All Topics / Help Needed! / HELP!!! What Are My Rights As An Owner With A Bad Property Manager in WA

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  • Profile photo of J_L_HJ_L_H
    Member
    @j_l_h
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 2

    Hi,
    I have a rental property that was all good untill we decieded to sell!…As the story goes my hubby and I bought a property which was a rental for along time and was in state of repair, So I moved into the property with my 2 young children while my hubby did fly in-fly out. In the time of 9 months we had done alot of work to the property includ retic,paint thru out, new carpets, gardens and all the aother little bits and pieces that are costly but dont stand out to the known tenant. 9 months later I have decieded to move back to the local area of where my hubby works and we had decieded to rent the property out. Going thru awhole lot of agents to get the property inspected and valued for rent and also their fees we thought that we had found the perfect agent who saw the house as a great sized house for the area and very neat and clean in our eyes this was the woman that we were looking for someone who could appericate the work and time that had been put in. We sign this lady up ASAP thinking that rentals at this time were in great demand and she said all the right things at the time.
    So it comes to 2 months down the track and a tenant has fianlly been allocated, The agent gave this young family with 4 children a big talk up about how great they were and how they were willing to pay an extra $10 aweek rent and so forth.
    Anyway it gets to around 4 months of the 12 month lease agreement (DEC-JAN) and we have done the trip to perth with our family to see the extended family and we were expecting our rent money to come in so not feeling to gulity we waited on it and to our suprise we recieved not even 1 weeks rent! When talking to the PM she turned around and said it was christmas and her partner has left. After the PM giving me a huge talk about how good this Tenant was I decieded to drop the rent by $30 a week even then it took her 3 months to catch up…We just took it as it came after all she did look after gardens and so on.

    Recentley we have received a water bill for $590 for the tenant which normal gets posted to the PM but came to our address instead due to the bill not being payed. We had been calling the PM on a regular basis to see how it was going as she was still catching up on her rent let alone a water bill that big, Every time all we were told is that its getting paid dont worry trusting the PM we didnt untill we got the bill.
    We have found out the that the tenants are planning on disputing the bill due to a leak..Which we had not heard a word of only a leaking toilet. So now theres big dispute that the tenants are out in 4weeks with this water bill still out standing we have written a letter to the PM saying that we want an eviction notice sent out or the rent money put on the bill because its in our name and the PM has said that we cant do that…
    Long Long story short we have caught the PM out lying time after time it seems that she is siding with the tenants. We have only just in the last 2 days receieved the property condition report that says that there was chips in walls and scratches! Like I said before we had freshly painted the whole house the rooms were done once we had left by a family memeber so we think that she has just typed up a dodgy property condition report  because we had put it to her in writting after she had said she had already sent it.
    This PM is the owner of the company and she contradicts herself alot and twist what is said to her by us.
    We are trying to sell the property with anthor agent which is proving to be a mission due to the tenants new boy friend calling the selling agent and abusing her for no reason that I can see unless the PM has said something bad to the tenant about the other agent due to her being very annoyed that we chose to sell thru someone else as she sells property as well.

    Im just looking for advise inregards on what to do if the tenants dont move out it has to procede to court and the PM doesnt want to take them to court and says that they are great tenants? We have thought about changing agents but then were advised against it due to being able to take the PM to court for not for filling her duties to satisfactorty manner < can this happen?
    Also with the property condition report its all wrong so have we got a leg to stand on with that also?, Im guessing that she went thru the house recently and noted the new chips as old ones. 

    Its so annoying because we trusted this women and luckily we have been on her back and figured out that she has been lying and not doing what we pay her for, But what do we do now???

    Profile photo of ducksterduckster
    Participant
    @duckster
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 1,674

    First thing go to another PM and tell them that you have a property under a lease and have a problem with the tenants.
    Ask if they can take over the lease as they will know if you can do this or not and then phone the old PM and tell her YOUR FIRED!

    Serve the Tenants with a Notice to Vacate due to the requirement that the property needs to be sold with vacant possession.
    60 days notice has to be given unless you have actually managed to sell and the contract requires vacant possession then 30 days notice. During this notice period the tenants can trash your house as a going away present for you.
    http://www.rentalagreementsdiy.com.au/tenancy_laws_in_australia.php
    http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/ConsumerProtection/PDF/Forms/RT01C_Notice_of_termination.pdf

    If you take the old PM to court it will be deemed a minor claim <$10,000 and you have to pay all the legal fees even if you win the case. That makes it very dangerous to your wallet / hip pocket/ finances and you could end up out of pocket after you win !

    http://www.magistratescourt.wa.gov.au/files/Civil_factsheet_3.pdf

    The tenant may have told your PM that the toilet was leaking however if the tenant wasn't paying rent there would have been no way for the PM to pay for the plumber.
    The hard part here is proving the Tenant told the PM the toilet was leaking.

    However the PM should have served a breach of agreement to the Tenant when they didn't pay the rent after 14 days with the intention of the Tenant vacating after another 7 days. Being a total of 21 days.
    For a loss of $600 you could end up paying a lot more in legal fees to fight this.
    That is why I am saying you need to get a new PM
    You need a PM that is on the ball rather than one that makes excuses to you
    If I was you I would write off the $600 as a learning experience and get a new PM who will keep up to date with the tenants rent and any problems / urgent repairs the property has.
    (I fired a PM in Victoria for not renewing the lease or returning my phone calls by asking another PM to go over and collect the keys)

    Houses get knocked about by tenants and it could be deemed wear and tear.
    It is not their house so they do not care as well about it as you would.

    http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/ConsumerProtection/content/real_estate/renting_and_tenancy/Landlords/All_about_notices.html

    Profile photo of Scott No MatesScott No Mates
    Participant
    @scott-no-mates
    Join Date: 2005
    Post Count: 3,856

    As per Duckster above but also go to the WA Dept of Fair Trading (or whoever registers real estate agents). Contact the PM's licensee (often the PM only works for the real estate agency and is not a licensee or director of the company).

    Stir as much sh!t as you can within the company to reveal their incompetence.

    Profile photo of maree_bradrossmaree_bradross
    Member
    @maree_bradross
    Join Date: 2007
    Post Count: 401

    Agree with the above, hopefully you can recover the bond and not be too out of pocker – also as you have entered into payment terms for the rent arrears your landlord insurance maybe null and void.

    Profile photo of KateMelbKateMelb
    Member
    @katemelb
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 71

    The Rentwise blog has links to free advice provided by the WA Government as well as the WA Tenants Union (a handy reference point for landlords): http://blog.rentwise.com.au/index.php/2010/05/24/free-forms-and-resources-for-self-managers/

    As others have said, know your rights and exercise them!

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