Problem tenant

[chilliaa]

Hi just wanted to get a bit of advice from some of the more experienced property investors.
Got a tenant who has been consistently behind in the rent. Lots of lies, promises etc and failure to deliver.
Anway to cut a long story short, my property mananager has got a new tenant in today..
But the ex tenant still owes money.
Now this ex tenant holds a reasonable employment position $120k+ p.a

Once the new tenant is comfortably moved in, i plan to start calling all the ex tenants references and his place of work, demanding to know where he is and WHERE is my MONEY!!!!!!
If i haras enough at his place of work, i think he will cough up my money.

Can i get into any legal trouble with this, given he is no longer a current tenant, and he is out of the property already????

thanks

 

[sydneyguy]

just a quick comment (not advice) that what a disgrace for someone's earning 120K+ not to pay up as he should -- must be some dodgy sales

I feel for you chilliaa

 

[josko]

I guess you haven't got Rentcover? I also assume you have managed the property yourself.
This is why I pay Property Managers commission.
I have just had a bad tenant myself. The Property Manager evicted my tenant and took the matter to the Tribunal. I've lost no sleep over it as I'm about to receive every cent back.

However if I was you, I'd ring the tenants workplace too! Good luck!

 

[willy008]

This is why I pay Property Managers commission.

Iv had that problem and I use property managers, the tenant moves out
and the managers forget all about them and stick new tenant's in.

 

[josko]

Did you change managers? What does it say in your contract with the Real Estate?
Do you have Landlord Insurance?
I've had it happen to me with three seperate properties in the past 18 months and in every case the PM has taken it to court and got my money back.

 

[sash]

Hi just wanted to get a bit of advice from some of the more experienced property investors.
Got a tenant who has been consistently behind in the rent. Lots of lies, promises etc and failure to deliver.
Anway to cut a long story short, my property mananager has got a new tenant in today..
But the ex tenant still owes money.
Now this ex tenant holds a reasonable employment position $120k+ p.a

Once the new tenant is comfortably moved in, i plan to start calling all the ex tenants references and his place of work, demanding to know where he is and WHERE is my MONEY!!!!!!
If i haras enough at his place of work, i think he will cough up my money.

Can i get into any legal trouble with this, given he is no longer a current tenant, and he is out of the property already????

thanks

Chilla.....I am presuming you have Land Lords insurance....if so claim on this. Becareful about harassing your former tenant....there could be legal or even worse issues.

There is one way your tenant does not do this again...get him listed on TICA database for poor tenants. He will realise the error of his ways next time he rents!

 

[Xenia]

If the tenant has been given appropriate notices at the right times to terminate, you can claim for losses through landlord's insurance and recover some of the cost through claiming for the bond.

After a lease is terminated if money is still owed it needs to go onto a tenant default database as a debtor. TICA and NTD are the common ones for Australia and can only be listed if you have a pm. The tenant will need to recover the cost before he is able to rent again and that is the only way their name can be cleared.

I definately would not harras at work etc...

The tenants salary has nothing to do with the arrears, there are many tenants on the low end salaries that also refuse to pay rent.

 

[GoAnna!]

I would get PM to place it on his credit record. Letter advising him of this prior may sort things quickly. I am sure that some-one on $120K plus would be planning on getting a credit card, car loan personal loan or house loan at some stage PM should know the process.

 

[Kristine..]

We have finally received notice that the Tribunal has upheld our claim against a tenant who was nothing but trouble - late from the second month right through until eviction.

However, after forfeiture of the bond, we were still owed about $1,500. I contacted the insurance company and was told the excess on the claim would be $500.

So Landlord's insurance does not give you 'every cent' back!

When there was a fire in one of the houses a couple of years ago the excess was $100 for $10,000 worth of fire damage. Obviously, a defaulting tenant must be more common, and thus more expensive to the insurance company, than a fire. The insurance company assured me that they then bring suit against the tenant to recover the money paid to me, so it was some comfort that the tenant does not get off scott free even though making an insurance claim will cost me 30% of the amount owed.

I am morally outraged that this person decided that they didn't have to pay rent. A neighbour told us that the tenant had moved locally and had told the neighbour that the new place was $100 per week more.

This time - this is the third tenant to do this in our 14 years of landlording - it will be the Debt Collection agency. No more Mrs Nice Guy for me.

Cheers
Kristine

 

[Xenia]

Some insurance brokers like Terri Scheer do not have an excess with their landlord policies and the bond is not taken out of the claim amount.

May be worth looking into and comparing.

 

[marg4000]

Terri Scheer DOES have excesses - we phoned about making a claim and were amazed. We were looking at tenant damage, and the excess is $100 per "incident". So if there is multiple damages, Terri Scheer could decide that they are all separate incidents and the excess could climb alarmingly.

We were also told (by phoning Terri Scheer) that the bond would have to be exhausted before a claim would be condsidered, as that is what the bond is for.

We also found out that removal of rubbish is not covered under the policy. As we were looking at lots of debris including car parts, this could have been expensive.

Thankfully the tenant did an about-turn and did a great job cleaning up and making good, so we never got to test the issue.

This is in Queensland, maybe things are different interstate.
Marg

 

[Bazza]

Now this ex tenant holds a reasonable employment position $120k+ p.a

He's probably a Solicitor

Cheers,

Bazza

 

[chilliaa]

Chilla.....I am presuming you have Land Lords insurance....if so claim on this. Becareful about harassing your former tenant....there could be legal or even worse issues.

There is one way your tenant does not do this again...get him listed on TICA database for poor tenants. He will realise the error of his ways next time he rents!

Yes i have landlords insurance. Property manager did an excellent job getting him out, finding a replacement tenant and did not even charge me a reletting fee. He said he would try to get it from the ex tenant since he effectively is breaking his lease.

I also plan on taking him to court and then blacklisting him. But i also want him to feel the heat by making sure his place of work knows whats happening.

 

[chilliaa]

I would get PM to place it on his credit record. Letter advising him of this prior may sort things quickly. I am sure that some-one on $120K plus would be planning on getting a credit card, car loan personal loan or house loan at some stage PM should know the process.

Yes thats a very good idea

 

[Ajax]

Chilliaa,

you need to get a judgment against the tenant first. In NSW it can either be from the Local court or CTTT. Not sure about Victoria.

Have just been through this...have a Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal order that tenant owes me $2,500. If you do get a judgement you can then (in NSW) have it regsitered in a NSW local court then have court issue a garnishee order against the ex-tenant's employer. Then employer must pay the debt (deducting it from the ex-tenant's salary).

Knew a woman about 10 years ago who was a senior fx dealer for a merchant bank in Sydney. Even though she was earning 160 k p.a. (equivalent of about 250k today) she could not pay rent as she and her boyfriend were too busy shooting up after work each day.

Ajax

 

[tssk]

Report them to TICA. There is no excuse for people on that sort of income to not pay rent. When we were dirt poor we always made our rent. Better to skip the odd meal than the odd bill.

 

[natmarie73]

Yes definately report them to TICA, and also get a debt collection agency after them - there is nothing so stressful as receiving a letter from a debt collection agency! There is no excuse for someone on that sort of salary not being able to pay rent and they need to be taught a lesson in responsibility.