Today's Tribunal Visit

[duncan_m]

You seem very composed through all of this Dunc, that's a good thing (must be all that healthy eating),

I've been through it once before so I had a fair idea what I was in for, last time was a 45yo single Greek bloke, a FRIEND of the Real Estate Agent who spoke very highly of him when she let him the place.. much the same situation.. but thankfully that was a small 1BR unit, only a day to repaint and a day to clean.

Latest!:

Tenants rang me at 8am this morning (Sunday):

Me: "Hello".
Her: "Hi its xxxx here, whats happening with the house".
Me: "I've put all your stuff in the shed".
Her: "What!, you're not allowed to do that..".
Me: "Yeah I am.. just as long I dont remove stuff from the premises" (fine legal line I'm toeing here .
Her: "Oh and how many other people have you done this to in the past!!?"
Me: "A few, especially those that dont pay their rent and then leave a filthy house behind"
Her: "You cant insult me like that!"
Me: "OK sorry".
Her: "When can we get our stuff".
Me: "Now.."

So I arrived at the property 20mins later.. waited for about 10mins then an older guy turns up (never seen him before).. it was her Father, not sure if he was going to punch me in the head or not! .. But thankfully he was the nicest guy you ever met.. He cant believe how off the rails his Daughter has gone..

Dad brought a trailer so I helped him load some of the stuff in and followed him back to his house to help him unload it.. I stayed for a coffee and chat! Her Dad/Mum have a spotless, house proud home.. he went to great lengths to describe his other 2 daughters who both seem quite successful, both parents obviously quite embarrassed/disappointed by their daughter.. They appear to have inherited the 5yo grandaughter.. who quite joyfully told me "I dont like Mummy's house its DISGUSTING".

Went back to house.. Tenants turns up, fully freaking that I'd moved their gear (dont blame her, but thats business, I need the Cleaner in there early this week). Useless Boyfriend starts picking thru their gear, no 'sense of urgency' at all.. they have ONE 6x4 trailer (this is the pissy little size, think of a supersized wheelbarrow) to move a 3br house in an entire day.. and the stuff has to go to numerous locations.. I made it easy for them, its all in one place and packed into bags.. still dont think they'll get it done.. they seem to be moving quite slowly, in fact they seem to be picking thru the pile working out what they want rather than taking the lot.. glad I moved it all yesterday because having it all piled up makes the cherry picking task for them significantly harder.

My cleaner did a "site visit" this morning to guesstimate the work, she thinks its a 2 day job for 2 of them.

I've ducked home for lunch, will go back in a few hours and make sure they arent boiling the billy on a campfire in the loungeroom or something.

 

[duncan_m]

Duncan

Don't put the Tortoise/Turtle in with anything, they eat everything. Had a water lily in the pond with ours .. got eaten had to buy a second pond for the plants. They can climb as well, which is why the tank was half empty. I'm surprised at how far they can fall without doing major damage to themselves.

You might try the reptile shop on Beach road at Christies, give them the turtle, or the pet shop, the big turtles don't sell for much. The little babies seem a lot more expensive.

Good luck
quoll

Thanks Quoll..

Tenants say they will take it with them this afternoon.. apparently they found it in the backyard.. Personally, I would have left it in the backyard.

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Exceptional post Duncan.

You have to feel for the parents. Sounds to me this isn't the first time they have cleaned up her mess. Surprised you didn't get the old "I have rights ya know" line when she rang you.

Good luck with how it ends up.

Kev

www.nundahrealestate.com.au

 

[Andrew_A]

Interesting read

Perhaps you have mentioned this Duncan but what can you improve about the tenant selection process you used, or were they selected by a PM?

 

[duncan_m]

Perhaps you have mentioned this Duncan but what can you improve about the tenant selection process you used, or were they selected by a PM?

Yes, that was a PM selected Tenant.. I didnt even approve her, the PM signed the lease on my behalf and there were already moving in when I found out.. the PM got sacked shortly after..

I havent picked a bad one yet For me.. a recent rental history from a PROFESSIONAL Property Manager (not a self manager) with a verbal reference from the PM is pure gold as a means of vetting a Tenant..

