On 22/04 my PM advised that ''the Tenant has lost their job and was waiting for a Separation Certificate to access government assistance.'' Yesterday 01/05 my PM subsequently advised that ''the Tenant is now accessing his Super and they will be paying a couple of months in advance when the funds arrive.'' Yesterday I also received my statement for April which showed the Tenant has only paid rent until 06/04. So the Tenant is essentially 4 weeks in arrears. I have not received any further communication from the PM. In view of the above I have the following key questions: Regardless of the recent legislation regarding COVID-19 and QLD Tenants should the PM have issued a Breach Notice for rent arrears or not? Am I legally entitled to request evidence that supports the information my Tenant and/or PM has provided? Am I legally entitled to request a time frame that demonstrates when the Tenant will next be paying rent and how much that rent will be? Will contacting REIQLD be useful in terms of independent advice? Apart from engaging my Solicitor which course of action is recommended moving forward? Cheers
Please call your LL insurance company and discuss this with them. A phone call to your PM for clarification will also be appropriate. Perhaps your PM and tenant have arranged to pay the arrears plus a further two months in advance as soon as the Super is released, but this is not evident from your statement. Certainly check with the PM and ask for the clarification in writing. * This is based on my long term knowledge in Qld. Has this legal situation changed since Covid-rules were introduced a few weeks ago? I haven't read the entire 160-something pages, only watched the press release on TV.
Qld Labor State Government has pretty much ****ed it for all Qld Landlords. The pointy end of the stick, if the Lessor is not willing to take a reduced rent, make the Tenant apply to QCAT to terminate their tenancy under hardship grounds - rather a vacant property you can relet than squatters living in it with no income, and pray your landlord insurance will be worth some salt. The Lessor/Agent should be following the processes due to the aforementioned tenant-friendly local government, which have now been extended, the process now includes a 'show cause' notice which buys the tenant another 2 weeks of nothing, followed by a mandatory dispute resolution process through the RTA (estimated wait time due to volume ~3 months, again of more nothing), to get a notice of unremedied dispute to then proceed to QCAT. I hope one of the big firms some how can do a class action on behalf of all Qld Landlords who've lost money and/or had their property trashed or other circumstances, against this Qld Labor State Government for the policies they've implemented, and the ~66% of non-tenant residents in Qld don't forget this next election and for future elections...
I'm a bit late, but hope this is of assistance.... Regardless of the recent legislation regarding COVID-19 and QLD Tenants should the PM have issued a Breach Notice for rent arrears or not? YES. Those arrears should also fall on the pre-reform legislation, which means F11 Notice to Remedy Breach followed by F12 Notice to Leave. Am I legally entitled to request evidence that supports the information my Tenant and/or PM has provided? YES. Absolutely! Am I legally entitled to request a time frame that demonstrates when the Tenant will next be paying rent and how much that rent will be? Yes and no. As part of the framework recommended/required by the QLD Gov for Landlords and Tenants working together, they would obviously need to provide you with a proposed payment plan for your approval (or some sort of request for consideration). In absence of that, you need to proceed as if they are not Covid affected. Will contacting REIQLD be useful in terms of independent advice? Maybe? Probably not. Perhaps you could call the RTA, though I advise calling to ask the same question at least three times, then hoping you get the same answer twice. Apart from engaging my Solicitor which course of action is recommended moving forward? Contact your Property Manager and ask them what's happening.
