Outgoing tenant taking me to tribunal

[beachgurl]

Tenant is taking me to tribunal for not allowing them the opportunity to be present at the outgoing inspection and losing all their bond money.

Regardless of the condition of the property, does this reason have any standing at Tribunal? My PM left then messages to attend but they didn't respond.the same way they 'never received' the notice to vacate, rent increase or periodic inspection letters.

Repairs/cleaning added up to near 8k so I'd like to think their case will get thrown out but these tenants seem to know what they're doing in rorting the system.

 

[thatbum]

why would any of that be "regardless of the condition of the property"? I can't really see how those issues are linked.

 

[pully]

sorry to hear, it can be stressful and time consuming. hope your hearing will be swift. we are told there is a backlog in sa at present, except for urgent matters.

large expenses following a tenancy are disturbing and some tenants are chronic debtors so recovery can be difficult or not possible. insurance will chase debts in some cases, after paying your claims.

good luck.

 

[D.T.]

Which state is the property in? Have you read their Act? I am very familiar with South Australia's,

Section 72 says - It is a term of a residential tenancy agreement that if the tenant has indicated to the landlord that he or she wishes to be present during the period when the landlord or landlord's agent is at the premises, the landlord (or an agent of the landlord) may not enter the premises unless a reasonable effort has been made to arrange for the visit to occur at a time when it is convenient for the tenant to be present (having regard to the work and other commitments of both the tenant and the persons entering the premises).

Which basically means if they requested to be present prior, then the landlord/agent can't enter the premise unless they're present. So, say "show me proof you requested to be present".

why would any of that be "regardless of the condition of the property"? I can't really see how those issues are linked.

They're not really linked, but I assume the tenant is trying to say its not a valid inspection so they can have another shot at it.

 

[Salvatore1]

At the NCAT both parties will be sent out to see if an agreement can be reached. All paperwork from both parties must be presented during this discussions. If no agreement you will need to go back in for the member to hear the case. If the hearing looks like being a long hearing he may defer to another day. During the hearing the most important items will be the ingoing and outgoing inspection report, ingoing and outgoing photos and detail invoices etc on expenses to clean up. The agent will state he tried to contact the tenant re issues but never heard back but hopefully he still has evidence of trying to contact them. If all paperwork is correct then it hopefully will be a good outcome for you.

 

[marg4000]

Were the tenants given the opportunity to come back and remedy the problems?
Marg

 

[beachgurl]

Were the tenants given the opportunity to come back and remedy the problems?
Marg

No, the tenants were not contactable. For the duration of the tenancy they were very difficult to contact. I gave them their 90 days notice as I had a major leak that needed repairing and they wouldn't return calls and messages to let us in to fix.

They had a shrine full of candles and the carpet had wax and candle burns throughout the entire house. Definitely not something they could remedy.

 

[beachgurl]

why would any of that be "regardless of the condition of the property"? I can't really see how those issues are linked.

I'm sure if they got their bond back I would never have heard from them again

 

[beachgurl]

sorry to hear, it can be stressful and time consuming. hope your hearing will be swift. we are told there is a backlog in sa at present, except for urgent matters.

large expenses following a tenancy are disturbing and some tenants are chronic debtors so recovery can be difficult or not possible. insurance will chase debts in some cases, after paying your claims.

good luck.

Most would fall within wear and tear so minimal costs recoverable from insurance. The optimist in me thought that they'd accept they'd lost the bond and be fortunate they hadn't been pushed to fork out for more repair/replacement costs.

Property is in Nsw. I wonder what would be deemed reasonable time for a tenant to be contactable? By the time they called the agent demanding an inspection the house had been repainted in full, carpet replaced, all 3 toilets replaced, massive industrial clean and outside clean and mow. Either they are of low intelligence or just cocky to think they can wait that long to request and inspection. They've only moved around the corner so I'm sure they've been watching me and my team working on the place.

Think I just need to drink some concrete or wine. Toddlers that don't sleep, shitty tenants and interstate small dev projects don't mix.

 

[pully]

it is frustrating and expensive sometimes, plus the time factor, due process to complete and move on. we had 1 that burned candles too left walls discoloured and a lot more problems.

the critical thing we find is meticulous documentation particularly ingoing/ongoing/exit condition reports to validate claims, and of course completing the required paperwork as prescribed.

plus acting promptly to arrears, water and rent, sadly sometimes these things can be allowed to escape scrutiny. these arrears can exceed the bond when combined with other items.

insurance, it is our understanding will chase the tenant to mitigate their losses. chronic debtors cannot pay often have thousands owing on utilities etc.
some tenants probably need to be intensively managed for their needs and this is beyond the resources of many of us.

tenant selection is so important as are ongoing checks. difficult at times.
good luck.

 

[Perp]

beachgurl, their presence or absence at the inspection is only likely to be relevant if you didn't fully evidence the condition. I assume many photographs were taken to substantiate damages in excess of the bond, and that your PM took notes about when they contacted the tenants to arrange the outgoing inspection.

If you have these evidenced, it's largely irrelevant that they weren't there.