Apparently I'm an Amazing Tenant

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#2111088 19-Oct-2018 16:51

Behodar:

A different tenant put a pot on the stove and went out; I heard the smoke alarm going off

This is the biggest worry I have about renting a downstairs unit. The upstairs tenants seem a bit simple, and it's only a matter of time before they do something like this.

alasta

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#2111089 19-Oct-2018 16:53

nakedmolerat:

how do you suggest to 'deal' with the 'predatory tenants'? put them in jail?

Perhaps recklessly or deliberately damaging a rental property should be a criminal offence. I don't know about throwing them in jail but a bit of community service wouldn't hurt.

The problem with it being a civil matter is that all the landlord can do is sue them or take them to the tribunal to recover costs, but rogue tenants often fail to pay up because they have no assets.

tchart

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#2111093 19-Oct-2018 17:09

We rented for 8 years before buying. Always treated the places like I would have wanted them. Never missed rent etc.

We bought our first house and lived it in for 10 years with 2 young boys.

We then built a new house and rented our old house out. I was amazed after 7 months at how much damage was done compared to us being there for 10 years. After that revelation we sold the house and won't be a landlord again.

neb

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#2111862 21-Oct-2018 14:15

tchart: We then built a new house and rented our old house out. I was amazed after 7 months at how much damage was done compared to us being there for 10 years. After that revelation we sold the house and won't be a landlord again.

This is why, if you want to rent a place out, you get it managed by a rental agency. They vet the tenants before they go in, they carry out regular inspections, they chase down money owed, and if repairs are required they typically have tradespeople under contract who do the work for far less than you can get it done for. Sure, you pay them a percentage of the income, but it gets you out of a huge amount of headaches...

sir1963

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#2112034 21-Oct-2018 19:40

nakedmolerat:

networkn:

Yet the current Government wants to boost tenants rights even more.

I would be ok if they rebalanced the rights to stop predatory landlords, however, they have done nothing for Landlords who have predatory tenants.

boosting tenant right = damaging the property? if you think that way then yeah

how do you suggest to 'deal' with the 'predatory tenants'? put them in jail?

Nope, have the government pay the restitution to the landlord then the government can collect from the tennant. They have far more ability to track and trace, garnish their wages or benefit.

sir1963

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#2112035 21-Oct-2018 19:41

neb:
tchart: We then built a new house and rented our old house out. I was amazed after 7 months at how much damage was done compared to us being there for 10 years. After that revelation we sold the house and won't be a landlord again.
This is why, if you want to rent a place out, you get it managed by a rental agency. They vet the tenants before they go in, they carry out regular inspections, they chase down money owed, and if repairs are required they typically have tradespeople under contract who do the work for far less than you can get it done for. Sure, you pay them a percentage of the income, but it gets you out of a huge amount of headaches...

Garbage, property managers are as often as bad as the tenants .

MikeAqua

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#2113131 24-Oct-2018 10:03

sir1963:

Garbage, property managers are as often as bad as the tenants .

I have to say that our property managers have been excellent. We have experienced them as tenant when we rented an apartment and as landlord's agent, when we bought a tenanted apartment. Professional, responsive and easy to deal with.

Mike

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MikeAqua

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#2113133 24-Oct-2018 10:14

nakedmolerat:

how do you suggest to 'deal' with the 'predatory tenants'? put them in jail?

I think there should be reputation/rating system for both tenants and landlords.

I've used informal systems as both a tenant and landlord.

When I was a student there was an informal system for rating your landlord. The student union supplied coloured cards and you taped the appropriate colour to your front window. Worked. We had a bad landlord so we put red card in the window. Nothing she could do.

As a landlord I have been aware of informal networks for sharing details of nightmare tenants.

Mike

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#2113139 24-Oct-2018 10:22

MikeAqua: To be an amazing tenant it seems all that you have to do is pay your rent on time, keep the place tidy, not break anything, report any issues and co-operate with the landlord's contractors. Stuff that I would want to do anyway.

In the early 90's, my ex-wife and I rented a place in Pt Chevalier. After being there about 6 months the landlords invited us over to their place for dinner one night. They plied us with champagne, said we were looking after their property really well and reduced our rent by $10/week, which was quite a deal back then. Best landlords ever!!

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#2113142 24-Oct-2018 10:31

1101: Tennets in the neighbours house left a mess

It took the landlord 3 jumbo bins to get rid of it all, shovelling rubbish out of the garage . Took 3 weeks+ for the cleanup
In the 2 years they were there, they never once put out trash at top of drive for weekly rubbish collection, must have all gone
into the garage. Of course carpets were trashed, whole inside had to be repainted .
tennents before them actually built a `room` under the house, filled it up with trash & sealed it off :-0

What the landlord should have done would be leave the neighbouring houses his contact details, we would have loved to tell him what
was going on but no one new how to contact him .

alasta:

nakedmolerat: how do you suggest to 'deal' with the 'predatory tenants'? put them in jail?

Perhaps recklessly or deliberately damaging a rental property should be a criminal offence. I don't know about throwing them in jail but a bit of community service wouldn't hurt.

