Tenant liable for continuing rent???

[Property Mogul]

On behalf of a friend...she is renting and has received notification from the PM that the owners want to move into the house and so she must vacate on a specified date which is a few months off. Now if she finds a new place next week the PM has told her that she'll be liable for the continuing rent until the owner moves in. Does this sound right? Of course if the tenant breaks the lease then they are liable until a new tenant is found but in this case the lease is being broken by the owner and the PM will not be making any efforts to find a new tenant because the owner is moving back. It sounds a bit rich of the owner to me to evict my friend but effectively tell them they can't move out earlier should she find a new place before the eviction date.
My friend is now scouring through the fine print on her tenancy agreement.

Any thoughts???

 

[marg4000]

We were in a similar situation recently.

We sold an IP, the tenants had about 4 weeks to run on their lease so we made the settlement date after the lease ended.

After we had signed the contract to sell the tenants moved out. When we protested about making them honour their lease, the PM told us that it was necessary for us to make "every effort" to source a new tenant, obviously impossible as the unit had been sold.

We compromised on enforcing a 2 week notice period, so were out of pocket for the remaining 2 weeks of the lease.

In Queensland a lease has to be honoured, there is no way a tenant can be forced to move early just because the owner wants them to. Check the rules in your state.
Marg

 

[harb]

On behalf of a friend...she is renting and has received notification from the PM that the owners want to move into the house and so she must vacate on a specified date which is a few months off.

Is the date she's been told to vacate the same date as the end of her lease ? Before then, after then ?

 

[Xenia]

If the owner is breaking a lease agreement then the tenant is not liable as it is broken by mutual consent.

If they are not renewing the lease at the end of the term then the tenant is liable to the end of the lease they signed for.

 

[Perp]

In order to give an accurate answer to the original poster, we need to know whether the lease is for a fixed period, or a month-to-month lease, and if the former, when does the fixed period expire?

I suspect that it's a fixed period, and the owner has simply notified that they won't be renewing once the current lease expires. If that's the case, then yes, your friend has to honour the remainder of the lease.

 

[Dazz]

your friend has to.....

....but if she doesn't feel like it and just decides to choof off, there is no big hammer, no over-riding enforcement mechanism that can make her, especially if she is relatively poor.....and even better if she has sick children. The Landlord doesn't stand a chance of recovering any funds whatsoever.

My recommendation to your tenant friend would be to just bugger off and leave everything unpaid and unkempt. The Owners have only got 4 weeks of her bond (max), so that's the most she can lose, and of course the Landlord will have to pick up the full tab for cleaning and bills. If she leaves 2 or 3 months prior to the expiry date of the Lease, the Owner or PM can't do a thing about it.

Tell her don't waste her time reading the fine print of the agreement - it doesn't mean diddly squat when she has gone and left no forwarding address. No-one is going to follow through and enforce anything against her, it'll be far too costly and time consuming, not to mention the stress and frustration involved. Even if the Landlord or Agent try and hold your friend liable, no wet blanket magistrate or tribunal hearing is going to agree with them. They'll just say to the owner - you got vacant possession of the property - move on.

Your friend is in the hot seat of power in this negotiation. The Owner and Agent (PM) have got bugger all power, i.e. no legislative stroke, to do anything against her.

She's in a good possie.


The wife and I found out the hard way, how very difficult it is to enforce an educated adult to do anything at all if they totally disagree with something and continually refuse to compromise or agree on even the tiniest of matters. You're talking years and years of arguing the toss via squirrels to drag someone kicking and screaming to judgement....minus costs for the squirrels....which are typically 5 or 6 times the cost of what you are after in the first place. Beating your chest and using words like "have to" and "liable for" are just words and nothing more.

It's extremely difficult to force adults to do something they don't wish to do. I cannot emphasise this point enough.

 

[Perp]

Agree with all Dazz said.

I was talking about what she is legally supposed to do - even though Dazz is right that the sanctions for breaking the law are pathetic, she would still be breaking the law by taking the course of action that Dazz advocates. I guess I assume that people want to be on the right side of the law... but I'm bizarre like that.

The main possible concern for your friend if she takes this course of action is that she may get listed on a tenancy database, and that could make it difficult for her to get a rental in future.

 

[Property Mogul]

Thanks for all the advice..I'll pass it on.

 

[Property Mogul]

Just an update folks...the landlord has terminated my friends fixed lease early but expects her to continue paying rent until they move back in should she find somewhere else earlier than the eviction date. The cheek!

Cheers.

 

[harb]

I'd go with what Dazz said plus don't pay at least 8 weeks worth of rent. 4 for the bond and 4 for moving expenses.

 

[Strannik]

I''d stop paying rent right now, to make sure the owners don't get more than they deserve.

 

[GoAnna!]

She needs to speak to Consumer Affairs or the equivalent in ACT. Does anyone have the link because that site should make it 100% clear. Giving notice within a fixed lease would be illegal in Victoria and I am assuming also in ACT.

 

[geoffw]

As has been stated, it's hard to know because the lease terms are not clear- whether your friend is within a fixed term agreement or a continuing term. Or even in which state your friend resides- I'm assuming the ACT like yourself.

I find it unfair that the landlord can evict the tenant, and then insist that the tenant stays on for the remainder of the lease.

My first option would be negotiation.

But for some advice, I'd start looking at the websiet for the ACT governments website Office of Regulatory Service.

In particular, their link to the Tenants Union of ACT sounds useful (phone advice 9:30AM-1PM weekdays).

There is a clause within that website about "Termination without cause":

Clause 94 - Termination without cause
The RTA provides that a landlord is able to terminate a tenancy without providing a cause. This may only occur where:

(a) 26 weeks notice is given; and

(b) the notice does not require the tenant to vacate during a fixed term.

Note that a notice under cl 94 can be issued at any time (even during a fixed term tenancy), as long as the date for vacation is after the fixed term has expired.

Where cl 94 or cl 96 are used, the tenant may vacate at any time during the 2 weeks prior to the date for vacation on the landlord’s notice, as long as the tenant gives 4 days notice to the landlord (cl 95, cl 97). Also, the tenant can give their own 3 weeks notice of intention to vacate at any time during a periodic tenancy: cl 88.

However, from memory of past discussions, the owner can provide cause- of wanting to move in- which may supercede the above.

There is the Residential Tenancies Act which may contain some answers. I tried to find something, but with limited time and unlimited legalese I couldn't see anything.

 

[Perp]

My reading of this is that the landlord can't require a tenant to vacate prior to expiration of a fixed-term agreement without cause.

 

[IndexFund]

Stay till the lease contract states, then move out at the end of it, on the day it ends. If the landlord complains, tell him/her to get @^$%ed.