pm changed rent without my permission

[juzzac]

Hi everyone,
I purchased my 2nd investment property in Arundel about 9 months ago, The owner of the realestate agent that sold me the property said that the property was currently under rented ($350) and said that in 9 months when the lease was up that I should be able easly move the rent up to about ($450). I did my own research and found most places of similar size and age were going for around $400 - $420 so I was aiming for a increase close to that. 9 months later I tried contacting the pm 3 times the week before the lease was up and left msgs on his voice mail. the week the increase was due I had still not recieved a phone call back, I tried again and spoke to the receptionist and told her I wanted to change the rent to $400 as the cheapest 4 bed 2 storey house in arundel was $440, she told me that it had already been changed to $370 by the owner of the real estate agent and there was nothing I could do as the lease agreement was signed.
The following week after 4 more phone calls I got through to him and he told me that the housing market in arundel had droped and that all he could get was $370 as the tenants were having money problems. He didn't seem to care that I was finding it a bit harder with all the intreset rate inncreases and that I had budgeted on $400 a week when I purchased the place. I am very pissed with him because I know that the market has not droped and infact has greatly increased due to the new golf corse that has just started to be built across the road from my house, i am about to change the pm to the real estate agent that manages my first investment property as they atleast give me the choice of how much the rent can go up each time the lease is due.

Is there anything I can do or am I locked in for another year at $370 ???

 

[redsquash]

What is the name of the agency? No need to protect the innocent.
At a guess I would say the agent has acted beyond
the authority you have given him thus you do have legal recourse.
However how much time and money are you prepared to spend in order to get 1k or 2k.
You don't seem to have any written evidence, just one word against another. hope there is a better answer than the one I have given.

 

[alexlee]

The agent should definitely have spoken to you or sent you a letter first.

If you're not happy with the service, change agents as soon as you can (check the agreements first though).
Alex

 

[capitalist]

Please mention which agency it is. Out of principal i would terminate my agreement with them due to their poor communication -- imagine how useless they'd be when the sh1t really hits the fan!

Don't forget to cross out the 90 days and replace with 30 days notice to terminate agreement with any future PM's.

 

[mitch]

What did you sign ?

in victoria with the standard reiv rental authority for landlords there's a couple of things l cross out and initial the changes.

One is that they can sign a lease on my behalf , they cant , only l sign things on my behalf .

Another is where it says that the authority can only be altered with the written consent of the agent , l cross that one out as l am making changes ,so that dosn't count .

And the last one is where is says that l have to pay them commission wheather they collect the rent or not , no , you won't be claiming commission on rent you haven't collected.

Iv'e done this a few times now , when l sign a new authority , and its a general not exclusive authority.

Never been challenged or had one sent back .

What did you sign ?

 

[Kristine..]

capitalist

It is not really important to name names.

And if juzzac does so what difference would it make?

The forum, from my point of view, is here for us to share, not go around black listing people.

I recently changed a property which had been managed for ten years by a certain agency, to a different agency.

Why? Because the original agency had so many staff changes, and the new staff did the 'cheerful budgie' bit all the time, but I felt there was no substance there eg they missed sending on rent payments, told the outgoing tenant the place was 'immaculate' when it was so grubby I had to have the whole place repainted, and recommended a $15 per week increase over a 3 year old rent.

The new agent (who has since left that agency, too) showed a modicum of enthusiasm and did not display a 'bubbly, cheerful personality' but instead, an understanding of the law and of best practice. And achieved a $70 per week increase.

Sometimes life does not go the way we want it to. We have the choice to move on. There is no need to slang off about other people.

In juzzac's situation I would certainly start interviewing other property managers but imaging how juzzac would feel if, in six months, this current property manager turned up at the new property manager's business!

What goes around comes around. Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil.

It would certainly appear that the Principal of the agency has exceeded their authority. However juzzac 'tried 3 times the week before the lease was up' to contact the agent. Rent increases take time, certainly longer than the week prior to the effluxion of the current term.

Next time, juzzac can negotiate the increase in rent - in writing -at the appropriate time in the lease

Cheers

Kristine

 

[Novar]

I'd be peeved as well. Not sure what your rights are so I'm interested in opinions.

I never agree to a 12 mth lease without a rent increase clause after 6 mths.

