Tennant threatening legal action over lock

[Gee Cee]

Bloody hell Are you the Housing Commission. Smith Family etc.
You got off ya **** and purchased a rental investment. For you and your families future. You are probably working ya butt off to cover loan payments rates, insurances etc. If negatively geared you are sponsoring the tenant)

This probably sounds hard but YOU ARE NOW IN BUSINESS.
Do you go down to the local pie shop and demand a pie @ 10%, 20% 30% below what everyone else has to pay. If you do I am sure you don't get one

What's the differance.

I have been down that road. I remember purchasing a block of flats when i was only about 23. Quiet, naive, scared of problems
The tenant was on $45 pw. Market value was about $70 pw. When i raised the rent to $55 pw she threatened to take me to tribunal. It was REALLY stressful. My property manager said "Well lets see her there" The tenant backed down. We also gave her notice to quit as the unit was to be re-furbished. I repainted the unit, put in cheap carpet and re-rented at $90 pw.

Then did a staggered repeated for the other 3 units in the block.

My advice. Get a handyman to fix lock & check doors condition. Give her required notice. Get a good property manager. Cheap re- fit. Rent at market rates.!
Stop running a charity

 

[MikeJosef]

I agree you should fix the door so that it is workable and doesnt annoy the tennant or their neighbours however I would also say, dont be intimidated by your tenants otherwise your going to be spending every spare bit of time going around to do errands on your property.
If they are valid things that need fixing fair enough.
Also make sure you do your paperwork in the start of the tenancy and square everything away with the conditions report (I have been called anal but prefer fastidious), and when the lease is about a month to ending inspect the property to make sure they are looking after it for you otherwise there is probably someone else who will!

Thanks for the tips!

My main problem with this is that the door and lock is perfectly fine. Its one of those old 70's door knocker & key combos, The lock mechanism is sitting tight & the key turn action is fine but the top of front panel moves from side to side about 1 cm. Hardly unsafe & many others in the apartment do the exact same thing.

buuuuut because of my error in promising her stuff, and i dont have the heart to fight it, im caving in to little stuff like this.
So far ive:

*Scrubbed the balcony door free of 20 years of rust, and painted it (whilst trying not to get paint on the fly screen, do you realise how hard this was!?!? After an hour she comes out and says 'you missed a spot - can you do 2 coats?' !?!?!)
*Cleaned her oven which she claims the rust was making it smoke - oh no deary, it was 5 years of your cooking sitting at the bottom of the oven.
*Sent an electrician to fix a stiff power plug button
*Sent a locksmith to fix a loose doorknocker.

have i been caving in too much? would you do all this just to keep one of your tenants happy? (I assume you all wouldn't have promised things like new ovens and new doors in the 1st place though!)

feww -

@ Thorpey - thx for the message!

 

[MikeJosef]

@Ceegee - thx man - thats the plan with this place - its got stunning views of lower sydney & great renovation potential - so replacing doors and the like is the last thing we want to be spending our money on.

I know its a business and that ive blown hundreds on unnecessary tradesman fees over the year - that hurts but it doesn't break us, if it did then i guess we'd be in the wrong investment, but maybe i should also toughen up a bit. Id also like to think i can resolve this and still have a professional relationship with her until the end of her lease when she will get the fark out of our property

 

[Chatto]

These are some of the problems you run into and when long term tenants start to think that it is their place and not yours, this is why regular inspections of the property are imperitive so that the tenant knows that you are the boss.
Although it will cost you consider getting an PM to look after the place for you, do the sums. What is your time worth? Take the stress out of it, and get your rent up to a competitive market rate.

 

[MikeJosef]

I like the tip on regular inspections, ill do that - thanks.

About getting a PM, I think my case may be different - i don't really mind doing all this, plus im getting paid. Apart from piece of mind and extra time on my hands - what are the other benefits of having a good PM?

 

[handyandy]

Its already been mentioned but seems to have been largely ignored.

The front door is a body corporate issue you can not remove or replace the front door as it belongs to the BC. If there is a problem with the lock and there is no separate hand set then this lock should also be a BC issue. Have you spoken to the Strata manager to clarify there view on this matter?

So far with your actions, particularly cleaning the stove, you have marked yourself as a patsy and she is just playing you like a fiddle. As Wyllie has mentioned move her on as soon as possible and grit your teeth in the mean time. She has adopted the attitude that she will make the landlord 'pay' and in my experience continue to do so until removed.

Cheers

 

[wally]

As stated already, the front door is a BC responsibility, if it needs replacing the cost would be covered by the BC (possibly not the lock itself unless the door is being replaced).
One of the bills in the our last strata meeting was replacement of a front door.

You should follow up on your promises!, but any further trouble from her and i would give her two months notice.
I will keep a good tenant happy, but a troublesome one... theres plenty more out there that will probably be happy to pay more!

 

[MikeJosef]

No i didn't realise it was a BC issue - this helps allot, thx guys - ill get onto it.

and yes - im seriously thinking about giving her notice to leave - the last email i got from her was very weird - as if a lawyer put it together for her to make it sound professional and threatening.

Her lease goes until mid next year - if i don't give notice and she continues being difficult, can i threaten her with a notice to leave to calm her down? Id like to give her a chance as i feel bad just booting her.

 

[Dazz]

Id like to give her a chance as i feel bad just booting her.

Mike - ya gums are flappin' too much....and your eyes and ears don't seem to be working.

 

[MikeJosef]

Mike - ya gums are flappin' too much....and your eyes and ears don't seem to be working.

Easy to say Dazz - but im not in any position to boot her out now - long story

my gums will stop flapping now - thx for all your help everyone.

 

[Twitch]

No i didn't realise it was a BC issue - this helps allot, thx guys - ill get onto it.

and yes - im seriously thinking about giving her notice to leave - the last email i got from her was very weird - as if a lawyer put it together for her to make it sound professional and threatening.

Her lease goes until mid next year - if i don't give notice and she continues being difficult, can i threaten her with a notice to leave to calm her down? Id like to give her a chance as i feel bad just booting her.

I would put this IP in the hands of a PM immediately, and I'd ensure the required legal notice is given prior to the expiry of the lease to move her on. Don't try and handle this yourself, if you get anything wrong kicking out this kind of tennant the tribunal will be all over you like white on rice.

Good luck.