Why should I have to pay rent over Christmas???

[mattysavager]

So I am sitting in my office, doing rent arrears. I just thought I would write down some of the excuses I have heard this morning.

1. "I am on holidays and not using the property" - 25yo Australian lady thinks just because she is not sleeping in her unit, she does not need to pay rent. She actually calculated the amount that she didn't need to pay (for the time she was at the Gold Coast) and deducted it from her normal rental payment.

2. "The RTA told me that I do not have to pay rent for Public Holidays" - Pretty sure that's not true buddy.

3. "My grandmother unexpectedly came to Christmas lunch so I had to spend my rent money on extra food" - Must have been a very hungry old lady.

4. One tenant replied to an SMS with "Myer Boxing Day Sale".

And I had a couple of "I thought you wouldn't notice" responses.

Are people really this silly? The people above range from students to engineers, and are not the usual offenders, so I doubt they are trying to take advantage. Sometimes I am lost for words...

 

[Lil Skater]

Haha, gotta love the holiday arrears!

 

[Ed Barton]

Haha, gotta love the holiday arrears!

How big are they? What % of tenants don't pay rent (over and above normal arrears) so they can buy darling an i-whatever?

 

[westminster]

bwahahaha

Love the effort put into calculating how much time she would be in Gold Coast and therefore not required to pay rent. I wonder if she spent additional effort working out electricity, gas and water for that time.

 

[Lil Skater]

How big are they? What % of tenants don't pay rent (over and above normal arrears) so they can buy darling an i-whatever?

In my experience I'd say they increase to around 20-30% of tenants in my area.

Most assume you won't notice, also there's a few that forget to pay earlier because of public holidays, and then you have the ones that say that they couldn't afford rent as they had to buy presents, food etc.

I've never had someone calculate the rent they "didn't have to pay" because they weren't at the property though!

 

[Dazz]

Hi Matt,

All good for a laugh.

In all cases they are simply displaying what we already know - that when it comes to paying their rent, the priority of that action is well and truly down their list.

The sensible people who enjoy having secure accomodation would never proffer such pathetic excuses, as they'd know that having a roof over their heads for a pittance, usually under $ 20 per bed per night, is chicken feed compared with all of the other discretionary items further down their list.

The clowns who have the Landlord's rent as optional put things like shoes, make-up, hair extensions, mag wheels, car radios, any poxy electronic gadget well above the roof over their head. Idiotic of course, but they all do it cos they know the ramifications of getting booted out immediately simply isn't there - so why not....your little notices and letters don't phase them at all.

 

[Bargain Hunter]

So I am sitting in my office, doing rent arrears. I just thought I would write down some of the excuses I have heard this morning.

1. "I am on holidays and not using the property" - 25yo Australian lady thinks just because she is not sleeping in her unit, she does not need to pay rent. She actually calculated the amount that she didn't need to pay (for the time she was at the Gold Coast) and deducted it from her normal rental payment.Are people really this silly? The people above range from students to engineers, and are not the usual offenders, so I doubt they are trying to take advantage. Sometimes I am lost for words...

Didn't they put a claim into you for the extra cost of accommodation that they had to pay while on the GC and unable to use your facility?

 

[zed_kid]

Lol nice. They should come rent where I live, if you bounce a cheque or ‘forget to pay’ any immediate liabilities such as rent you go directly to jail, do not pass go

 

[skater]

Lol nice. They should come rent where I live, if you bounce a cheque or ‘forget to pay’ any immediate liabilities such as rent you go directly to jail, do not pass go

I would love that system here.

Over the years I've had tenants try the ol' "I had to buy presents" trick, as well as a couple of others. The PM I've got at the moment for the IP's more likely to do this is VERY tough on them. I've not had any real problems for a while. Although you never can tell when the next one shows up.

