Tenant trashed garden with a bobcat :-(

Update

The RE has agreed to refund some of there management fees. Quotes have been obtained to restablish the garden, they come to more than the bond amount. Forms to claim the full amount of bond have been lodged. A letter with before and after photos has been sent to the Tenant with the quote for the garden and a list of damages caused while they were there, all this is backed up by the inspection report that was conducted prior to them moving in. Tenant has admitted to bulldozing the garden and is currently fighting with the PM.
 
There's a positive call for ya. Good work. I freely admit I have no clue, dunno 'bout the rest.




Perhaps your slightly similar experience carries no weight in this case.....hard to say over the internet without knowing all of the relevant facts.


No - put bluntly you really dont know what your on about. You should not scare the hell out of people saying - tough luck let the scum walk all over you - which essentially is what your post said, or ended on at least.

What happened to Nic0 was the result of gross neglect and failure to adhere to a contract by the the REAgency he used via the PM - who is their agent in the matter. You cant accues Nic0 of "asking questions to late" - its not his job to - thats why he PAYS a PM to represent him in a professional capacity. The fact they said there was nothing wrong with the property for such a long time proves they were FRAUDULENTLY claiming to have done inspections...which is actually criminal as said inspections constitute a part of the charges to manage the property. I mean he even has witnesses!

My case was similar for this reason - they didn't properly inspect the property for 8 months - in Nic0's case X years. And exactly like Nic0 my neighbors backed me up about the dog.

Nic0 if you dont get justice from the tenant then you have the REAgency over a barrel - and they know it. The words "I will sue your a$$" sounds like something from a movie but when your in the right they have the desired effect. Tell the agency simply = get it back the way it was from the tenants pocket - or its coming from yours.....plus court costs. And give them a time frame and do it all in writing.

The REAgency I got the $3k off was in the Kwinana paper 3 months later - they were being sued by 2 other landlords for the same thing I experienced.

<KS>
 
No - put bluntly you really dont know what your on about. You should not scare the hell out of people saying - tough luck let the scum walk all over you - which essentially is what your post said, or ended on at least.

What happened to Nic0 was the result of gross neglect and failure to adhere to a contract by the the REAgency he used via the PM - who is their agent in the matter. You cant accues Nic0 of "asking questions to late" - its not his job to - thats why he PAYS a PM to represent him in a professional capacity. The fact they said there was nothing wrong with the property for such a long time proves they were FRAUDULENTLY claiming to have done inspections...which is actually criminal as said inspections constitute a part of the charges to manage the property. I mean he even has witnesses!

My case was similar for this reason - they didn't properly inspect the property for 8 months - in Nic0's case X years. And exactly like Nic0 my neighbors backed me up about the dog.

Nic0 if you dont get justice from the tenant then you have the REAgency over a barrel - and they know it. The words "I will sue your a$$" sounds like something from a movie but when your in the right they have the desired effect. Tell the agency simply = get it back the way it was from the tenants pocket - or its coming from yours.....plus court costs. And give them a time frame and do it all in writing.

The REAgency I got the $3k off was in the Kwinana paper 3 months later - they were being sued by 2 other landlords for the same thing I experienced.

<KS>

I think you will find TPFKAD was giving a blunt (but accurrate) assessment of what is required to successfully mount a case in any rental tribunal. Does that make him a doom and gloomer?

I just picked up the bit in your post though that you claimed for $3000 damages for a job that only cost $1400 to do! (under threat of litigation). I generally refuse to have REA as clients in my litigation practice but if your ex managing agent was one I would have run the case on the following basis:
1.Client complain to Police re:extortion attempt
2. Dispute claim-get own quote and offer to settle for $1400
3. Whether settle or hearing your legals would have been greater than $1400 or $3000 for that matter.
4. Gone to media? Defamation suit in there somewhere too I expect.


Is claiming a 3K loss for damages of $1.4k any different than an agent saying he's done inspections when he hasn't?:confused:
 
Thanks for everyones opinions, you are entitled to them and thats what makes this forum so great!!!! ;-) I haven't taken offence to any of them. This is an open forum and i don't want to get sued so i won't release the name and location of the office, but they are part of E*ders Limited.

If they fix the problem i wont sack them but i will micro manage the F*** out of them. Some of the other agents in the area are just as bad, which is why i selected Elde*s in the first place.
 
It really sucks that they bulldozed what was once your ppor's exotic garden!

Doesn't landlord's insurance cover this sort of thing if the tenants don't pay for it to be fixed?
 
It really sucks that they bulldozed what was once your ppor's exotic garden!

Doesn't landlord's insurance cover this sort of thing if the tenants don't pay for it to be fixed?

Generally, they only cover where it has been neglected and needs a gardener to go through an mow/clean up. Looks like these tenants *really* cleaned it up - so the insurance company is likely to see it as "no overgrowth, no weeds, no problem"....


Cheers,

The Y-man
 
I think you will find TPFKAD was giving a blunt (but accurrate) assessment of what is required to successfully mount a case in any rental tribunal. Does that make him a doom and gloomer?

I just picked up the bit in your post though that you claimed for $3000 damages for a job that only cost $1400 to do! (under threat of litigation). I generally refuse to have REA as clients in my litigation practice but if your ex managing agent was one I would have run the case on the following basis:
1.Client complain to Police re:extortion attempt
2. Dispute claim-get own quote and offer to settle for $1400
3. Whether settle or hearing your legals would have been greater than $1400 or $3000 for that matter.
4. Gone to media? Defamation suit in there somewhere too I expect.


