Tenants not responding to emails or calls

[Kael]

Hi all.

I've read through some other threads on the forum but wanted to gauge your opinions on a matter.

My mum owns an investment property in Riverstone, NSW. The property has a 3 bedroom house on it, with a granny flat in the backyard. The tenants in the house have been causing some problems for my mum. She self-manages the property and has always self-managed it since renting it out when we moved out of it 6 years ago. She's never had any problems until now.

Basically, these tenants have been in the property for a bit over a year. They've had a lease, which has now expired. They have been paying their rent late because of lack of work for the tenants. They're up to date at the moment, but paying odd amounts into my mum's account each week, and sometimes they're then behind, then sometimes ahead by a bit, etc.

Because of their lack of work, my mum allowed the male tenant to do some work on the granny flat to pay the rent - something I told her not to do, but she did anyway. The female tenant then had an argument with my mum over email about the issue of payment for the male tenants work, and now, the tenants are not replying to any of my mums phone calls or emails.

She has been trying to get them to sign a new lease for 12 months, as their other one has now expired.

She has now also asked me to manage it for her - I've recommended a Property Manager to her, as I think that'd be better, but she doesn't want to go down that path. So any tips or suggestions?

 

[wylie]

I would either take it on, and as soon as the rent is late issue a notice to remedy (or whatever the appropriate notice is in whichever state the house is in). If you do that, ensure that the moment you can issue the notices you do so, and sit on them until it is sorted out (they leave or sign a new lease).

But actually, in this case, I think a property manager might also be a good choice, if they are prepared to take on a "problem".

Your mother has made this more difficult than it would have been by "trading" work in exchange for rent.

 

[zepth]

Well firstly why has she been trying to sign them up for a new lease if they are problem tenants?

If they are ignoring cals and phone calls she could probably go to the property to check that they havent abandoned the premises.

Best course of action would be to serve them a notice to vacate without reason and work towards getting better replacement tenants asap.

 

[wylie]

Well firstly why has she been trying to sign them up for a new lease if they are problem tenants?

If they are ignoring cals and phone calls she could probably go to the property to check that they havent abandoned the premises.

Best course of action would be to serve them a notice to vacate without reason and work towards getting better replacement tenants asap.

You cannot just go to the property to see if it is abandoned. RTA advice to us was that we really have no right as a landlord to even go up and knock on the door without the appropriate form and notice period. When this scenario happened to my mother, she needed to issue notice that she was going to enter the premises. We guessed they had skipped, so we taped the notice to enter onto the front door where it could not be seen by the street and waited the notice period (24 hours) before entering. This all must be done properly or you can get into strife.

We also slipped another copy of the entry notice under the door and one in the letterbox.

What state is the property in?

In our case, once the rent was behind, we issued the appropriate notices, including the notice to enter to check if it was abandoned. It all needs to be done in the correct order as the times elapse for each thing. If the rent is still being paid, even in bits and pieces, it makes this difficult because to issue a notice to remedy they need to be behind by the correct number of days, and part paying during this time means you have to wait until they are behind again.

For this reason, it would be worthwhile having a good agent take over, but it is also possible this will take longer to get them out than if you do it yourself with the assistance and guidance of your residential tenancy association (or your state's equivalent). There are so many cases on this forum of slack agents. You need this sorted in good time and need to keep on top of it.

In our case, we photographed everything they left, were able to dump things up to a certain value (from memory - definitely check before doing anything like this) and kept other stuff for a certain period of time. We never heard back from them, but had they come back to us we needed to have done everything "by the book" or WE would have been in big trouble.

Just as a PS. It is possible they are ignoring calls but it is possible they are away. Don't assume anything! If the rent is behind, get the ball rolling, but don't jump the gun.

 

[zepth]

in NSW you can enter the property without notice if you reasonably believe the premises to be abandoned.

Obviously if they are still paying rent, albeit in odd amounts this would not be reasonable. If however they are not paying rent and not answering calls or emails I would think you could reasonably argue you believed they had abandoned.

 

[wylie]

In Queensland you still need to issue the 24 hour notice to enter even if you believe the property is abandoned.

That is why it is important to check and follow the rules for the particular state that the property is in before rushing in and doing the wrong thing.

Edit: Just re-read initial post and property is in NSW. I would still run this past someone with expert knowledge (PM from this site who knows NSW rules or the property association) to ensure it is done correctly, especially as the owner and the poster seem not to be au fait with the rules.

If the landlord or her son rush in and do the wrong thing, any future tribunal hearing will not be in their favour.

 

[Kael]

I've been saying to her for a while now to just get an efficient property manager, I even told her I'd help her try and find one that's good enough. Claim it back as a tax deduction and not worry about it - but she seems to think it's better to run it herself. She refuses to use a property manager :/

I've also told her that the things she's done so far have NOT helped her out with the problems - I especially told her this when she told me about the exchanging of rent for work. The tenant came back and said they were charging my mum $1800 to install an air conditioner. Rather absurd, that is. Regardless of that though, it was a silly thing for her to do and I told her that.

In regards to the tenants possibly abandoning the place - they haven't done this. Their cars are still there and they are definitely still there. My mum called and emailed them to explain she would be coming out there the next day - the next day, she went there to meet with them and talk to them, and their son answered the door, but said his parents weren't at home. The situation is though, neither of them have a job at the moment, and the mum is always at home - sure thing, they could have been out or about, but the fact they are not returning phone calls, emails, etc, is a bit cuss, isn't it?

As for resigning the lease for the property - I told her to just evict them, but she says she doesn't want to do that. I've told her she can find a new tenant easy but she still doesn't want to evict them. She still wants me to take over, so best bet would be to read up on the Residential Tenancies Act, and stick to that, right?

 

[Elizabeth]

Maybe your mum should have the works that the tenant has completed quoted by a third party and advise the tenants, in writing, that this is the allowance that will be made for the rent.
If they fall 14 days behind, issue them with a notice to terminate asap.
Maybe have her read this forum - managing this herself, especially now may make it even more complicated going forward..!

 

[wylie]

As for resigning the lease for the property - I told her to just evict them, but she says she doesn't want to do that. I've told her she can find a new tenant easy but she still doesn't want to evict them. She still wants me to take over, so best bet would be to read up on the Residential Tenancies Act, and stick to that, right?

I would be putting your foot down. She is your mother, but that doesn't mean you have to fall for looking after this mess that she has created.

Perhaps tell her you want this issue sorted, and have an agent find new tenants and if it goes smoothly you could consider taking it over?

 

[DEC]

You cannot just go to the property to see if it is abandoned. RTA advice to us was that we really have no right as a landlord to even go up and knock on the door without the appropriate form and notice period.

So you go around with a mate and get THEM to go up and knock on the door.