Notice of intention to declare property to be sub-standard

I have just received one of these letters and was wondering what peoples thoughts were. Some of it I agree with mortar to be repaired in brickwork other things I disagree needs to be a powerpoint in the bathroom and water supply needs to be adjacent the washing machine. It is an ex-housing trust home so yeah a bit old but still worth it. Are they picky? What sort of time frame will they give me to fix up? Being Christmas the gentleman in charge is away. There is quite a comprehensive list of things to be done. Does this also lead me to question the property manager and what have they been doing when they inspect the property. Surely they take some responsibility. Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated.
 
There should be no recourse for a tenant to complain about features that were not present at the start of their lease. i.e. if they are asking for powerpoints or taps to be installed where there wasn't one before - bad luck to them for not having checked it out before signing the lease.

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
There should be no recourse for a tenant to complain about features that were not present at the start of their lease. i.e. if they are asking for powerpoints or taps to be installed where there wasn't one before - bad luck to them for not having checked it out before signing the lease.

While I agree with this 100%, we all know there is a set of tenants that want more facilities than they are prepared to pay for, then do nothing buy complain repeatedly.

Mmmggg, are there real problems with the property, or just whinging tenants?
 
There should be no recourse for a tenant to complain about features that were not present at the start of their lease. i.e. if they are asking for powerpoints or taps to be installed where there wasn't one before - bad luck to them for not having checked it out before signing the lease.
In SA there is recourse - HIA order (I assume that is what this is going to turn into) that caps the rent. My current house has one. Once you have an order on you are not obliged to fix anything wrong with the house, which is odd but just how it is.

They are *incredibly* picky. My favourite item on my HIA order is the lack of privacy latch on the bathroom door. A previous house I owned with an order on it had a ceiling too low by a few cm. You need to address absolutely everything.

The HIA order on this place was pretty severe because the house was in such a shocking state so no surprise the tenants here got it put on. It reduced the rent paid from $300 to $65 a week. I'm not sure I'll be able to get my order removed, it has 'salt damp' on there, which we found was caused by a leaky gutter (cost to fix $300) but they want professional treatment done, which will cost upwards of $20,000 so I'm not doing it. A lot of our plans for this house are resting on what the HIA person says about the house when we have our final bit of renovation complete - removing the concrete outside and replacing it with compacted gravel because the concrete was uneven and a 'trip hazard'.
 
The HIA order on this place was pretty severe because the house was in such a shocking state so no surprise the tenants here got it put on. It reduced the rent paid from $300 to $65 a week.

RE am I reading this correctly, a reduction in rent of $235 per week :eek::confused:

If this is the case I am surprised anyone invests in SA.
 
RE am I reading this correctly, a reduction in rent of $235 per week :eek::confused:

If this is the case I am surprised anyone invests in SA.
This house is an extreme example of why there are HIA orders in the first place for substandard accommodation. But it is certainly something to watch out for if you're trying to rent out a house in SA that has a few things even potentially wrong with it, as it gives your tenant a way to go over your head and get the rent reduced. I do admit to walking into some of the cheaper houses for sale around here and thinking they are a HIA order waiting to happen.

This house had no cold water connected, a large hole in the floor of one room and severely damaged floors in the other rooms, no oven, some rooms without lights or power points, as well as all the more 'trivial' problems. I think the issue here is someone was ripping off the tenants charging $300pw, not that HIA orders can knock off huge amounts of rent. If there's only minor things wrong with the house and you can't avoid the order going on, at worst you lose a few dollars a week and don't have to pay as much attention to maintainence. But since you need the order reassessed every time you think the market rent has gone up in your area, you have to get the HIA people in if you want to increase your rent.
 
Oh, I should mention that from what I've heard, not that many people are even aware that these orders exist. The agent we bought this house from said the tenant who got this order on was a known serial order-putter-onner, doing major damage to the houses they were living in to get the rent reduced, and then moving on leaving the owner with a huge cleanup bill and a devalued house because of the order.

So if you've got a tenant who's trying this on you - just be aware. They *might* be an opportunist. Or they might just think your house needs fixing and decided to go around you instead of just asking nicely for some maintainance thanks.
 
how can you give notice that you intend to do something until you intend to do it? surely you can't think about thinking of something?
 
Back on track.

Thanks for all those comments. I will bring the discussion back to where it's at. Firstly this is a SA Housing issued letter. The government not HIA. It is my assumption that the tenants mother has spoken to the government and so asked them to come in. So the government will reduce the rent if I don't get this work done. Am I also right in acknowledging that the overwhelming advice would be to remove the tenants despite the outcome of the letter. Best case scenario everything is fixed and still get rid off them. Worst case scenario a rent reduce order is made and still get rid of them, so the new tenants get then cheaper rent and not the present ones. Does everyone agree with that? I as landlord talk with them often it is a boyfriend/girlfriend tenants and the girls mum has been on my back about the condition of the house and the rent. Which is cheap anyway. $160 weekly 2Bedroom Elizabeth Downs. This makes it $80 each surely thats a bargain. Noone has said anything about the property management. Do they take blame? I suppose it doesn't matter b/c it's all done now, still would be good to know for the future. I won't be doing business with them anymore.
 
