The Tribunal Sucks

skater

skater

Just got off the phone with my PM. I have a tenant who is grossly behind in her rent. She has been to tribunal several times & each time she is given another chance by the bleeding heart Magistrate. She has orders in force to pay $100 per fortnight to catch up & as usual, she hasn't made payment. She is further behind than the last time she was at Tribunal as there has been a backlog over Christmas.

The tenant tried to have the hearing adjorned because she needs an interpretor (totally BS as she speaks & understands English perfectly well when she wants to). The PM pressed the point that the tenant understood perfectly & had in fact been to Tribunal several times already. My PM asked to have either $100pw, or vacant possession, but the poor tenant can't afford that, so got the usual $100 per fortnight. The PM told the Magistrate that the tenant obviously can not afford the property, the tenant even agreed, but said that she would try to pay the $100 extra to catch up.

The judge said that due to the rental market at present, she could stay. What he doesn't know, is that it is time for a new rental appraisal, so I told the PM to increase the rent by a minimum of $30pw. So, she will have to cough up her extra $30pw as well as the $100 per fortnight extra. AND since that is market price for the house she is in, there is buckleys she can do about it, except of course, non payment of rent, (but that's where we are already, so nothing new) then I should be able to finally be free of her.:D

This is a large home & she should move to cheaper accommodation. Her (working) teenager was there & told the Magistrate that it wasn't fair if they would have to move but that she wasn't going to help out with costs.
 
I don't have experience with this sort of stuff Skater. Can't you give her an eviction notice for non payment?

I remember on one of my IP's my PM went to tribunal because the tenant was falling behind, the tribunal issued a specifc payment order ie. 1/10 $200, 12/10 $200, 20/12 $200 etc. and then at the end it said if any of these payments were not made, the tenant would face immediate eviction (I'm assuming still a month at least, but you get the idea).

Is this the same thing or am I way off? I'm sure you're PM knows what she's doing, just trying to understand why they can't be given an eviction notice?
 
steveadl said:
I remember on one of my IP's my PM went to tribunal because the tenant was falling behind, the tribunal issued a specifc payment order ie. 1/10 $200, 12/10 $200, 20/12 $200 etc. and then at the end it said if any of these payments were not made, the tenant would face immediate eviction (I'm assuming still a month at least, but you get the idea).

Is this the same thing or am I way off? I'm sure you're PM knows what she's doing, just trying to understand why they can't be given an eviction notice?
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She has orders that she is supposed to be paying an additional $100 per fortnight to catch up, the problem is that she does this short term, then stops & only pays the weekly rent, so the arrears don't catch up. My PM on this house is terrific. She is fair on the good tenants & very tough on the bad ones. She follows all the rules to the letter, but it all has to go through the Tribunal. She has evicted others for me, but we just can't seem to get this one out.

I'm hoping that when she sees the love letter with the $30pw rent increase her underware will spontaneously change colour & she will decide to move. There are plenty of houses available that cost less than this one.
 
Sounds like an annoying situation! We're about to evict one who's been falling behind in his rent (although more because he's a pain in the a$$ than the rent issue). PM said she'll take care of it, and eviction letter will be sent out. Not sure what reason she's using though. She just said to me that I don't have to have anyone in my IP I don't want, I get to choose my tenant.

Perhaps it's because this tenant came with the property and I didn't actually choose them? Oh well, the result is he's going, that's the main thing!
 
steveadl said:
Sounds like an annoying situation!
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Annoying is an understatement. This tenant is a remnant of a bad PM that we got rid of well over a year ago. Have had to evict all the tenants they put into our property & this is the last of a bad bunch. Can't wait to be rid of her too.
 
skater said:
The judge said that due to the rental market at present, she could stay.
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OK....if that's his final decision....that bodes very badly for you.


skater said:
What he doesn't know, is that it is time for a new rental appraisal, so I told the PM to increase the rent by a minimum of $30pw. So, she will have to cough up her extra $30pw as well as the $100 per fortnight extra. AND since that is market price for the house she is in, there is buckleys she can do about it, except of course, non payment of rent, (but that's where we are already, so nothing new) then I should be able to finally be free of her.
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I don't understand your logic here at all Skater.

The judge deemed that she could stay due to the current rental market. (I'm presuming he's referring to the high cost of rentals) and it would be economically harsh for her to find somewhere else to live.

You propose to rectify it by upping the rent ?? That doesn't make sense.

I would of thought the judge would have seen that as vindicative on your part, especially just after his ruling (regardless if it was current market rental or not) and would further support his argument to leave her there.


Of course, your holding costs and economic well being never come into the argument....so no point even mentioning that aspect of it.

