Tenant not vacating
- Thread starter dolby
- Start date
Short answer... Yes. You will need to go to VCAT and need to prove you've served notice correctly.
OP - I don't do NSW because I'm based in VIC, but again short answer is tribunal order to be made and you will need a warrant of possession where the sheriff/police will remove the tenants.
In both situations, don't forget that in most circumstances there will be items left behind and the property in a pretty poor state. Be prepared that you will likely need to go back to tribunal once you do get them out.
Zed_kid is in Melbourne. Not sure if his IP is though. The OP is in NSW.
So I went over to the property last night to try and talk to them face to face. They refused me entry and said that they'll call the cops if I don?t get off their property right now. The irony wasn't lost on me.
Is there any use of me going to the cops tonight? I assume they won't do anything without a VCAT warrant? These people no longer have a lease so they're effectively squatting at this time.
Is there any use of me going to the cops tonight? I assume they won't do anything without a VCAT warrant? These people no longer have a lease so they're effectively squatting at this time.
Did you give the tenant the appropriate notice?
How much notice did you give them. I'm not sure how long it is in Vic, but I'd assume you need to give in the vicinity of 90 days.
They are still under lease conditions if they didn't renew the lease, except now it is a periodic tenancy. You can't just give them 14 days. It doesn't work like that.
You can send them a notice for non payment of rent, but that won't get them out of your property if they pay. I'm getting the feeling that these tenants know the tenancy laws much better than you do.
Yes, it IS their property. Even thought they don't own it, it is their home. You can't just go there & harass them, or you will get yourself into all sorts of bother. They are not squatting. It looks to me like you have not served all the appropriate notices. If you do, and they don't move out, you can get them evicted, but it takes time.
I feel that you are really out of your depth on this, and you should consult a PM to help you. Of course, you will need to pay for them to deal with the mess that has been made.
You really are out of your depth. Unless you can quickly learn a lot more about residential tenancy laws in a hurry, then you should engage a professional, like Skater suggested.
Your tenants certainly could have called the cops on you - you were technically trespassing if you did not give proper notice or have some other legal basis to be there.
You don't seem to realise that once you lease out your home, you have given most of your ownership rights to your tenants for the period of the lease. That includes the right to be at the property if the tenants don't want you there.
I can't see the use of you going to the cops yourself unless you wanted to dob yourself in...
ZK, to be completely above board you need to serve a notice of entry - where entry is only permitted between 8am and 6pm.
Police won't do anything until a VCAT order is made.
You need to ensure you've served your notices correctly, have you applied to VCAT yet? You can do that 3 business days after serving the notice to vacate.
Even though the tenants haven't paid their rent and they're not on a fixed term tenancy, doesn't make them squatters - unfortunately they're still "tenants".
There's far more to this situation I'm sure, and we can't get the full picture from just these few posts.
Thanks LS, this is exactly what I was after, a straight yes/no answer.
Yeah fair enough, but terminating a tenancy isn't something that is so cut and dry - even if you have clear grounds like rent arrears.
Now you know how to apply to VCAT - there's potentially a whole lot of things that can happen once you're actually in VCAT.
Zed - watch out for "breach of duty to landlord". What for? Disruption of "Quiet Enjoyment". And hope you don't get sued a couple of grand.
The laws in Australia - got to love them!
And as far as getting an agent to look after your affairs - do it yourself, most of them are useless and don't care anyway. Just read the laws and you'll be fine.
The laws in Australia - got to love them!
And as far as getting an agent to look after your affairs - do it yourself, most of them are useless and don't care anyway. Just read the laws and you'll be fine.
It's the 'doing it himself' part that got him in a mess in the first place, and there are some really awesome property managers around, who DO care.
Personally I'd much rather farm the managing of my properties to a PM, than to take care of it myself. Way too much hassle, and I've got better things to do!
Been through this.
Hope you have landlord insurance. Comes in handy.
Also go for the bond when they finally leave.
Went through a similar thing. A bit of over the phone intimidation worked. He was a bit naive so got him to vacate the night before QCAT hearing. He threatened to pull down some parts of the house and told him bingo, it will be criminal case now for threatening property damage with the conversation retrievable by court order, dont care if that was possible or not but it worked. He left without damaging anything.
But a hardened rogue tenant can screw you, which is why appropriate checks are important - tica history (and number of enquiries logged), income, the story they have for wanting to rent, bond later proposals, etc. Any specific i will mention may be racist from the politically correct idiots so will resist, but you have the choice who u rent to. Its ur property!
Please do report them (individually) to TICA or get your property manager to do so. That would make renting hard for them and protect fellow investors.
Don't do anything illegal though, tenants are very dear to the system that protects them so well.
Hope you have landlord insurance. Comes in handy.
Also go for the bond when they finally leave.
Went through a similar thing. A bit of over the phone intimidation worked. He was a bit naive so got him to vacate the night before QCAT hearing. He threatened to pull down some parts of the house and told him bingo, it will be criminal case now for threatening property damage with the conversation retrievable by court order, dont care if that was possible or not but it worked. He left without damaging anything.
But a hardened rogue tenant can screw you, which is why appropriate checks are important - tica history (and number of enquiries logged), income, the story they have for wanting to rent, bond later proposals, etc. Any specific i will mention may be racist from the politically correct idiots so will resist, but you have the choice who u rent to. Its ur property!
Please do report them (individually) to TICA or get your property manager to do so. That would make renting hard for them and protect fellow investors.
Don't do anything illegal though, tenants are very dear to the system that protects them so well.
Trust you added a couple of days if sent by post. I almost got caught out on that but had dropped a copy in his mailbox (relevant IP was not too far).
[QUOTE
Personally I'd much rather farm the managing of my properties to a PM, than to take care of it myself. Way too much hassle, and I've got better things to do![/QUOTE]
Yep your personal preference. No hard and fast rule. Coz if you have a good tenant, it takes no time to receive rent in your bank account Parting away 8.8% or so for managing bank transfers is nonsense.
Have had a bad experience and that was a good learning. And that learning did not involve using a pm next!
Personally I'd much rather farm the managing of my properties to a PM, than to take care of it myself. Way too much hassle, and I've got better things to do![/QUOTE]
Yep your personal preference. No hard and fast rule. Coz if you have a good tenant, it takes no time to receive rent in your bank account
Parting away 8.8% or so for managing bank transfers is nonsense.Have had a bad experience and that was a good learning. And that learning did not involve using a pm next!
I'd suggest you'd have more success calling the boys on bikes than the boys in blue. Perhaps you should make friends with a large Maori family.
http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/hous...or-residency/landlord-giving-notice-to-vacate
Looks like you need to give 60 days notice