Is claiming a 3K loss for damages of $1.4k any different than an agent saying he's done inspections when he hasn't?:confused:

1) The REA called the meeting - so its hardly extortion, he admitted they were in the wrong before I even opened my mouth
2) I sold timber floors for a living at the time - for Eclipse Flooring - my assessment for $3k was generous and I challenged them to seek as many alternate quotes as they wanted.
3) No legals when there is no case!
4) You cant get sued for telling the local papers the truth.

And to answer your last part - I WORKED SELLING FLOORS. I called in a favor and got the floors done cheaply, $1400 is what I paid in cash (no tax perk) - but not what the job was worth. Also I had nothing but huge stress for 14 months whilst these morons 'looked after' my properties (yes they looked after 3 of them) and I had to pay them about $1500 for the privilege while they faked property reports and let dogs in my house(s).

Also for your information I could have pushed to have the floors completely replaced as veneer never properly comes back to its original factory finished state - that would have cost the REAgency $11,000 - so yes I was generous.

And once again I rebut that TPFKAD appraisal was not realistic. Why even go to a tribunal? The REA it seems has admitted fault - being straight forward with the REA and sounding like you know what your doing will put more pressure on them than a 'no teeth' tribunal.

And a reminder. The purpose of this thread is not to tell its creator how screwed he is and what he did wrong (I am guessing he worked that out) but to help him see how he can help himself. Being positive is the first step to fixing a problem.

<KS>


P.S - NICO - DONT USE THEM ANYMORE. IT IS THE SAME GROUP I USED.
 
Update
The PM & tenant went to mediation with the Qld RTA, tenant went in fighting but backed down when the before and after photos and inspection report were produced. The tenants are now renting another property. As a condition of receiving the full amount of bond the RE had to agree that they would not pursue the tenant for anymore costs and that they wouldn’t black list them on the database.

I inspected the property it’s allot worst than I thought, the lights fittings were hanging from one screw in two of the rooms, two of the bedrooms had holes in the walls, the living room had a large hole near the front door, curtains are missing, towel rack missing, it would appear they mounted something in the bathroom as there are a lot of small holes in the wall.

The garden is gone, there was a garden bed along a retaining wall it doesn’t exist, all the plants in the back yard are gone, the garden lighting is gone, and the poly pipe to the waterfall is gone. Pool cleaning equipment is missing.

I have started the ball rolling with the insurance company CGU to see how much it’s going to cost me to claim.

PS. i have a new PM.
 
Nic0,
To be honest, creating an eco mini-rainforest for an ip sounds a terrible idea.. low maintainence or not.

Reminds me of this thread http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48705
Hate to say it but I highly doubt there will be any recourse for a wrecked garden if taken to the small claims tribunal.. Or has the pm given the bond back already?

Yes, I had to replace all my trees, and couldn't do anything about it, but I think this situation is a bit different. in my case it was about the tenant not having gardening skills, with your case its obvious theft and vandalism. I would be calling the police and having them charged.

What next, will tenants start to dismantle the house and selling the parts?
 
As a condition of receiving the full amount of bond the RE had to agree that they would not pursue the tenant for anymore costs and that they wouldn’t black list them on the database.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt if you agreed to those conditions. I wonder how common that "negotiated outcome" is with tribunals and mediators ??

I wouldn't be surprised if the Insurance Co. chucks a wobbly over that, as they will have extreme trouble pursuing the Tenants for any loss over and above the Bond. It's not in their shareholders interests to be dolling cash out to policy holders without trying to extract something out of the other party first.



I inspected the property it’s allot worst than I thought

I have started the ball rolling with the insurance company CGU to see how much it’s going to cost me to claim.

See above. If you were KS, you'd be fine and home free smelling like roses.....apparently just sounding like you know what you are talking about does the trick every time. They'll roll over and pay you twice what the damage bill is. :rolleyes:

Being a mere mortal however, the Insurance Co. might take a dim view when their solicitors assess your claim of damage over and above the pitiful Bond amount.
 
Yes I agree that you should make these low life tenants pay for every cent of the damage they have done and the theft that has taken place. This is as bad as it gets in not respecting other peoples property.
 
Being a keen gardener myself I understand your anguish.

I see a sort of warning for myself here actually.

Our current PPOR is a 4 yo BV&T that didn't have 1 plant in the back yard (appart from rubbish grass). We have spent about 4K on plants (palms, ferns, cordylines etc) to create a tropical garden. Have also put in a bali hut. Hubbie has also put in a spa sunken into the deck. Looks great now.

This PPOR was always going to be an in between home for us till we could aford to build our dream home on our block. I had always intended to sell when we are ready but now hubbie thinks we should turn it into a IP.

Trouble is I cant see a tennant looking after the garden. Had some thoughts about that. Maybe we could market it as a executive rental for local companies that have people transfered for a couple of months at a time, is this done? and the other was that we rent it out with "garden maintenance included" as part of the lease. Keep it looking nice with a top rent?

I sold a PPOR 3.5 years ago that I loved, cried when I shut the door for the last time. I will regret selling that one for the restof my life. We sold it mainly because I had retored it (federation) and couldn't bare to see it trashed by tenants. Have just seen it listed for sale again for 28% more than I got for it and I know the owners havent done a thing to it, in fact it isnt presented as well as I had it.

So I'm thinking I will regret it if I sell this house as well. I dont have the emotional attachment to this one although I would be really p****d if the garden was trashed. The garden doesn't require alot of maintenance, maybe 1 visit every month in winter, 1 every fortnight in Summer.

Does anyone think this is a good idea?
 
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