Problems with tenant

C

chibs

Hello,
I'm looking for advise to help with a fickle tenancy situation.

The current tenant hasn't paid rent for 6 months and he refused to leave the house. Apparently just went thru a divorce. The rental agency where the property manager work did not want to take responsibility.
Warning/eviction letters have been sent 3 times and the tenant still refused to move.

Any advises on what to do? Is it a lawful thing to do to simply change the lock of the house ?
 
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Don't understand how the property firm doesn't take responsibility. Clearly the agent acts for them. You should name and shame them.
 
I don't understand how a situation like this can happen for 6 months? Is this in WA?

Broadly you need to deal with the tenancy issues so it doesn't get any worse, and then deal with the agency after that.
 
Yes, it's in WA

Name and shame it is. Reliance Realty is the agency.

It's actually my brother who's in this situation. I don't know how it gets to that stage in the first place, probably too much reliance on property manager.

What's the lawful thing to do to evict this tenant ?
 
You are not supposed to enter the house, dump all their stuff on the street and then change the locks.

But if they want to play hardball, sometimes enough is enough, and it maybe worth chancing the risk of being taken to court. (Have any land lords had this done to them?)

I was in a similar situation before, I didn't dump the stuff out on the street but I gave them a day and time when I was changing the locks, move it or lose it, they chose to move it.

Chomp
 
If the tenant is still there, how did they get the bond released? Or was it never lodged in the first place?

Does the real estate agent have all the paperwork including the notices that they've sent? Find out where you are in the legal process of evicting the tenant, and pick it up from that point.
 
Your brother should get another agency in to help him asap, if he doesn't know how to handle things tenancy side.

On the agency side, he should get some legal advice on that if he doesn't like the answer that the agency is giving him. I may be able to assist with this side of things.
 
Anyway. Reliance need to sort it out and get the tenant out if they have ordered eviction. If they will not then he needs to get another PM to handle it.

No rent for 6mths is just gobsmacking. He should never allowed it to get to this stage.
 
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Seems like I got the wrong info. Bond was handed over after 2 months and only after complaint was lodged to Department of Commerce. But they're not doing anything to evict this problematic tenant.

He has contacted Department of Commerce, but the only thing they do is to record the complaints.

Unfortunately, the tenancy law is very specific and is protecting the tenant. He sent the breach notice to tenant using registered post, but apparently that's not the right procedure to follow.

Lodging a lawsuit against the agency will be expensive, it will cost more than the amount already lost.
 
chibs said:
Seems like I got the wrong info. Bond was handed over after 2 months and only after complaint was lodged to Department of Commerce. But they're not doing anything to evict this problematic tenant.

He has contacted Department of Commerce, but the only thing they do is to record the complaints.

Unfortunately, the tenancy law is very specific and is protecting the tenant. He sent the breach notice to tenant using registered post, but apparently that's not the right procedure to follow.

Lodging a lawsuit against the agency will be expensive, it will cost more than the amount already lost.
Click to expand...

Nothing about this makes any sense.

1. Why is your brother complaining to Department of Commerce? I'm not sure what he's trying to achieve unless its to dob himself in for not lodging the bond properly?

2. Tenancy is not that specific and doesn't protect the tenant here. Registered post is fine and arguably overkill given time is of the essence. Did your brother send the notice or his PM? Why isn't the PM handling this?

3. Lodging a "lawsuit" isn't necessarily expensive, nor would it necessarily cost more than the amount he's already lost. You don't have to "lodge" anything to start the process of claiming money back anyway.
 
chibs said:
...Unfortunately, the tenancy law is very specific and is protecting the tenant. ...
Click to expand...

It is very specific and that's good, not bad.

There is a specific procedure to evict tenants. It takes time, but once followed you will have the strong arm of the law on your side to force the tenant out.

Start that process immediately. If you don't know how to do it then find somebody who does. It varies from state to state.
 
Sorry to confuse, I only got bits and pieces of the story.
Here's the story as I understand it.

It started when he noticed that the PM has let the tenant stay without paying for 2 months. He also noticed that the utilities bills haven't been reimbursed for a while. Everytime he asked, the PM said the tenants will reimburse later. My bro asked the PM to send a breach notice and also asked them to sign an affidavit (must be some sort of written statement). The PM refuse to sign the statement as it can be used against them.

So he decided to sack the agency and send the breach notice himself. He tried sending it 3 times, all 3 times got rejected when he took it to the Magistrate court. Apparently the timing needs to be done according to the document attached and he's been getting it wrong. Every time, he get it wrong, he needs to start all over. That's how it comes to 6 months I guess.

Regarding the bond, it's still lodged with Department of Commerce as tenant is still in the property. The PM/agency made it difficult to transfer the bond under my brother's name when he terminate the PM, so he took it up with Department of Commerce to complain about it.
 

Attachments

  • breach.pdf
    159 KB · Views: 50
The problem is he's trying to self-manage under the most difficult circumstances possible, and he clearly doesn't have the knowledge and expertise to do so. He needs to try and find a decent PM to manage this process properly, or get a lawyer to do it for him.
 
Perp said:
The problem is he's trying to self-manage under the most difficult circumstances possible, and he clearly doesn't have the knowledge and expertise to do so. He needs to try and find a decent PM to manage this process properly, or get a lawyer to do it for him.
Click to expand...

This. Why doesn't he get a new PM as soon as possible?

He should of done this ages ago, when he realised his current PMs were useless.
 
It looks like your brother has a fool for a pm. Oh, he is the PM. QED.

Get a pm back on the case as the tenant will bleed him dry if he continues fumbling along.
 
He is reluctant because he got burnt by the last one. He's not convinced a PM will do a good job and thus becomes self-reliant. It's unfair to judge all PMs are the same I know. Will see if I can persuade him to hire an experienced PM.
 
a lot does not make sense. think you will need to engage someone who knows what they are doing or suffer more loses. serious allegation about the bond money being taken, now released, 6 month rent arrears, notices lodged multiple times.

get it managed properly and clean up the confusion. good luck.
 
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