QLD Advice for dealing with tenant from hell

My tenant has been in my property for approx 18 months. Over that time she has been behind in rent about 3 times. She refused to pay water usage for most of that time. Because my property is not water compliant she got away with not paying for water.
I have decided to put my house on the market and the selling agent found that there was a leaking shower in the en-suite. This wasn't picked up earlier because she had her belongings covering the wall where the leakage was. I had that fixed. The end of her lease had come and she was behind in rent again. She has vacated the premises. My agent has claimed the bond and now she is asking for compensation for a previously blocked drain which I fixed and not being able to use the en-suite while it was repaired even though the is another bathroom. I have refused to give her compensation but my managing agent has warned me that the tenant may take the matter to the Residential Tenancy Authority (RTA) Mediator.
Should I be worried?

 

You should not be worried if you follow the law. You cannot charge for water if your property is not water efficient. You cannot blame the tenant for having stuff against a wall with a leaking shower the other side. This has happened to me too except it was a linen press the shower shared a wall with.

You should offer some compensation for the tenant not being able to use the second bathroom while it was being fixed IMO. She was renting a 2 bathroom property after all. It’s better to do this and get agreement and avoid the tribunal. The tenant has not been perfect with rent arrears but you have not been the perfect LL either.

 

some tenants are professional pests who know how to game the system,

if you dont have a water ceritifcate, you cant charge water, it sux but thats reality,

shes vacated, and she was behind on rent as well? im sure she left the house dirty, so the bond is exhausted

if she is willing to go to tribunal over maybe $150 worht of compensation, then let her!

 

What makes you say I have not been a perfect landlord? I have done nothing wrong and pretty much done everything what the tenant wanted until now.

 

Yes the house was left dirty and the yard was not maintained.

 

Just from what you have said and in the context of standing before a Tribunal Member.
Chased her for payment of a water bill you were not entitled to. Refused her compensation for a non-working 2nd bathroom.

 

Wow you sound like the perfect landlord. I "chased" her for water because that's what she signed for on the lease. I didn't know about the requirement for water compliant certificate. After that I stopped "chasing" her. As I said before. Up till now I have done nothing wrong.

 

I was simply giving my opinion on this issue.

 

If the tenant never notified the Lessor/Agent of a blocked drain, zero chance of compensation being awarded, and on top of that, if the tenants failure to report the maintenance issues caused resultant damage, the Lessor could in fact seek compensation from the tenant for those costs through the tribunal.

Lessor/Agents have no excuse, ensure the property is water compliant with supporting documentation otherwise don't even bother trying to seek payment for water usage. I don't know why the concept is so hard to grasp and so many Lessor/Agents fall down this pit (and worse, act surprised).

I don't think you should be worried, generally if someone is serious they'll have already taken action, not just talked about it (in this case, sounds like the ex-tenant is trying to dissuade you from seeking monies exceeding the bond for outstanding issues with the tenancy).

As for your PM, sounds like they're quaking in their boots and don't want to go to xCAT because from the sounds of it, they may have dropped the ball a bit and this will all come to light to you during the proceedings.

 

It depends... Has the Bond been refunded or settled? Do you have Landlord Insurance? Is your PM going to charge you for mediation? Is the house now rented?

 

You wrote "My tenant has been in my property for approx 18 months. Over that time she has been behind in rent about 3 times. She refused to pay water usage for most of that time. Because my property is not water compliant she got away with not paying for water."

So propertunity was only responding to what YOU wrote. That's all we can base our responses on. Saying that she refused to pay water usage most of the time makes it seem like you tried to charge her everytime. What else is anyone meant to think? You're property manager should have advised you that you couldn't charge without a water certificate.

 

My agent has claimed the bond. Yes I have LL insurance. I don’t know if PM will charge me for mediation. The house is now empty.

 

Yes I kept asking until I was told that I needed a certificate. I didn’t know one existed until the tenant requested one. I agree that my manger should of told me I needed one.

 

Ok, then I wont worry about the Tenant charge you for blocked drain which happened previously and she didnt report. If she wants to, she can pay the lodgement fee (minimum $26.35) to charge you, and submit all sorts of paperwork too. This might seems too much to some people.

If I were here, I'd rather charge you for the payment for the water charges. Much better chance with that

 

I think the nature of some of the responses probably is partly because of the language used. The tenant didn't "get away" with not paying for water, you didn't have a compliant property. Big difference. You don't necessarily need a certificate, but that topic has been covered ad nauseum. Go to the RTA website the info is very accessible and very clear.

I assume they mean the RTA dispute resolution service which is a requirement to engage in to get a QCAT hearing on a non urgent matter. It is non binding and they can't make any rulings or orders so no you shouldn't be worried. If you believe you have done nothing wrong then call the tenants bluff and offer nothing and let them initiate proceedings.

If the agent has not properly informed you of the requirements for charging water then I would ask them to represent you at QCAT at no cost if it comes to that. Whilst it isn't related directly to the drain issue, it probably contributed in a negative way to the overall relationship with the tenant.

- Luke

 

I'm not even sure what a certificate is .....

Paying water charges

If your property is compliant then you can pass on the charges. Justification is a different question.

 

I can’t comment on the water efficiency requirements, but I find it astounding that NSW water companies don’t follow Victoria’s practice and invoice tenants directly!

 

How long was she without an ensuite? If it was a week or so, she can go jump- but if she reported it and it took you three months to fix, compensation is fair.

 

She was without an en-suite for about 2 days.

 

Add WA, SA and QLD to the list of states I know of that don’t invoice tenants directly for consumption.