I knew the place was somewhat of a mess.. I should have acted on it 6mo ago.. but its very hard to get the Tenancies Tribunal to annul a lease based on tidyness, cleanliness.. and I didnt really have the time to put into cleaning it up and getting it back on the market then, in some ways.. better the devil I knew than the devil I didnt..

 

[duncan_m]

"I have rights ya know" line when she rang you.

Yeah I've had a bit of that over the past few weeks from them

 

[Ecogirl]

Duncan
Thanks for the great post - you crack me up. Some ppl would think the sky was falling if that happened to them - and it would stress me out as well.

Thanks for posting the photos - now if that happens to me I know it's not the end of the world. When I saw the toilet all I thought was - holy crap..........but the pun was too bad

Don't forget to smile
Ecogirl

 

[quoll]

G'day Duncan

I've enjoyed the journey so far, are you going to keep telling the story until there is a happy ending? (nice tenants move in)

Cheers
quoll

 

[geoffw]

Well done with it all Duncan.

You've inspired me to actually visit the tribunal this week- we are going for vacant possession for non payment of rent. I don't believe the place is a mess like yours- but this will be the third time she's been taken to the tribunal.

In this job, the boss is going to let me out of work to attend.

 

[Sultan of Swing]

Yep, love to hear the outcome Duncan.

You've made it an interesting and enjoyable read with a few good laughs dispite you enduring quite a bit of pain. Glad you're keeping your chin up and haven't lost your sense of humour.

Cheers

 

[Quarol]

Keep us posted

Hiya Duncan

Sorry to hear of all the crap you have had to put up with. I feel for you, I can imagine how dissapointing (and expensive) it would be.

I am impressed with your composure throughout the ordeal, there is a lesson it that. No point in getting upset because its beyond control anyway. Its a relief that the parents came good.

Personally, I will be ditching 'neighbours' and other soapies to better follow the exploits of your rental property. I await the next posting of the new tenants in your Ramsay Street, will it be a nosey old women with a clever dog but a bad attitude, a family with three teenage girls and their 'love interests', someone who you thought had died but had reappeared, with a new identity and lost memory...tune in next week...

Cheers
Quarol

 

[David E-Noosa]

Duncan what I got out of all this is your attitude.

I live by "don't worry over things you can't control"

Thats just how your mind obviously works, you fix the things you can and move past those you can't, well done.

 

[duncan_m]

Not much to report

The Tenants seem to have taken SOME of their stuff from the shed.. Because 48hrs have now elapsed since I took vacant possession, I'm legally entitled to dump the rest (due to its low value).. I dont have time to work on this until Saturday when I have a BFS being delivered to the site (err, a very large Skip).

I took a drive past this afternoon to make sure the place was secure, I see their attempts at picking over their stuff has resulted in a bit of a mess, my 5yo son Connor surveys the mess..

He's got big ears, like most 5yo's.. I dunno when he heard it.. but he piped up today with "xxxxx is a filthy cow isnt she Dad". Ahhh, I love my boy

Not sure how much stuff is in the shipping container.. I gave them an undertaking to leave it untouched for 60 days:

Late yesterday afternoon (Sunday) I went down there to check their progress, very warm day in Adelaide around 33.. they were both sweating and obviously very hot.. I left them a bottle of cold water I'd just purchased. I'm such a sucker.

When I got there, they were picking thru the rubbish.. I figured it was to make sure I'd not thrown away anything important.. but nope, they were retrieving all the drink containers.. in SA, there's a 5c deposit on all drink containers... They already had a few bags full.. they must really be at rock bottom financially.. I offered my help to which she responded that they really needed someone to take the recycling up to get reclaimed to get a few dollars to put petrol in their car.. Bugger that.. I gave them $20 for the lot and I left them on the kerbside, hopefully some enteprising youngster will grab them before the Tenants double dip on them No wonder they neded petrol incidentally, stupid car they have, big old XE Falcon (4.1 litres) Dad bought it for her, and let her pay him back.. Thanks Dad! A car that chews about 16L/100Klm.. just what a girl on a pension needs.

