tribunal won't give me vacant possession

My tenant was over one month late on his rent. I asked the agent to apply to tribunal to have them evicted. They have subsequently caught up on their rent.(but i have been unhappy with previous late payments and the house not kept clean) The tribunal has decided that they do not need to vacate the propety for 4months becasue of personal circumstances of the tenant (family member being sick etc). I understand that but what happens if they can't pay the rent ? i can garnish his wages durign this time but what if there is nothing in the bank account ?
i wonder if landlord insurance would cover this . it;s on periodic lease.
 
What state is the property in?

Has the agent been giving the appropriate notices / breaches for rent at the correct times?

Being a periodic lease, couldn't you have just given a 60 day notice to vacate the premises directly through the agent to the tenant instead of going through the courts?
 
So......they are now up to date with the rent and you are concerned that they won't be able to pay if they stay on, but the tribunal has said they can stay for four months, is that correct?

Firstly, take out good landlord cover. This will cover for loss of rent. Next, as soon as they fall 14 days behind, then I think you will find that you can still send them a termination letter & take them back to tribunal if they are not complying.

We had a tenant that we had to keep for 3-4 years. Dreadful payers and were continually going to tribunal. Tribunal never let me evict them. There was always some dodgy reason why they needed to stay, but each time I got payment orders, the tenant complied for a while, then back to tribunal we would go.

At one stage, they were owing in excess of $2k in arrears and the tribunal would only award me an extra $20pw (when we would ask for, say, $50pw), so the catch up time was huge. Each time the tribunal did this, I would increase their rent by around $20pw, so they would have to pay me the extra anyway. :D

When we eventually got them out, we had a lot to claim on insurance and it wasn't only loss of rent. Did I mention that you need to have insurance? :D
 
Depends on your insurance company. We thought ours didn't, but when we checked we were told that as long as there has been a fixed lease in place and it becomes periodic they would still pay. They won't pay if there has never been a fixed lease in place at all.
 
when we checked we were told that as long as there has been a fixed lease in place and it becomes periodic they would still pay.

Taking insurance company shareholder returns as their top priority into consideration, I'd say you were told nothing of any consequence.

I also don't understand how you checked the nitty gritty of the Insurance contract, mainly the exclusions written by their solicitors, by simply phoning up some young phone operator in a claims dept and being told something ?? Do you believe what she told you would be legally binding against the Insurance company.

My experience with this sort of thing is that ;

1. The person you are talking to will not even divulge their full name.
2. The person you are talking to is not authorised by the Company to definitely answer your questions.
3. They are the ones recording the conversation for their "training purposes", not your legal benefit.
4. They most certainly will not admit liability of any kind whatsoever over the phone.
5. "You're most likely covered" never translates to "Dear Sir, please find attached a cheque in the amount of...".


Once again, the players at the entrance to the insurance tunnel, including the charming smiling phone operator and the little child holding the cuddly wuddly teddy bear.....bear absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the players at the exit of the insurance tunnel, which typically include the gatekeepers to the funds, the invisible senior solicitors of the Company and the shareholders with their hands out for their maximum benefits.
 
what happens if they can't pay the rent ?

I guess you'll get no money.

i can garnish his wages durign this time but what if there is nothing in the bank account ?

I guess you'll get no money.

i wonder if landlord insurance would cover this . it;s on periodic lease.

You'll need to read the extreme fine print of the contract, including all of the inclusions (that usually runs to about half a page) and all of the exclusions (that usually runs to about 10 pages), taking into account all of your individual circumstances to determine if you qualify.

Of course, even if you do, they will most likely reject your claim. That will then put the onus back onto yourself to chase it hard. That tactic normally weeds out a good bunch. Drag it out a year or two, to weed even more out....and if you survive all of that, they may dribble you say half of what you claim. By then, you'll be so feed up to the back teeth, you'll grab their offer with both hands.

You'll then never utter the immortal words of the uninformed Insurance consumer ever again "It's OK, we've got insurance, we're covered." :D
 
"It's OK, we've got insurance, we're covered." :D

These words make an appearance at every property (sales) seminar, too.
Everything is OK.
"We take care of everything"
"We give you (because we care about you) a rent guarantee"
"Don't worry, landlord insurance will cover that"

If only they knew ...
 
Depends on your insurance company. We thought ours didn't, but when we checked we were told that as long as there has been a fixed lease in place and it becomes periodic they would still pay. They won't pay if there has never been a fixed lease in place at all.

Bearing in mind Dazz's comments, it would be advisable for you to call again and ask for the particular reference in the booklet so that you can read it for yourself.

I have done this in the past. Instead of having to read 80 pages, asked the person on the phone to direct me to the correct spot.

That should see you covered, if it is there in black and white.
 
thanks for all the advice, i;l check the particulars of my insurance to see if they will pay.

I asked the agent to give them notice to leave but she said it is best to go through tribunal as giving them notice does not garantee that they will leave. whereas tribunal was supposed to enforce it more....but now i have the predicament that tribunal is letting them stay.

they kept the inside of the house quite clean though the externals (gardens etc) were very unkept. We had to keep chasign them to clean and mow lawn.
 
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