Late with the rent!!

Hi Elysium-M
Why are you collecting the rent if you have a PM, are you still paying him? With our PM he rings them if they are a day or 2 late just as a reminder but at 2 weeks he sends them a formal letter outlining what will happen if they dont pay this normally gets a response otherwise it is more letters and court.
If you are going to manage your own propertis you really need to read up on when and what you can do so that you know when to send out the appropriate letters.

Erika

Hi Elysium-M,

Not Much we can do as landlords in Australia, the law here protects tenants and is in favour of them. Legally by law, the tenant can pay rent up to 2 weeks at time late, and we cant really do much about it. I wouldnt worry about it, as long as he dont know the system, there shouldn’t be much worry.

Cheers,
sis

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One of my tenants is currently 4 weeks behind, and I am in the process of evicting them (Vic).

I would get your PM to get onto them if they are more than 2 days late. Once they go over 14 days send them a Notice to vacate, and get your PM to go to court (VCAT in Victoria) to get a possession order. Then if they do leave the police can be authorised to kick the tenants out.

A good source of information are the various tenants unions in each state. They have websites and explain, from a tenants perspective, the process of being evicted including what a landlord can and can’t do. The tenants union Victoria can be found at:
http://www.tuv.org.au/vacate.htm

Terryw
Discover Home Loans
North Sydney
[email protected]

Hi,

Like everyone else why are you collecting the rent if you have a PM? If you go to http://www.rta.com.au this will give you all the info that you require.
If your tenant receives there income form centrelink or some saught of pension then you have the option of receiving there rent via centerpay. This system takes the rent out of the tenants payment before they receive it so they can’t spend what they don’t have.

P.S Don’t just assume that your P.M is doing their job you need to keep a close eye on what they are doing. In my experience if you have the time it’s allot easier to manage the property yourself and you save 8%!!![:o)]

Elysium,

Dunno about the technicalities of lateness etc… but it’s always a good idea to get to know your tenant’s situation.

I have a very lenient perspective about rentals. Basically, I think noone wants to become homeless by being evicted, and the tenant will try to catch up ASAP. Sometimes people lose their jobs or something else happens- significant, lifechanging things- that might mean a little flexibility is warranted. Most tenants who are not psycho’s will want to have their bills up to date- just like we all do ) I don’t know many that deliberately rip off a landlord so they can be evicted and move from house to house- that would be a bit of a crazy way for them to live!

My PM always lets me know what’s happening with tenants- and if there’s a problem, I just discuss it with the PM, and we work out the boundaries around it.

It’s a good idea not to be too “rent reliant” in paying your mortgage. My tenants’ rents are just extras- the mortgage comes out of my bank account and their rent goes into the mortgage too. Hence, if there’s a problem with tenants, I am not gonna lose the shirt off my back. Always good not to get into hock too deeply- because if the slightest thing goes wrong, the plan falls to pieces.

kay henry

Yeah, lysium- give him a break and my bet is, he’ll catch up and he’ll probably develop a bit of loyalty to you for being understanding.

Then it will be win-win.

kay henry

HI

can I add as a previous renter on a sole parent income, I struggled to pay rent. My rent was $165 and this was over 10 years ago. Not much room for food and utilities.

The agent, luckily knew my family and me, and the landlord was agreeable to maintaining rent at that rate, they knew there would be times when I was going to be short or late, and there were times when I tried to pay a few dollars extra to put me in some credit.

The key for me as a tenant was trust, loyalty, flexibility and a good all round easy landlord. I looked after the place, it was well cared for, I never complained, and I kept to myself.

Most people panic, but from experience, what most people lack is the communication skills, talk to people, your PM, tell them your expectations, tell them what you are prepared to accept, maybe even suggest that you are negotiable eg in terms of payment date.

You know sometimes for a centrelink client to pay by direct debit, means an additional charge(some banks chage $5 per transaction for this). If centrelink is late, or stops their money, the direct debit fails, and the bank hits them again witha fee, this can be $30, like a dishonour fee.

Most people on benefits are living in my opinion below the poverty line. Now two of my renters ( two properties) are centrelink clients, while they have some catching up to do, they pay each fortnight, even a day or two late. They are happy for the flexibility because some things are just beyond their control.

Now for someone not receiving a benefit, you really dont know their situation, maybe you dont need to know either, but if your property is cared for, and the payments generally come in, go with the flow.

Most people are out to make money, only a few really try and do the ‘dirty’, but it will all catch up to them in the end.

Personally, I rather pay the 8-12% property managers fee and be removed from it all. After all the fee is a tax deduction adn it leaves you free to think about other things….

At the end of the day, we can all worry over rent not being paid, and our own pockets hurting, but you cant do much under 14 days anyway, then it takes longer to try and evict someone. So I can really only suggest to focus that energy into something more constructive…

LOL
Elves