Hi everyone
I'm after some opinions on the following... We settled this week on a 4bed townhouse in Sydney. The tenants are on a fixed term lease until 13 December. During the contract period we did an inspection and found:
- there are 4 people (2 couples) living in the property but only 2 people are on the lease
- the place is filthy inside and the yard is very overgrown and full of weeds. It was brand new when the tenants moved in just under 2 years ago.
- they are keeping two small dogs inside despite a pet annexure only allowing them to keep the dogs outside. The dogs are locked in the downstairs tiled areas for a lot of the day when all 4 tenants are at work/uni. There was pooh on the floor in the bathroom and a square of paper on the floor near the toilet also had more pooh on it.
- the tenant let drop that the dogs had peed on the carpet in various areas on a number of occasions.
- the tenant has installed child gates in one doorway and at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dogs on the tiles when they are not home.
- the downstairs areas in particular smelt really bad from the dogs being in there.
The tenants also have a history of being very difficult to arrange inspections with. They insist on being present due to the dogs, as apparently a prior agent let a dog outside when doing an inspection and it ran away (dog shouldn't have been inside anyway!). A final inspection was booked just prior to settlement and the tenant simply failed to turn up, despite having insisted on being present due to the dogs. They didn't call to explain and couldn't be reached. This inspection is to be re-booked, although we still settled.
So...what is our best approach with these tenants? Our PM will now re-book the inspection that should have taken place pre-settlement. Should we:
1. Issue a termination notice for breaches due to 4 people living there and dogs inside? What proof do we need? What happens if they recitify these issues, are we obligated to let them stay until at least the fixed term lease expires? Or
2. Attempt to book another inspection and then issue a warning letter advising of the breaches and telling them to clean up their act and move the dogs outside, and then just not renew the lease in December? Bad time to have the property vacant though?
3. Do nothing for now (that could potentially annoy the tenants) and just not renew in December? Again, isn't this a really bad time to have a vacancy? If so, how can we get around this?
Finally, no matter when the tenants eventually vacate (we are committed to them leaving), can we make a claim from the bond monies for the internal cleaning and deodorising of the property, including carpet cleaning, due to them having dogs inside the property? Can we also claim monies to tidy up the yard? This is all it should really take to get the place back up to scratch (and we would do it regardless).
Sorry for the long post, but being still relatively new to the world of PI I just want to get it right. Thanks.
Angela
I'm after some opinions on the following... We settled this week on a 4bed townhouse in Sydney. The tenants are on a fixed term lease until 13 December. During the contract period we did an inspection and found:
- there are 4 people (2 couples) living in the property but only 2 people are on the lease
- the place is filthy inside and the yard is very overgrown and full of weeds. It was brand new when the tenants moved in just under 2 years ago.
- they are keeping two small dogs inside despite a pet annexure only allowing them to keep the dogs outside. The dogs are locked in the downstairs tiled areas for a lot of the day when all 4 tenants are at work/uni. There was pooh on the floor in the bathroom and a square of paper on the floor near the toilet also had more pooh on it.
- the tenant let drop that the dogs had peed on the carpet in various areas on a number of occasions.
- the tenant has installed child gates in one doorway and at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dogs on the tiles when they are not home.
- the downstairs areas in particular smelt really bad from the dogs being in there.
The tenants also have a history of being very difficult to arrange inspections with. They insist on being present due to the dogs, as apparently a prior agent let a dog outside when doing an inspection and it ran away (dog shouldn't have been inside anyway!). A final inspection was booked just prior to settlement and the tenant simply failed to turn up, despite having insisted on being present due to the dogs. They didn't call to explain and couldn't be reached. This inspection is to be re-booked, although we still settled.
So...what is our best approach with these tenants? Our PM will now re-book the inspection that should have taken place pre-settlement. Should we:
1. Issue a termination notice for breaches due to 4 people living there and dogs inside? What proof do we need? What happens if they recitify these issues, are we obligated to let them stay until at least the fixed term lease expires? Or
2. Attempt to book another inspection and then issue a warning letter advising of the breaches and telling them to clean up their act and move the dogs outside, and then just not renew the lease in December? Bad time to have the property vacant though?
3. Do nothing for now (that could potentially annoy the tenants) and just not renew in December? Again, isn't this a really bad time to have a vacancy? If so, how can we get around this?
Finally, no matter when the tenants eventually vacate (we are committed to them leaving), can we make a claim from the bond monies for the internal cleaning and deodorising of the property, including carpet cleaning, due to them having dogs inside the property? Can we also claim monies to tidy up the yard? This is all it should really take to get the place back up to scratch (and we would do it regardless).
Sorry for the long post, but being still relatively new to the world of PI I just want to get it right. Thanks.
Angela