Tenant breaking lease - Can't do anything?

H

HTO

Property is in NSW. Tenant moved in 3 months ago on a 6 month lease. They will be breaking the lease and moving into a Department of Housing property.

PM is telling me that because they are moving into a DOH (they have provided the paperwork), they can break the lease with a two weeks notice?

A tenant breaking a lease normally has to pay the additional cost it takes to find another tenant. But if the tenant is moving into the DOH, I'm told there is nothing we can do about it?

Never heard of this one before. Anyway... lets hope a new tenant can move in quickly to reduce cost.
 
Yep - Section 100 of the Residential Tenancies Act states

(1) A tenant may give a termination notice for a fixed term agreement on any of the following grounds:

(a) that the tenant has been offered, and accepted, accommodation in social housing premises,

(b) that the tenant has accepted a place in an aged care facility or requires care in such a facility,

(c) that the landlord has notified the tenant of the landlord’s intention to sell the residential premises and did not disclose the proposed sale before entering into the residential tenancy agreement,

(d) that a co-tenant or occupant or former co-tenant or occupant is prohibited by a final apprehended violence order from having access to the residential premises.

(2) The termination notice must specify a termination date that is not earlier than 14 days after the day on which the notice is given.

(3) The termination notice may specify a termination date that is before the end of the fixed term of the residential tenancy agreement.

(4) The tenant is not liable to pay any compensation or other additional amount for the early termination of the agreement.

I had to go to the CTTT as my previous PM hadn't bothered to read the changes to the act so know it well.
 
These are some of the risks in residential property investing.

Ignore them at peril, account for risk and work it in.

It's not the end of your world, find another tenant or be totally discouraged and sell up.

If these things come as a surprise then not enough DD has been done before investing in this asset class.

Sorry but the rules and regs need to be known and whilst many only hear about the "weighted to tenant" stories most dont hear the success of those who have the ability to rise above and press on and become a success.

Cue Dazz with a put down and suggest that commercial is the "only way".:D

But he did start somewhere and it was resi....;)
 
This was well and truly advertised when the new Residential Tenancies act 2010 came into force. There are plenty of people who are on a waiting list for DOH.

Maybe you should request your PM to update their tenant selection process to include the question if you feel so hard done by. Mind you, even if they aren't on a wait list today when the tenancy is approved, they may be tomorrow.

Are you going to feel the same way if you lease the place to a high-flyer and they have an accident placing them in a nursing home?
 
If you have a landlord insurance check if you have cover for loss of income if tenant breaks the lease. It may not be a standard cover and I haven't really check what the conditions are to make a claim.
 
I do believe some of the rules that came in force a couple of years ago in NSW were pretty hard on the owners.

I've never worked in NSW under these new rules but did previously for 5 years.

What's the new rule where if the owner gives a termination notice to the tenant, the tenant is able to (within that notice period) stroll into the office and hand over the keys and only pay rent to that particular day (giving no notice at all).
I'd be interested in your thoughts if you have had practical experience with this because I was happy to move down to VIC when I was reading the new laws haha.
 
That regulation applies where notice is given toward the end of the lease (owners not renewing) but the date for vacating is after the expiry of the lease the tenant can vacate without having to give further notice.
 
MichaelGilbert said:
I do believe some of the rules that came in force a couple of years ago in NSW were pretty hard on the owners.

I've never worked in NSW under these new rules but did previously for 5 years.

What's the new rule where if the owner gives a termination notice to the tenant, the tenant is able to (within that notice period) stroll into the office and hand over the keys and only pay rent to that particular day (giving no notice at all).
I'd be interested in your thoughts if you have had practical experience with this because I was happy to move down to VIC when I was reading the new laws haha.
Click to expand...

Well, the owner wants the tenant out don't they?

Where is the problem with that?

Why does the tenant need to give notice when notice was given to them?

I like it, gets rid of them ASAP just when you need them gone.;)
 
I also like the new rule that allows the landlord to apply for tribunal hearing simultaneously with termination on grounds of non payment of rent AND if the tenant decides to pay even just a few dollars the whole thing does not start over again if they are habitual late payers. Out on their ear no matter if they even pay up to date.

that's a great rule and I do have experience with it, informing a habitual late paying tenant of ours of such ramifications of continuing to be late.

Needless to say they are now well in front and like clockwork every week.

Depends if you are scared of the new rules or are prepared to work within them.

When people say the rules are weighted to tenants, why do we assume its completely biased? It's not.
 
The Fence said:
Well, the owner wants the tenant out don't they?

Where is the problem with that?

Why does the tenant need to give notice when notice was given to them?

I like it, gets rid of them ASAP just when you need them gone.;)
Click to expand...

Hey, sorry for the late reply.

As a property manager I use to give tenants the 60 days notice when I wanted them out (for whatever reason), yet I wanted atleast 21 days notice in return to allow time to re - rent the property to new tenants. Sounds a bit rude haha but it certainly came in handy to avoid sticky situations while reducing the time the property is vacant for.

I used it where tenants were very sloppy with their rent yet not bad enough to evict them.
 
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