Who to contact in NSW for advice on whether to let tenants take matter to the tribuna
- Thread starter Kate Peters
- Start date
I would write to them saying they didn't report it until September. You immediately called for quotes but cannot be held responsible for having to wait for quotes to come in and then Christmas closures meant the work could not be done until after Christmas.
I would also say that they chose to stay on after the lease expired in August, before they even bothered to report this "issue" to you.
Tell them you will defend your position if they take you to tribunal.
Get your facts sorted into dot points, with as much evidence as you can gather, including statements from the agent about when things were reported, what they did to sort the issue out, etc.
I would hope that any mediator who saw this dot point time line would realise that they hadn't even reported it, could have moved out but chose to stay, and now they want a cash settlement from you.
Don't let them get away with it.
We had a similar issue in our first IP. Neighbour's small dog kept digging under the fence. There was noting wrong with the fence, but he wanted a new one. He used the holes under the fence (caused by his dog) as the reason, but it was because he'd just painted the trim of his house & got new gutters as well, & wanted it to all match.But that is their choice. Signing a new lease or staying on after the lease expires is the same thing. They had a choice to leave if it was that bad.
I'm so annoyed right now because this morning we've had an email from a neighbour of an IP suggesting we need to pay for half of a six foot high fence because their 50kg dog "could" jump the existing three foot high fence and put our tenant's young children at risk.
Our tenant said the existing fence is fine and they are happy with it "as is". These new owners next door just want us to pay half a fence to solve their problem.
They want to spend $2K on a new fence when the existing one is fine.
So, I'm in rant mode. No way am I paying for a fence to keep their dog in. If they want a higher fence, they can pay for the whole thing.
I'm just sick of people "trying it on".
Stand up to them...
He got a new one, in the colour he desired & then sent us a bill. We basically told him to go jump. He's been a bit of a pain ever since, as he holds a grudge, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a fence when there's nothing wrong with the existing one. This was about 12-15 years ago now. Fence is still going strong.
Its a little concerning how many people are suggesting its a bluff and/or to take the matter to tribunal without even hearing more about the tenant's claims.
Currently there's definitely not enough information to advise anything at all apart from "more information is required". Scott had the right idea with the questions he was asking.
If this is the usual attitude of landlords going to tribunal, I'm not surprised that landlords regularly lose and then subsequently tell all their "tribunal is so unfair" stories.
Currently there's definitely not enough information to advise anything at all apart from "more information is required". Scott had the right idea with the questions he was asking.
If this is the usual attitude of landlords going to tribunal, I'm not surprised that landlords regularly lose and then subsequently tell all their "tribunal is so unfair" stories.
I agree still don't have a clue about the real issue.
Started with flooding, then a fence that didn't exist for all the time they were / are in residence and now appears to be (reading between the lines) a fence that may have existed but wasn't repaired. Although there were some repairs carried out.
Kate could you please state the real issue(s).
I think someone else' s issue has been mixed up with mine. Fence does not need repairing.
I will be taking the initial advice which is what I asked for and that was who I could contact for advice so that I can give them to details and see where we stand. Thank you for the suggestion for Fair Trading, I will be calling them tomorrow.
That was my fence, sorry to have hijacked the thread with my whinge about my fence issue today. It seems to have muddied the waters a bit.
Whilst I appreciate what thatbum has said about needing more information, and that we are jumping to conclusions, it seems silly to me that a tenant, unhappy with a situation would stay on after the lease runs out, and then a month LATER, have a big whinge about nothing having been done and request a backdated figure of $100 per week for 32 weeks (?) when they didn't bother to report the problem. That is how I interpreted it anyway. I think their "case" would be thrown out.
How could something have been done to fix a problem, when the tenant had not reported a problem?
Whilst I appreciate what thatbum has said about needing more information, and that we are jumping to conclusions, it seems silly to me that a tenant, unhappy with a situation would stay on after the lease runs out, and then a month LATER, have a big whinge about nothing having been done and request a backdated figure of $100 per week for 32 weeks (?) when they didn't bother to report the problem. That is how I interpreted it anyway. I think their "case" would be thrown out.
How could something have been done to fix a problem, when the tenant had not reported a problem?
Kate Peters said:
Looking back at your posts you didn't mention a fence directly but did say
A closed in yard would normally imply a fence of some kind.
Cheers
Yes but this was just an extra piece of information. The fence is perfectly ok but the yard behind the fence was supposed to be wet and unusable. It is quite correct that without all of the information people cannot be making judgements. Now I know who to contact I will give them all of the pieces of information.
Not concerning at all.
It's a bluff from a tenant who has dilly dallied as much as they accuse the landlord of doing. Yet they want to extort the landlord for as much as they can get away with.
And you seem to want to progress this bit even further.
Like I pointed to before, we have in NSW a Tenancy dispute service to be utilised before we go drawing lawyers at ten paces.
Wont hurt to go down that path before succumbing to more dilly dallying from so called professionals muddying the waters even further.
get the tenant and landlord together to point out the rules and regs and where either or both may have possibly gone wrong and work out a solution.
Not always have to end in a win/lose situation.
Solution strategy
Terminate tenancy
Between tenancies - fix drainage issue (if any still exists)
Do nothing about their claim unless they apply to tenancy tribunal
If they do go to CTTT, you have ample evidence from what I see, to have their claim thrown out. Then you have had them thrown out twice - once from Tribunal and once from the property.
Stop Scammers - its the duty of us all.
Terminate tenancy
Between tenancies - fix drainage issue (if any still exists)
Do nothing about their claim unless they apply to tenancy tribunal
If they do go to CTTT, you have ample evidence from what I see, to have their claim thrown out. Then you have had them thrown out twice - once from Tribunal and once from the property.
Stop Scammers - its the duty of us all.
Tribunal ruling
For those of you that followed, offered advice, opinions etc. the tenants took the matter to the tribunal and after months of angst on our part due to hearings being cancelled it was ruled that the tenants had no reason to make any claim against us. Thankfully they moved out, gave notice day of hearing even though we didn't hear result until months later. Totally destroyed our backyard through lack of mowing. We now have it almost back to normal and have sold the house for more than we expected. Good outcome. It pays to be careful who you listen to and fight for what is right.
For those of you that followed, offered advice, opinions etc. the tenants took the matter to the tribunal and after months of angst on our part due to hearings being cancelled it was ruled that the tenants had no reason to make any claim against us. Thankfully they moved out, gave notice day of hearing even though we didn't hear result until months later. Totally destroyed our backyard through lack of mowing. We now have it almost back to normal and have sold the house for more than we expected. Good outcome. It pays to be careful who you listen to and fight for what is right.