The problem with it being a civil matter is that all the landlord can do is sue them or take them to the tribunal to recover costs, but rogue tenants often fail to pay up because they have no assets.

A house two doors down from my place was rented out for years, the tenants didn't change. When they moved out the landlords found they'd been smoking lots of meth, there was also used needles lying around. A number of walls had holes smashed in them and their dogs had crapped on the carpets and this mess had been trodden in. The garage was full of rotting rubbish.

It cost them 10's of thousands to get everything fixed. Naturally they withheld bond. The tenants had the gall to take them to the Tenancy Tribunal over it. The landlords won the case and were awarded a further $300. Not sure if they ever took action against Quinovic who were supposed to be the property managers but clearly didn't ever check the property.

sir1963

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#2113144 24-Oct-2018 10:39

MikeAqua:

sir1963:

Garbage, property managers are as often as bad as the tenants .

I have to say that our property managers have been excellent. We have experienced them as tenant when we rented an apartment and as landlord's agent, when we bought a tenanted apartment. Professional, responsive and easy to deal with.

Sure there are good property managers, but there are a lot of bad ones too.

But work it out. they take 10%, so for $300 per week they get $30.

Take out rent, phone power, advertising, car, office expenses, accountant, etc etc etc

What is left will be the maximum they can pay for the effort of actually managing the property.

MikeAqua

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#2113167 24-Oct-2018 11:35

sir1963:

MikeAqua:

sir1963:

Garbage, property managers are as often as bad as the tenants .

I have to say that our property managers have been excellent. We have experienced them as tenant when we rented an apartment and as landlord's agent, when we bought a tenanted apartment. Professional, responsive and easy to deal with.

Sure there are good property managers, but there are a lot of bad ones too.

But work it out. they take 10%, so for $300 per week they get $30.

Take out rent, phone power, advertising, car, office expenses, accountant, etc etc etc

What is left will be the maximum they can pay for the effort of actually managing the property.

The pricing structures I have seen aren't that simple. For example there may be additional fees.

But the advantage comes from having professional agent that deals with dozens of property and has network of contractors for maintenance.

What I was charged as a landlord for an inspection, was less than I would earn in the time taken to organise and complete it myself. And the fees are a tax deductible expense.

Mike

sir1963

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#2113169 24-Oct-2018 11:45

MikeAqua:

sir1963:

MikeAqua:

sir1963:

Garbage, property managers are as often as bad as the tenants .

I have to say that our property managers have been excellent. We have experienced them as tenant when we rented an apartment and as landlord's agent, when we bought a tenanted apartment. Professional, responsive and easy to deal with.

Sure there are good property managers, but there are a lot of bad ones too.

But work it out. they take 10%, so for $300 per week they get $30.

Take out rent, phone power, advertising, car, office expenses, accountant, etc etc etc

What is left will be the maximum they can pay for the effort of actually managing the property.

The pricing structures I have seen aren't that simple. For example there may be additional fees.

But the advantage comes from having professional agent that deals with dozens of property and has network of contractors for maintenance.

What I was charged as a landlord for an inspection, was less than I would earn in the time taken to organise and complete it myself. And the fees are a tax deductible expense.

I have my own contractors that I deal with , I know they are reliable and always do a good job at a fair price.

I do all the small jobs myself +painting/decorating/electrical (I am a sparkie ).

I have had good tenants, and bad.

I have a friend who's wife was a realestate agent, and she told me "professional agents" aren't worth it. They have no qualifications for a start

MikeAqua

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#2113187 24-Oct-2018 12:45

sir1963:

I have my own contractors that I deal with , I know they are reliable and always do a good job at a fair price.

I do all the small jobs myself +painting/decorating/electrical (I am a sparkie ).

I have had good tenants, and bad.

I have a friend who's wife was a realestate agent, and she told me "professional agents" aren't worth it. They have no qualifications for a start

Personal choice ...

It literally isn't worth my time to manage the property myself. The time it would take me is worth more than the amount I pay the property manager.

And sure I could paint the place myself. But I earn more per hour than I pay the painter and he would do it twice as fast as me.

Then there is the availability of my time. I work hard, travel lots.

Mike

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#2113250 24-Oct-2018 15:24

Regarding managers vs self managed:

As a residential property investor who doesn't want to loose money you should only be buying where the capital outlay to rental income ratio is best (anything else is a waste of your money and time). This is not necessarily in a location convenient to you, which is when a property manager is a necessity. If my profit is $60 higher on the other side of town, I don't mind paying a property manager $30 - I'm still $30 better off and I have more time for myself.

It also comes down to your management style - if you are meek and timid, you need a property manager. Also 1/2 decent property managers helps to keep your house/business compliant with government regulation which is on the increase at the moment.

It also pays to talk to property managers in the area before you buy.Their data can help you avoid pitfalls and buy successful places. They are a wealth of information about the types of rentals that are in demand, likely rental returns and calibre of tenants the area/homes attract. They prefer to manage easy to rent, quality houses to quality tenants so they not going to lie.

As a tenant, a manager is less emotive and more clinical to deal with (if you can actually get them to respond!).

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