I fail to see how upping the rent can help your aim. I think it will simply make the tenant's position cemented and support the judge's ruling further.

Unfortunately, I can offer no lawful solutions.


How much an hour is the PM charging you to attend ?? Last time I looked it was about $ 90 / hr.
 
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Is the property potentially due for any reno's? Maybe you could kill two birds with one stone? Sounds like this may go on for a while..
 
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Thats really frustrating and what about the Interpreter...she had no language issue when she rented out the place...thats B*^*&^*T
 
Dazzling said:
OK....if that's his final decision....that bodes very badly for you.

I don't understand your logic here at all Skater.

The judge deemed that she could stay due to the current rental market. (I'm presuming he's referring to the high cost of rentals) and it would be economically harsh for her to find somewhere else to live.

You propose to rectify it by upping the rent ?? That doesn't make sense.

I would of thought the judge would have seen that as vindicative on your part, especially just after his ruling (regardless if it was current market rental or not) and would further support his argument to leave her there.

How much an hour is the PM charging you to attend ?? Last time I looked it was about $ 90 / hr.
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Hi Dazz. Well, it is my right to up the rent each 6 months, & it is time right NOW. I am upping it to market rates, not above market, so the Magistrate can read whatever he wants into it. As far as it being too ecconomically harsh for her to find elsewhere to live, that is not the case, as there is plenty of properties cheaper than mine.

If she stops paying, they will have to allow us to get rid of her. The problem lies in the fact that she only stops paying the extra to catch up arrears, so money IS coming in, but the arrears are staying too.

MY PM doesn't charge by the hour for Tribunal. This isn't WA.:D
 
Hi Skater,

can't you give tenants 4 months notice without a reason and/or isn't there a way of getting them out earlier if you need to move into the property?

I have had a similar situation with my tenant that was behind, but the courts told her that if she wasn't paid up one month in advance by a certain date, she would face eviction, so the tenant complied, thankfully;)

Toni
 
Skater, ..... just a thought and I don't know if its plausible or not.

We are buying an IP in Queanbeyan near Canberra at present and it has a tenant, but we are thinking of letting my wife use it to live in through the week as she works in Canberra (our house is on the coast 2.5 hours away)

Apparently we have been told by the existing PM that if we want to move in and use for our own use, then we just have to give 60 days notice for the tenant to vacate and their is nothing they can do about it.

Maybe this could be a get-out clause for you, .... even if you serve notice of your intension to use it yourself and then after its vacated, ... change your mind and re-let the place. Even if you are prepared to move in even for a short time (few days) then I believe you may be able to evict her and nothing the court can say.

Don't take my word as gospel on this, .... we are still looking into it, .... but maybe you may want to research with your PM .....

Martin
 
mystery said:
Apparently we have been told by the existing PM that if we want to move in and use for our own use, then we just have to give 60 days notice for the tenant to vacate and their is nothing they can do about it.

Maybe this could be a get-out clause for you, .... even if you serve notice of your intension to use it yourself and then after its vacated, ... change your mind and re-let the place. Even if you are prepared to move in even for a short time (few days) then I believe you may be able to evict her and nothing the court can say.
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Not sure the exact laws in NSW, bin Vic, I believe once you give notice to take back the property (or live in), you are not allowed to rent out again for 6 months. This is why I believe my suggestion, which is on the same path, may getter a better bang for skater's buck.

buzzlightyear said:
Is the property potentially due for any reno's? Maybe you could kill two birds with one stone? Sounds like this may go on for a while..
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mystery said:
Apparently we have been told by the existing PM that if we want to move in and use for our own use, then we just have to give 60 days notice for the tenant to vacate and their is nothing they can do about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is normally not a problem in doing this, however the house is not in personal names.
 
buzzlightyear said:
Not sure the exact laws in NSW, bin Vic, I believe once you give notice to take back the property (or live in), you are not allowed to rent out again for 6 months. This is why I believe my suggestion, which is on the same path, may getter a better bang for skater's buck.
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Hi Buzz, you can take it back for whatever reason you like, but you must give 60 days notice.

I don't want to do this, as I believe she won't pay anything for the 60 days. I have instructed the PM to mention that the Dept of Housing will help out with arrears (which they will), & am hoping that by raising the rent, it will make them leave of their own accord.
 
I like your idea of raising the rent to market value ...

Interesting how your previous PM got you into such a bind... and delivered so many bad tenants.

Were they linked to RE company who also sell prop or a true PM who specialise in only doing PM?

A case of choose your business partners carefully ... huh
 
What if something went wrong with the place that makes it uninhabitable, perhaps the electricity goes off, or the front and back doors fall off :D
 
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