Professional whinger?

[fernfurn]

Had a call from the owner of the other townhouse on our block, that the water had been turned off twice. She asked our tenant up the front if she had done it, and yes, the water was leaking out of the tap in the ensuite.
This tenant has been in 3 months, called in an emergency locksmith the night they shifted in because the front door lock had jammed (I reckon they had a new key cut and wouldnt work properly myself) Then the complaint about the rangehood reversing itself and it blowing out air. She now says everytime she cooks it sets off the smoke alarm because its blowing out air. Now have just had a call from the Re saying tenant says the upstairs tap is flowing water and I have had to get a plumber to look at it. I am starting to worry this will be a neverending complaint session everytime they have to pay rent. This townhouse is only about 4 yrs old and any other tenants havent had these problems. Can I get her out after the year lease is up? She also has had unauthorised 2 dogs and a cat there, but evidently only cat there now.

 

[wylie]

Can I get her out after the year lease is up? She also has had unauthorised 2 dogs and a cat there, but evidently only cat there now.

She sounds like a nightmare. You can decide that you don't wish to renew her lease and make sure that she gets the appropriate notice in time.

 

[Dazz]

.....but what do you plan to do for the interim 9 months left ??

 

[skater]

Like Wylie said, yes, you can get rid of her when the lease ends. I'd also be making sure that the R/E knows how you stand with this one. Every time she calls for "maintenance" make sure that the R/E informs her that if the repair is either imaginary or of her doing, then she foots the bill. This should stem the calls a little.

 

[The Y-man]

Is it nearby? Could be time to put in an inspection to see for yourself.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[rugrat]

agree with skater - also, I know when I was a tenant that replacing washers in the taps were my responsibility, and that is all it sounds like needs doing.

 

[callander]

In situations where there seems to be a lot of maintenance issues as property managers we will go and take a look for ourselves.

get the pm to go take a look and see if the tap is gushing water or just dripping and take a look at the rangehood, should be obvious if its blowing air or working properly as you suspect.

its all part of managing the property and any issues and takes very little time. normally a tenant if they have maintenance issues are more than happy for the pm to drop by to take a look. get the pm to give the tenant a call.

 

[luvvit]

Celica
I also had a tennant that had a huge amount of real/imaginary problems, everything from water leaking in the bathroom (real) to the vertical blinds being inoperable (imagined)

From the day they moved in, they had a list of "issues" that needed to be addressed. I then instructed the agent to advise that any imaginary problems would be paid for by the tennant, and any repairs under the landlord/tennant act would be my responsibilty..

Havnt heard from them in 3 months......

I agree with Skater. Draw the line. If they cross it, they pay.

Luvvit

 

[skater]

Another one that I have had is plumbing. I always let the PM know that the tenant will be paying for it if the problem is them flushing pads/tampons etc. I have had a few tenants pay this. Funny, they don't do it again.

 

[geoffw]

The issues may be genuine, or may be caused by mistreatment as well. Get your tradies to determine the cause/severity of the problem.

Sometimes things go wrong and landlords then do have the obligation to make good.

And get your PM to earn their keep. Liase with them to ensure that problems are with the house and not the tenant. Also determine from them the consequences of an unauthorised pet. That may give you leverage.

 

[Pablo]

Do you have it written in the lease that they are not allowed to have pets? If so you can serve her with a breach and have her evicted if she doesn't get rid of her cat, a bit mean though.

I have had taps which constantly run, part of the washer breaks off and gets jammed not allowing the tap to turn off so this seems legit to me.

 

[The Fence]

Definately the cat and dog are a breach of agreement (so long as it's written in the lease)...there is your leverage....no more leaking taps and the cat will be overlooked....

 

[rugrat]

Definately the cat and dog are a breach of agreement (so long as it's written in the lease)...there is your leverage....no more leaking taps and the cat will be overlooked....

The prob is that if the landlord has knowledge of a breach and fails to act upon that knowledge the tribunnal veiws that as tantamount to allowing the tenants action, thus it is no longer a breach.

 

[wylie]

There seems to be no clear answer as to whether having a pet, after signing the lease saying you don't have a pet, actually is a breach.

Perhaps it varies from state to state. We always allow pets, so we have never had to worry about it.

Even if it is not a breach in the sense that you could evict a tenant due to them having a dog, when they stated they didn't have one (and maybe they got one afterwards anyway)..... then some landlords just would refuse to renew the lease. Either way, the tenant with a pet loses the house, either up front or at the end of the first lease period.

This costs the landlord fees for finding a new tenant..... who will probably say they don't have a dog, but sneak one in at some stage. If they don't renew a lease each time a tenant sneaks a pet in, they might as well spend that lost money in the PM taking a week's rent plus costs and use it to fix up the scratched door.

No wonder tenants say they don't have a dog. It must be hard looking for somewhere that will actually allow pets. So many landlords refuse to allow them.

In all the years we have had IPs we have not had any issues with pets, apart from the door being scratched or perhaps the grass being not quite as nice as if a dog was not running around.

I think a separate "pet bond" would go a long way to solving this and think some states may allow this already.

 

[skater]

I have to agree Wylie. We always allow pets and have had few, if any, problems from tenants pets. Although, I don't think I would be very impressed if I had a high rise unit and a tenant wanted to keep a dog. You have to think of what is suitable for the animal too.

 

[marg4000]

I always allow pets "by negotiation". Actually, although lots of tenants have had pets I really can't recall any damage being caused, unless it had been rectified before inspection.

They are going to have pets anyway, so by allowing them at the outset it is all out in the open and the tenants know the PM is going to be on the lookout for damage, which seems to encourage them to keep the pets under control.
Marg

 

[SYD]

I would also question the PM about the reference checks that were made on this tenant. Did the reference checks indicate any past problems?

 

[BayView]

I have to agree Wylie. We always allow pets and have had few, if any, problems from tenants pets. Although, I don't think I would be very impressed if I had a high rise unit and a tenant wanted to keep a dog. You have to think of what is suitable for the animal too.

In L.A this is standard procedure - pets in pretty much every apartment, and everyone seems ok with it.

I think it's just us Aussies that haven't made the adjustment yet.

We always allow pets. Usually no worries.

 

[skater]

In L.A this is standard procedure - pets in pretty much every apartment, and everyone seems ok with it.

I think it's just us Aussies that haven't made the adjustment yet.

We always allow pets. Usually no worries.

I understand that, however it has been my experience that a lot of Aussies are lazy and dogs need exercise. I just could not imagine the average Aussie putting in the required effort.

 

[BayView]

I understand that, however it has been my experience that a lot of Aussies are lazy and dogs need exercise. I just could not imagine the average Aussie putting in the required effort.

Nah; I see loads of huge Aussies waddling around the streets at 1 mile an hour getting their exercise and walking the dog.

Delusion is a very funny thing.

I must admit; I forgot to mention that the average L.A citizen has a "dog" that fits into a handbag, so these things don't need to be walked.