 

[juzzac]

Hi, thanks everyone for your replys,

The problem for me with this realestate agent is that he was refered to me by my girl friends parents, he has been buying and selling serveral investment propertys for them in the arundell parkwood area for almost 10 years and they consider him a close friend, so close a friend that some of the houses they have bought and sold they have never even steped foot in or even seen. I sure could never trust a real estate agent that much !!!!
I must admit he got me a really great deal on this property, at least $40,000 cheaper than market value, I had been researching the area for several months and I know I got a good deal on the house purchase. I wanted to have it managed by cbd estate agent who have taken care of my first IP, cause I just had a bad feeling about him managing it, but he talked me into staying with him. On the first statement he even tried to charge me 1 weeks rent for the lease agreement of the tenants that were already living there when I purchased it, I kicked up a stink about that and he told me this is normal when you purchase a ip with tenants, I told him that the first Ip I purchased had tenants and I didn't have to pay it then, he then refunded me.

I filled my girlfriend in about all of this tonight and she agreed I should proberly change the management to cbd estate agents and let them look after it, She also thinks I shouldn't take it any further with trying to get the extra rent, just to keep peace in the family !!!!

 

[juzzac]

Well I guess I have now learnt to put everything with rent increases in writing with all my future lease agreements.

 

[jaycee]

After reading this, I just emailed my PM for a copy of my agreement with them. I'm going to check my conditions for leaving them / their authoirty to sign leases on my behalf etc.

Yes, I should have a copy at home, but it will be easier to read a copy sent to me by the PM during office hours, while my pc is running something else - and will also give the latest pm (you don’t think staff turnover is any less in Perth do you?) a chance to review what her company agreed to do & may even prompt her to do a self evaluation of her recent performance (ha!)

 

[capitalist]

capitalist

It is not really important to name names.

And if juzzac does so what difference would it make?

The forum, from my point of view, is here for us to share, not go around black listing people.

i have sent a pM to find out the agency as it seems juzzac is reluctant to mention them due to his relationship with girlfriend / family / etc and that is fair enough.

I'd like to know because i am currently looking for a PM in this area and want to make sure i avoid this crowd. that's all.

I wouldn't say it's blacklisting people. I personally have no hesitation in naming businesses or individuals that don't do the right thing for their customers.

 

[mystery]

In most cases don't the existing tenants have to be notified of our intension to increase the rent 60 day before lease expires?

We have quite a few IP's and I know when each lease is due to expire and I contact our PM's well and truly 60 days prior to discuss rent increases, so that they can send out the notification.

I like to stay on top of my business. I never leave it to the PM to keep up to date (all of mine are very good, but I contact them anyway), afterall they are looking after 100's of properties at a time and if they are not efficient then things get forgotten and when they do it is usually the landlords that pay the penanlty.

Investing in IP's is business and should be treated that way, .... make sure you are aware when all contracts are due to expire and be pro-active in managing your properties and rent increases by managing the PM's.

Martin

 

[marg4000]

I totally agree with Martin.

We contact our PM by email (so that we have a record) about 8 weeks before a lease expires and set out clearly the minimum rent we are prepared to accept and any conditions. This way there can be no misunderstandings.

We own an IP at the beach with a swimming pool, so have found it best for rental prospects (and rent charged) to have the lease renewed in January and August (i.e., a seven month followed by a five month). If a lease is broken, then the subsequent lease is only until either January or August. PM was not keen at first but we insisted.

I find that PMs will often take the easy way out so we have learned the hard way to put things in writing. And let's face it - they have the tenant in their office weekly moaning about the rent, so it is easier for them to talk the landlord down as it is often an unseen connection.
Marg

 

[juzzac]

Hi, capalist thanks for your pm
Sorry at this stage I don't want to mention any names as I really don't want this to get back to him as It could cause all kinds of problems with the G/f and her family as they seem to take his word as gospel, I was talking to my g/fs parents over the weekend and they told me they have always left it up to him to buy there properties and then sell them a few years later when he feels the time is right, he has also always adjusted the rent for them without contacting them first and even has any repairs done without notifying them, they seem to be happy with that arrangement. I sure am not and am in the process of changing to the real estate agent that manages my first property as I know how they operate.


Thanks mystery and marg4000
I must admit I am not always that organized and can see now that I left it to late to tell him how I wanted to change the rent. I guess I thought he would contact me or not change anything without confirming with me first, I am going to make sure I give at least 60 days notice in writing for rent rises in the future to all pms