needs doing

 

[jackson]

Hi Jaycee,

Just a few pointers for you

Let just say in the event you took possession of the premises based on the fact that you believe the tenant has abandoned the property and the tenant return to the property you technically have breached your duty as an owner under Section 44 of the Residential Tenancies Act.

Please refer to Section 77 of the Residential Tenancies Act which states that if the owner believes that the tenant has abandoned the premises, the owner can apply to the court seeking order that the tenant has abandoned the premises.

So I suggest that you make an application (Form 12) to the competent court seeking that the agreement be terminated and that you get possession of the premises as the tenant has abandoned the property.

I guess you could also take the risk and change all locks and hope that the tenant has actually abandoned the premises.

Good luck.

 

[jackson]

Thanks russellpeter.

Currently having fun looking for the equivalent WA form...

tell me what forms you are looking for and i may be able to assist you.

 

[Doovalacky]

http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/consumerprotection/PDF/Forms/index.htm

http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/consu...state/Renting_and_tenancy/Landlords/index.htm

Forms are about 2 pages down 1st link.
More info you might find useful 2nd link.

To my understanding if you send the 1B notice, failure to pay rent its only 7 days notice and you don't have to send a breach notice 1st.

 

[wylie]

Jaycee in my lease I have a clause that states that there will be no breach letter sent only a order to evict due to non payment (not exact wording) otherwise if she still doesn't pay up after breach and is still there you have to send an order of eviction due to non payment(not correct name) and then wait another 14 days and then apply to magistrate to evict. By this time it could be six weeks before you can get a new tenant.

I would doubt that changing your own individual lease would mean that your preferred actions are legal if challenged by the tenant.

We have gone through this Jaycee. We followed the letter of the law exactly regarding notices but did issue a notice to enter and waited the 24 hours to do exactly that. It was clear the house was abandoned, so we followed through the legal course and things moved very quickly.

I firmly believe if we had not been self-managing we would have lost several more weeks.

 

[jaycee]

I would doubt that changing your own individual lease would mean that your preferred actions are legal if challenged by the tenant.

We have gone through this Jaycee. We followed the letter of the law exactly regarding notices but did issue a notice to enter and waited the 24 hours to do exactly that. It was clear the house was abandoned, so we followed through the legal course and things moved very quickly.

I firmly believe if we had not been self-managing we would have lost several more weeks.

So do I need to issue a notice before I can go down with the intetnion of entering to check that it is abandoned (assuming it appears abandoned from the outside) ?

confused !!!!

 

[CoastalHolidayR]

I would give the rta a call, they are great with assisting over the phone and providing you with links to the forms you may need

 

[Chomp]

What if you went to see the tenant and while you were there you thought you heard running / leaking water from inside. You knocked but there was no answer, you had to go inside as you thought it was an emergency.

Chomp

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Let just say in the event you took possession of the premises based on the fact that you believe the tenant has abandoned the property and the tenant return to the property you technically have breached your duty as an owner under Section 44 of the Residential Tenancies Act.

This could easily happen.

In 2000 my new wife and I went on our honeymoon to Europe for 5 weeks. I intended to pay the rent in advance before we left and had the funds available.

With all the fuss of the wedding, I completely forgot until we were a few days into the honeymoon. Let's also keep in mind this was still just before email and online banking became part of everyday living. We had these facilities, but accessing them remotely was difficult.

Forutnately I managed to reach my parents from a payphone in Paris. Mum contacted the agent, explained and offered to cover the rent. As it was still before it was due, the agent told us not to worry and wished us a good honeymoon. As soon as we got back I caught up and paid the next month in advance.

Had I not been able to contact Mum (which did take a few tries), I might have been 4 weeks late on the rent and getting close to an eviction, despite having good intentions and a reasonable explaination. If it came down to it, the court would almost certainly have ruled in my favour.

Don't circumvent the law, do it right every time. That's why we use a property manager.

 

[jaycee]

This could easily happen.

In 2000 my new wife and I went on our honeymoon to Europe for 5 weeks. I intended to pay the rent in advance before we left and had the funds available.

With all the fuss of the wedding, I completely forgot until we were a few days into the honeymoon. Let's also keep in mind this was still just before email and online banking became part of everyday living. We had these facilities, but accessing them remotely was difficult.

Forutnately I managed to reach my parents from a payphone in Paris. Mum contacted the agent, explained and offered to cover the rent. As it was still before it was due, the agent told us not to worry and wished us a good honeymoon. As soon as we got back I caught up and paid the next month in advance.

Had I not been able to contact Mum (which did take a few tries), I might have been 4 weeks late on the rent and getting close to an eviction, despite having good intentions and a reasonable explaination. If it came down to it, the court would almost certainly have ruled in my favour.

Don't circumvent the law, do it right every time. That's why we use a property manager.

Not sure that I suggested any circumvention of any laws, depstie not usign a property manger ? (I am unsur ehow a PM would ensure that law is not broken any more than I am doing by checking with the relevant authorities and following their instructions

 

[wylie]

So do I need to issue a notice before I can go down with the intetnion of entering to check that it is abandoned (assuming it appears abandoned from the outside) ?

confused !!!!

Yes you need to give the appropriate notice (here in Queensland it is 24 hours). Do it by the book and you will not get into strife.

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Not sure that I suggested any circumvention of any laws, depstie not usign a property manger ? (I am unsur ehow a PM would ensure that law is not broken any more than I am doing by checking with the relevant authorities and following their instructions

Sorry, let me elaborate. I meant to say that you could be breaking the law by making moves too early without giving the tenant every opportunity to respond, which could be the case if you simply look in the window or enter the building and determine that it's abandoned.

I don't know what the law is in respect to these issues, again, I employ a property manager to do this properly.

I once tried to self manage and the whole thing went very badly for me.