Locating Defaulting Tennants

[ozsupra]

It's true what they say about things coming in threes.

In the last twelve months we have had three tenants leave our IP's owing considerable back rent and the premises in a mess.

I am now very familiar with the court processes here in Queensland and believe they are a joke when it comes to the owners rights and recovery of debt. Thank goodness for Landlords Insurance, however in order to make a successful claim you need a current address for the tenant (this is also needed to have a judgement recorded against them). This is where it becomes very difficult. Frequently the courts knows the tenants new address however due to the privacy act will not provide it to you.
I write this because I am looking for ways to locate defaulting tenants without resorting to Private Investigators, which I believe are a waste of money, especially for amounts under $10,000.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to locate defaulting tenants?

 

[mary&mat]

Hi ozsupra,

Don't use it myself, but I hear people get 'found' all the time on Facebook.

Regards,
M&M

 

[luckyone]

White pages? At least online they might have connected a phone at their new address and you could see it there.

 

[Mooze]

Electoral Roll - but you'll have to actually go into your local AEC office for it

 

[chilliblue]

Google their names, try Facebook, Twitter and any other sites you can think of.

Go back to their referees and have a talk to them.

Ring their employer etc.

Best of luck.

 

[Token Funder]

If you want to spend some money, try a professional agency:

http://www.advance-merc.com.au/skiptrace.html

 

[luckyone]

Oh, forgot something too. Try http://www.pipl.com/, it'll search twitter, facebook, myspace etc for you.

 

[ozsupra]

Thanks for all the replies.

As with most tenants that go to ground their references are stating they have no idea, the electoral roll has my IP as their location, the employer won’t give out employee info and their postal address is still the IP.

I do however like the URL http://www.pipl.com/, however it too struck a blank. It would appear that the latest tenant is being chased by at least four collection agencies. Does anyone know if you can access Motor Vehicle Details like the private road toll companies do?
A.

 

[marg4000]

Self managing friend had tenants do a runner.

Lucky for her she had a friend working in the Electricity company who was able to give her a current address. Turned up at the door and tenant was so shocked he paid up.

Yes, illegal but she was happy. Years ago, so probably not possible now.
Marg

 

[Mooze]

You can serve them at their place of employment (assuming you're serving notice or court order on them).

Other option if you know they're place of employment - just follow them home sometime.

 

[Dazz]

I am now very familiar with the court processes here in Queensland and believe they are a joke when it comes to the owners rights and recovery of debt.

Looking at the RTA which governs the court decisions, I think Owner's rights are listed half way down on page 4. They stop just before the end of page 4.

The rest of the 68 page tome is given to Tenant's rights.

The Tenancy Union Advocate has been before you and performed their job magnificently.

Don't worry though, with the new proposed legislation (alot of the states RTA's are 20+ years old).....they have tightened up the regs to assist the Tenant even further. I believe they proposed to simply tear page 4 out of the book and call it good.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to locate defaulting tenants?

Nope - but isn't it great that the onus is 100% on the Landlord to find them, otherwise they get off scot free. That was a particularly nice touch they introduced.

 

[JandJ]

Reading this thread reminded me, many years ago after my 2nd (or was it the 1st) divorce (same outcome in both cases anyway), my ex kept the house and subsequently rented it out.

Tenant stopped paying the rent and after going through the relevant authority my ex obtained the necessaries to give notice etc. I, living nearby, noticed a removal truck, phoned the ex "what ! hasn't paid me a cent". She raced over in time for me to show her which corner the truck had just disappeared around. she followed it and watched the tenant unloading (in his work uniform).
Garnisheed his wages, bobs your uncle.....

Cant remember if she had an REA, a long time ago.

 

[FormerLurker]

Thats why you should all microchip your tennants people - also have them nuetered as it will cut down on wear and tear of the property without children.........Just joking........although

 

[Chomp]

TICA Default Tenancy Control Pty Ltd

Ph: (02) 9743-1800
Fax: (02) 9743-4844
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.tica.com.au

Chomp

 

[Shaneelastic]

PIPL website is no good, I cant even find myself on their, google works better in finding me.

The employer would be obvious choice I believe, however you would have to word it you had something of theirs, dont tell them straight up its the jack and jill

 

[mja]

ozsupra - do you manage these properties yourself?

 

[ozsupra]

ozsupra - do you manage these properties yourself?

I do, however I am thinking of moving them under a good PM. I have learnt a considerable amount over the last ten years about property management, unfortunately most of it through bad experiences. I like to think that people are basically good yet my assumption constantly fails me.

These days I just don't have enough time so a competent PM is certainly on the horizon.
A

 

[mja]

Thought so. :/

Property Managers have access to TICA, which is the tenancy default database, if you didn't know. (I *think* landlords can use TICA on a casual basis, but it costs money in the form of a subscription + each time you use it.) Anyway - it's likely that these defaulting tenants were listed on this database in the first place, meaning, a PM wouldn't touch them with a 40 foot barge pole.

This doesn't answer your original question, however.

 

[Welcome]

I am trying eccreditcontrol.com.au on a tenant so will see how that goes. Debt is about a year old (have been appealing with insurance companies / ombudsman for the last 12 months.... fun times) so figured it can't hurt.

 

[ozsupra]

Property Managers have access to TICA, which is the tenancy default database, if you didn't know. (I *think* landlords can use TICA on a casual basis, but it costs money in the form of a subscription + each time you use it.)

Yes been a member of TICA for years, I have never found a bad tenant on their database when doing searches and Yes it does cost however, worth it I believe.
A