Tenant vacated and left the house in bad state

Hi,
My PM had let me know of some rental breaches over start of summer and then suggested we ask them to leave at end of lease. They have done a runner owing about $1800 in rent plus now apparently the carpets are beyond use, house needs complete repaint plus a few repairs to furniture etc. See letter below?

"Obviously though now the mess has gone we can now see the damages and unfortunately there is quite a lot more then I would have liked.

This includes a lot of marks and dents and knocks in the walls, every wall, carpets are beyond use and need replacing, vanity units need repairing, light blulbs need replacing, screens need replacing, dog tracks and holes need filling.



So today I have sent out quotes for the following.

2x quotes for a whole house repaint, I have asked them to please split the quote into patching and painting as we won?t be able to hold the tenant for %100 of the costs but I do feel with the amount of patches to be done it really needs a full repaint. We need to speak about your insurance and if you have it as now would be a good time to start looking into claiming.

2x quotes for all the maintenance work.

2x quotes to rekey the property

2x quotes to replace the carpets ? they were cleaned but they are just not good, they need to be replaced. Again we can?t hold the tenant to %100 of the cost, can you please tell me when the property was built so I can work out how old the carpets are.

I would like your permission to take the property down from advertising until we get this work done. I just don?t feel we should be tenanting it right now as its going to be to hard having prospective tenants through as well as having painting and carpets ect done to it. "



Surely my PM should have seen this coming over the course of 12months since the last good tenant left? Do I need to give her a big serve or what or is this fair wear and tear? House is from 2003, I bought in 2010 and the carpets were fine (that's a few years I know).

I'm kinda lost and would like to know where I sit

thanks
Jeff
 
When was the last inspection, and what did the inspection report say?

How many inspections were done over the 12 mth lease period?
 
Hope your routine inspections were reported by letter and hope your inbound condition report was supported by clear and plentiful photos. That should show the difference and the true story.
Much of the damage mentioned would have been evident during periodic inspections and should have been addressed then, not later.
How many weeks arrears is $1800 ?
Did the REA act promptly to address the arrears once it started ?
If the PM was negligent, demand compensation.
Good luck
cheers
crest133
 
Thanks for the replies.

Insurance is with Terri Scheer

The only good photos I have of the property are from when I bought it in late 2010 and the place is immaculate. I don't have any photos of the house from the original inbound inspection report or even a copy of that report. I've had the same PM company since I bought the house so the photos from 2010 are an accurate reflection of the house's condition when they took it on.

Rent arrears is actually out to 4 weeks ($2080). The tenants were issued with a breach notice in May that they obviously complied with and in November the PM recommended we give 2 months notice to leave when the lease expired as she was not happy with the way they were caring for the property. This was done and they left the house in a bad state after requesting an extra week to get out. In hindsight I should have?.!

I'm most concerned with the fact that the PM says the whole interior needs a repaint and ALL the carpets need replacing (apparently partly due to fleas from the dogs that I never agreed to). There was no mention of carpet issues in the May or November inspections but one dog was part of the May breach issue.

I'm not stressed out (so that's a good sign that IP's are OK for my investing profile:eek: ) but I am looking for advice on whether this is just "something for the insurance and get on with it" or more a reflection on the ability of my PM? I have 5 photos from the May inspection and, garden wise, the place looks quite good. It's a jungle now.

So, I understand that this stuff 'happens' and I don't mind making an insurance claim (which will probably take forever) but is this "dump the PM coz she's been negligent and demand compensation!" or just make the claim and get on with it?

Thanks
Jeff
 
As the LL insurance is with TS, expect almost all your claim to be denied due to poor house keeping, tenant neglect or unsanitary living conditions.

They will likely pay out your arrears and some other costs such as lock changing, and 2 weeks extra should the house be untenantable due to it being unliveable.
 
If you had the same tenants since 2010 a lot of the wall and carpet damage will be written off to wear and tear. You simply cannot expect to have people living in your property for three years or more and leave it absolutely unmarked.

Why rekeying? The PM should have a full set of keys of the tenant did not hand theirs in. Likewise, fleas in carpets can be treated. Light bulbs would be your responsibility.

I would expect to receive photos with every routine inspection, which should be at least 3 times a year.

Have you inspected the property yourself? In view of the long list of repairs quoted by the PM I think a personal opinion is necessary.

Sounds as if the PM (or the tradesman asked to quote) is simply recommending a complete reno, as the amount of work quoted seems excessive in view of the fact that the damage does not appear to have been noticed before the tenant left.

We had "bathroom damage" in an IP and the PM sent a quote for $7000+ for extensive repairs including re-tiling the whole room. We hit the roof and the PM then sent around the handyman who replaced the missing and broken tiles for under $200. No further complaints.
Marg
 
Get the pm to send you pics of all the damage. Unfortunately it actually doesn't take very long for serious damage to happen. A property might be perfect at one inspection and terrible the next.
Fleas can be exterminated without removing carpet, so the carpet would actually have to be damaged to justify replacing. And if they carpet is over ten years old, then it doesn't matter if all the damage was done in the last few months unless you can prove it beyond a doubt, tenancy tribunals will consider it fair wear and tear due to the age of the carpet.
The real question is do you feel the pm had opportunity to realise this was happening and just failed to act, or was it genuinely outside of their control. Sometimes pm can be blindsided and it isn't their fault. Sometimes they were just lazy and didn't do their job properly.
 
Thanks Marg and rugrat, the extra perspectives are very helpful

I'll definitely enquire about the re-keying and I can see that the age of the carpets could make for a contentious issue.

I can't inspect the property myself as it is interstate and time constraints don't permit, more is the pity. I will make sure that the PM ensures that the carpets are def beyond cleaning but it sounds like the painting will be necessary anyway.

Thanks for the replies
 
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents as a PM!

As sad as it is we often witness tenants lives falling apart and it always coincides with the rental payments stopping and the condition of the house deteriorating.

I've always inspected properties 6 monthly and I've had a couple of occasions (I could count them on one hand) where the last inspection was great and then they stopped paying rent, ran and trashed the house.

The key change would be recommended as the tenants didn't return their keys, in these circumstances I will always recommend a lock replacement / key change as although I have keys, so does the previous tenant and who knows how many copies they made?! It's for the security of the property and safety of your new tenants.

If the property was built in 2003 and hasn't been carpeted or repainted since then it is considered overdue for both and the only compensation you'll see from Tribunal for this is what is considered malicious (hole patching etc.).

Your PM is correct in having the quotes broken up and letting you know that you won't get 100% of costs. We can't really say as to whether the agent stuffed up until they show you their photos from the condition report and routines! If you've been happy with them to date that's good but keep an eye on them :).
 
The key change would be recommended as the tenants didn't return their keys, in these circumstances I will always recommend a lock replacement / key change as although I have keys, so does the previous tenant and who knows how many copies they made?! It's for the security of the property and safety of your new tenants.


But ANY tenant can copy keys at any time before returning them. Do you recommend a re-keying after every tenant? That has never been suggested to us.
Marg
 
I always have.

What happens if they get broken into with the front door getting opened?

Door locks or key chambers aren't very expensive.
 
interesting angle from both Marg and Ryan.

I guess that with the tenant taking off with so much owing it might be said that it demonstrates a higher tendency to commit other dodgy actions so I'm thinking that I'll go with the re-keying.

Thanks
 
In the letter I send my landlords as confirmation that the tenant is vacating and the agreed rental price for advertising I recommend a lock change for security purposes and also a gas and electrical safety check :).
 
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