Housing SA does the HIA orders - they are most certainly a government thing, which explains the red-tapey letter of intent. I think in this case it is the housing improvement act or something, not the housing industry association. Confusing, yes?

ETA: as to the PM, you'd think they'd be aware of the HIA order possibility and be nice enough to point out to you that you need to do some upgrading, but some houses really do have unavoidable 'defects', especially old ones.
 
it sounds as if the tenants are having housing sa act as an advocate for them? was their bond paid by housing sa?
your property manager should be able to advise you.

presumably if there are serious defects these will need to be fixed and timeframe would be negotiated.

how long to go on their lease? have you owned the property long?
regards.
 
it sounds as if the tenants are having housing sa act as an advocate for them? was their bond paid by housing sa?
Heh. I have current tenants getting a bond from housing sa and they had an advocate from their previous house - the advocate was from some other government organisation, not housing sa, and they helped them with dealings with the tribunal. From what they described of their old house it was pretty derelict and they were paying higher rent than mine with no order so they must be missing the opportunist gene.
 
it is interesting is it not just how many welfare agencies are these days to assist tenants?
no doubt there is a need for good representation and advice for people at the margins.

we as landlords certainly need to be very aware of our role in these scenarios and also be well represented with good advice. all for doing the right thing but also need to have our interests protected too.

it seems more and more govt housing agencies are moving towards taking less direct responsibilty for ownership of the properties for tenants. encouraging private landlord ownership and therefore the maintenance issues too.
selling off old stock for example, but still being active in tenant advocacy etc.
buyer beware for the landlord.
regards.
 
just give them an eviction notice first thing in the new year for a "full renovation as required by the order" - 6 weeks.

that'll learn 'em.
 
just give them an eviction notice first thing in the new year for a "full renovation as required by the order" - 6 weeks.

that'll learn 'em.

I've got to say, that if any of my tenants tried to pull a stunt like that, they would soon be looking for alternate accommodation.
 
The lastest.

Once again thanks for all the comments. The lastest is I went through the list of improvements to be made with the inspector this time at the house. He is quite thorough but the list/letter he sends out is full of mistakes. I have attended to some of the smaller issues but the big issue is too much moisture in the walls around the bathroom and surrounding walls. Had a plumber attend and started with a water pressure test. These plumbers I trust and they had one look at the bath tub and said it has to be the drains and plumbing. It is really due to have a major bathroom renovation. So Australia Day the tub is coming out and tiling and concrete. I will do this myself and then the plumbers will lay new drainage system and then concreters will lay new concrete. I will do the tiling. From the plumbers I was quoted around the 5 or 6 thousand to get all the bathroom done. Then I said I will do what I can then they said around the 2 or 3 thousand. Then speaking with the concreter he said without looking at it no more than $850. Anyway the bulk of it is done. In reply to some questions. Skater - yes fair to say there are some real problems as explained above. However the tenants are whingers as well. The oven fan made a slight noise when on low. With the electrician there doing other jobs she raised her voice and said please fix the noisy oven I can't stand it being on with that rattle. Pully - I believe the Housing Trust paid their bond. So they have some interest in the property. The lease expires in Oct and no I haven't owned the property for long. About 1.5 years. Thanks Rumpledelf listening to other stories helps put my in perspective. On a lighter side: two tenants will be looking for accommodation once the intention is lifted.....any takers.
 
I try and get my order off later this year - doesnt affect me now as we are living in the house. We had a lot of electrical issues in ours which are all resolved as of a week ago. The result of the HIA guy's visit is going to completely dictate whether we rent or sell this house. I'm painting it outside at the moment and it is a gorgeous house now, not the dump we bought at all.

Oh and remind your tenants if the trust paid their bond, if they damage the house and you need to take some out of the bond, they WILL need to pay the money back to the trust and they may have some issues getting a bond guarantee on their new house.
 
The plot thickens.

Hi to all of you who are following this issue.....the plot thickens. The letter of intention is still standing. So, about 2 weeks ago the girl tenant decided she wanted to leave and so did that, with the parents help ofcourse. The boy tenant comes home from work only to discover that he is now the sole tenant of the house. In thought not actuality. He decides to stay they had a big argument etc. I am in constant contact with everyone including agents. He decides to stay for a week and then works out it is better for him to go to his mates. I say no worries he gives his letter to get out of the contract to the agents. All the while the house is a pig sty gardens included. So where are we at now. I asked the inspector to give me another month. This is b/c the house is now abandoned and so no electricity to work the power tools to complete the bathroom. Prior to all the messing around with the tenants breaking the lease I had the electrician in and then the plumbers. I am half way through the tiling. Then tenants will be charged for about a months rent hopefully we see some of that. The dad to the girl will be cleaning up this week with a skip bin so that's good. All keys have been returned so I have to move all the home contents outside so he will load the bin. I already have a new tenant up my sleeve she is ready to move in. However the house she is in I am intending to sell and presents another problem. Which I will post and invite suggestions of advice. Once again thanks to all following this. Brighter days ahead.
 
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