Ex-Tenant rang me late this afternoon to tell me that they hadnt finished yesterday.. apparently her Dad came back very late yesterday afternoon to help and somehow it ended up in one great Hissy Fit, Dad locks the sheds at 6.30pm and leaves.. WTF? I figure I'm not getting the actual story from the Daughter. I've learnt to start with the premise that what-ever she says is a lie. I let her know that the BFS (Skip) was being delivered on Saturday.. I left the sentence unfinished

Cleaner is going in Wednesday now, will post some "after" photos of the interior

Late today I got the guilts up.. maybe my "almost no inspections" policy is wrong? There's only 1 other property I havent been into in a while for some repair or another, and most properties have Tenants that I have a very deep level of trust in. So I stopped by and asked the Tenant if I could grab the Make and Model of the Hot Water Service for my Insurer (big fat lie).. no problem they said.. walked thru the house to the back door.. spotless, lovely condition! My faith in Tenants restored! I've called this strategy "Inspectione de Clouseau" or translated "Inspection by Stealth".

I'm rather looking forward to Saturday, the house will be clean! The carpets steam cleaned! And I'll have a free reign to sort the shed out. I was hoping to advertise it this coming Saturday but its going to be another week now I fear. It'll be a difficult vacancy.. the area is not the best and the house is a little unusual in its position, its very private.. which is good and bad, depending on the tenant.. I'm planning on advertising "DOGS WELCOME", its got a great big fenced yard and I know there's a pool of people who always find it hard to find rentals with large dogs.. some of them have got to be worth a shot.. havent tried that before so will see how it goes really really need to get a reliable honest tenancy going, if I can get this property onto an even keel for a while I'll have a very trouble-free portfolio. All other properties have very long term, very secure Tenancies.

 

[duncan_m]

Duncan what I got out of all this is your attitude.

I live by "don't worry over things you can't control"

Thats just how your mind obviously works, you fix the things you can and move past those you can't, well done.

It seems to get easier the bigger your portfolio gets.. I used to get concerned over unmowed grass when I had 2-3.. when I had 4-5 I used to get worried over a vacancy.. as the portfolio grew, less and less worried me. I have a new one in the pipeline, a really swish, very expensive beach-house holiday rental.. I think damage in that from a wild party or something will cause me to blow my top.. but we'll find out I guess, it'll be managed as its at least 30mins drive away.. admittedly through South Australia's beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula

 

[michaelg]

Hi,

What about "dog breeders welcome" - or is that an issue with council permission?

Michael

 

[JoannaK]

I've called this strategy "Inspectione de Clouseau" or translated "Inspection by Stealth".

I Love it!!

Good on you duncan!

 

[quoll]

G'day Duncan

The dog angle is a good one, we have a couple of our tenants with dogs and it doesn't look like they will be moving in a hurry.

The only draw back is when the dogs in the house and smells the place up, but that hasn't happened with ours. I've only heard about it from others and been through one house that stank, even after the carpets had been cleaned twice. They got ripped up and the floors polished, a lot easier now.

Where did the container come from, you or the tenant or with the property?

Good luck
Cheers
quoll

 

[duncan_m]

Where did the container come from, you or the tenant or with the property?

The container is mine.. I have Dev Approval for the rear and side of that site.. I'm going to be doing the first and second fix carpentry and electrical myself and I'm slowly collecting toilets, robes, light fittings etc.. need somewhere to store them and my tools.. hence the shipping container down there

This complicates the Tenancy a little, that house will still have a big yard.. but the rest of the title needs to be excluded.. some Tenants may not like the idea of living in the middle of a building site understandably.. dont want to leave it empty either, it'll get trashed by the local louts.

 

[beech]

hi Dunc absolutely fantastic thread.

Was wondering how much a container like that would cost to hire?
For the delivery as well as maybe having it moved from one site to another?

thanks

 

[Kristine..]

Duncan

As you have approval, why not just survey and fence the new block, that way you are only renting out the house and area within the fenced yard.

As you mentioned you are going to allow the outgoing tenants access to the shipping container, wouldn't this deter new tenants having people coming and going across their yard?

You could certainly simplify the situation by fencing now rather than later

Cheers

Kristine