 

[kathryn d]

Lol nice. They should come rent where I live, if you bounce a cheque or ‘forget to pay’ any immediate liabilities such as rent you go directly to jail, do not pass go

I'd love that system too.
We have a couple of tenants who are starting to do that on purpose to buy time.
It takes about 10 days before the bank mails us the NSF cheque, so we know it is from.
We can't accuse, if we arent certain.

half of our tenants would be in jail in the run of a year

 

[zed_kid]

To be honest guys that system is a little harsh because its mostly the non English speakers that get done by it as they can’t talk themselves out of the situation. Although it definitely puts the fear into everyone, westerners, arabs, asians, the whole lot. I always keep rent and a half in my account at the end of the month

 

[cu@thetop]

So I am sitting in my office, doing rent arrears. I just thought I would write down some of the excuses I have heard this morning.

1. "I am on holidays and not using the property" - 25yo Australian lady thinks just because she is not sleeping in her unit, she does not need to pay rent. She actually calculated the amount that she didn't need to pay (for the time she was at the Gold Coast) and deducted it from her normal rental payment.

2. "The RTA told me that I do not have to pay rent for Public Holidays" - Pretty sure that's not true buddy.

3. "My grandmother unexpectedly came to Christmas lunch so I had to spend my rent money on extra food" - Must have been a very hungry old lady.

4. One tenant replied to an SMS with "Myer Boxing Day Sale".

And I had a couple of "I thought you wouldn't notice" responses.

Are people really this silly? The people above range from students to engineers, and are not the usual offenders, so I doubt they are trying to take advantage. Sometimes I am lost for words...

I love the 1st one best. You gotta wonder of she actually believes that.

 

[matto_]

I am surprised none of them have said something along the lines of, where is your xmas spirit

 

[Lil Skater]

I am surprised none of them have said something along the lines of, where is your xmas spirit

Yet.

Jail immediately is a little harsh, but it keeps you on your toes! It shows that not paying rent is a crime and that providing a rental property is to be respected and appreciated.

 

[Scott No Mates]

I remember the years when retail trading went from 6 to 7 days. The mob I worked for increased rent (to cover the additional costs of operating 7 days/week) - for those retailers who weren't due to renew/negotiate a new lease, were still captured by their % rent clause.

Why do tenants (of all classes) think they are hard done by - regardless of the amount of rent they are paying?

 

[alexlee]

Why do tenants (of all classes) think they are hard done by - regardless of the amount of rent they are paying?

It's more like in general, people think they're hard done by. Ask the landlords and I'm sure you'll have another version of complaints. The reason is probably as simple as: you experience your own problems most often, most personally and most keenly. You don't experience the problems the other guy (landlord, tenant, boss, employee, whatever) has, and you can't imagine it's as immediate as yours.

 

[fisherman]

Over the years defaulting tenants have taught us to see the problem in simple terms:

first, it is withholding rent and the feigned innocence is usually the first ploy of the artful dodger. There are tenants who set out to take advantage and the late or 'forgotten' rent is deliberate and the first step in what could be a rapidly escalating and complex set of problems; and

secondly, never delay a formal Notice.

Many investors go into rental housing a year. How many lose their stake is not known, but from the turnover/churn of properties bought for investment the numbers must be reasonably high. Professional tenants would always be on the look-out for diplomatic owners with tight finances who are afraid to 'upset' a tenant or have a vacancy, and for lapses of property managers.

I was quite taken by a proactive remedy mentioned in an earlier thread by one of the professional PMs on here. What he/she did was give every tenant strict riding instructions at the start of the lease and take action at the first sight of a problem. No ifs or buts. It is expressing a code of expected behaviour. Of no concern to anyone but a problem tenant.

 

[chilliblue]

My concern is that the NSW Tribunal is closed over this period delaying any possible starts to head any wayward tenant off.

 

[joanmc]

The best one I ever got was : "why should I pay rent when they have more houses than me?"

 

[Truly Exotic]

I've heard some ripper stories at centrelink and their sense of entitlement

Lady gets told she should have declared her 400 per week income and that she wasn't entitled to the full benefit and her payments are going to go down from 200 down to 180 per week to repay the debt.

Woman has hissy fit and blames the sys tem for not telling her to declare the income.

Woman gets nowhere arguing, so grabs her child, plonks him on the counter and yells " well, you look after it" and storms off

Staff dont panic as it happens often, woman comes back 5 mins later to pick up child!