My first BAD tenant experience.....

[angela]

PM was in court today, as tenant wanted to break lease, which we agreed to with her paying re-let fees and rent until new tenant is found, which is standard practice. Her grounds were that we haven't maintained the property, which is a load of crap - every single thing she asked for we had done. She has been there since last December, she moved in 2hours after settlement - she was soooo keen to get in and use the pool, and when I dropped off a leaf skimmer, pleaded with me to please not sell the house like their last landlord did, as they wanted to stay for years as her autistic son doesn't deal with change very well blah blah blah....
I haven't had a single month's rent where there weren't deductions for this, that or the other, we granted her every wish.
Anyway to cut a long story short, she cried, she screamed and shouted and carried on, and the magistrate decided that she could break the lease without any penalty - not even having to pay re-letting fees.
Do landlords EVER win? Even the tenancy advocacy service told my PM last week that they had had enough of her, and she wouldn't have a leg to stand on in court. But, there you go, eh.

 

[Xenia]

Hi Angela,

sorry to hear. We have represented lot's of cases where landlords did actually win, however you are right, the laws are skewed towards tenants. The law was written that way to protect tenants against slum landlords (and yes they are alive and well) but it gets abused by bad tenants turning against good, responsible landlords as you sound like you are.

Focus on the solution not the problem and look to many happy years of rental income and masive capital growth which is what property investing is all about. It is a business and you cannot dwel on bad debt, get it back on the market ASAP and look forward to a more harmonious relationship with the next tenant.

Unfortunately in the circumstances described above where a tribunal has granted a lease break, she cannot be black listed either.... Never mind, move on and better luck next time.

X

 

[angela]

Hi Xenia,

yes I was surprised about her not being able to be blacklisted, but my PM says that as long as her rent is paid up to date, she won't be listed.

It is a relief to get her out, as she came across as spiteful and wanted us to have to spend every cent we have on maintaining mostly non-existent issues for her.

We have one application already, and they have good references and good stable jobs, and my PM was taking two more groups through this afternoon, so we will have no vacancy between tenants which is great. We did drop the rent though as there is a pool which isn't as attractive in August as it was in December when PM had applicants coming out of her ears wanting pools. I have stated that I want the lease to expire in a Summer month.(which was the original plan, but was cut short in Winter)

Looking at the big picture, this is just a small hiccup, have never had an issue with our other properties, but I did have a few sleepless nights this week.

 

[Xenia]

Great to see you have turned the situation around. Sounds like you deserve some much needed rest now.

 

[markpatric]

PM was in court today, as tenant wanted to break lease, which we agreed to with her paying re-let fees and rent until new tenant is found, which is standard practice. Her grounds were that we haven't maintained the property, which is a load of crap - every single thing she asked for we had done. She has been there since last December, she moved in 2hours after settlement - she was soooo keen to get in and use the pool, and when I dropped off a leaf skimmer, pleaded with me to please not sell the house like their last landlord did, as they wanted to stay for years as her autistic son doesn't deal with change very well blah blah blah....
I haven't had a single month's rent where there weren't deductions for this, that or the other, we granted her every wish.
Anyway to cut a long story short, she cried, she screamed and shouted and carried on, and the magistrate decided that she could break the lease without any penalty - not even having to pay re-letting fees.
Do landlords EVER win? Even the tenancy advocacy service told my PM last week that they had had enough of her, and she wouldn't have a leg to stand on in court. But, there you go, eh.

Why didn`t you just let her leave?, are tenants that hard to find in Ipswich?.

 

[angela]

"tenant wanted to break lease, which we agreed to with her paying re-let fees and rent until new tenant is found"

Oh, we would let her leave, couldn't wait to get rid of her, but just wanted her to be liable if we couldn't find new tenants, as I believe is standard practice when a tenant breaks lease (house is at top end of price range for the area). As it turns out, we already have at least one application with plenty more interest.

 

[Aaron Sice]

sounds like fun....

all this makes me want to go looking at commercial.

 

[The_Bludger]

And no doubt your tenant is going to tell all her renter mates about her win, so they then become aware of they can get away with it too. Sux big time.