Any ideas on how to cancel tenancy?

Hi all,

I've recently purchased a property in Sydney with a tenancy attached to it until November of this year

My wife and I would like to move in to the property earlier and are looking for ways we may be able to cancel the lease agreement to allow us to do so (we offered $10,000 to the tenants to leave during negotiating the purchase)

We had our first inspection of the property since settlement and have come up with the following ideas

1. Rent is $675 v market rent of $800-$900. This may result in the tenant looking elsewhere for cheaper accommodation once we've finished the market review thats currently being conducted (24 month lease, 18 months in)
2. The tenants look like theyre smokers as well as being horders. There are bookcases blocking windows, posters over windows etc. This means very little sun or fresh air is getting in and there's some mold on the ceilings. I don't want to be sued down the line for any health issues that come up so can I argue the property is unlivable as it currently stands which would then require they move out? The property to me is certainly unlivable as it currently is, we would be looking to fix up the place before we move in. I don't know how the tenants live in such filth

Any other ideas would be welcomed

 

It's the opposite - as the landlord you have a duty to ensure the property meets standards, so you would have to fix any issues so that the tenants can stay in.

 

Is there a lease?

You can’t just raise the rent unless it is written into the lease. Given your story, a huge rent increase could give the tenant grounds to appeal on the basis you are simply trying to unfairly force them out.

From what you say, the property is certainly not “unliveable”. Your description does not support the conclusion of “filth”.

You bought the property knowing the lease was in place, your only option is to offer enough money that the tenant agrees to leave. Or just wait until November.

 

Not true.
If the building deemed inhabitable, the tenant needs to leave, with no break lease, to allow the landlord to take the necessary actions to fix it.
In that case, since the tenant is not keep the property in reasonably clean condition, the landlord can breach them and follow up with an eviction process.

That is given the tenants indeed made the property not suitable to live in (risk or pests, vermin or dead vermin etc)

 

and I'm more than open to doing so however this would require them to move out for some period of time...hopefully long enough for them to terminate the lease

I wouldn't "unfairly" increase the rent. I would simply be moving it to a market related rental as the current lease agreement allows me to do. The current tenants have been there for 8 years and are paying significantly under market rental

To me it is unlivable. There is mold in a significant amount of areas due to windows being covered up and never opened. There is also paint peeling from the entire kitchen ceiling

 

But it is not just “up to you” to decide what is considered “unliveable”.

You will have to have better grounds to evict other than it is just not up to your standards.

 

You bought the property knowing the lease did not end until November, tough luck, you just have to suck it up and go through the usual channels to end the lease ...

 

Significant mould can actually be classified as "unliveable".
It can lead to significant health issues.

OP has to commission a professional to write a report and state if it's due to the tenant's neglect.

 

^ Agree, with the above, though it's a pretty tenuous grounds. All the tenant needs to do to ruin your case is clean the mould off.
____________________________

Crazy they wouldn't accept $10,000 to leave early!

What do you mean market review? I didn't think there was any ability to decide on a rent revision part-way through a fixed term lease?

 

From the description, it seems they won't be able to even get to the mould to clean it...
The OP describe quite a disgusting situation going on in there.

Bare the question: why did they buy it?
Sounds like they gonna have major reno needed before they can move in.
Hope they got good price.

 

Since the OP’s sole aim is to remove legal tenants, I think he may be putting the worst possible spin on the actual conditions.

As said, if it is really that dreadful, why buy, knowing the tenants were there till November? Particularly if you want immediate vacant possession? If legal eviction was possible, surely the vendor would have removed the tenant and cleaned up the property?

 

This!

It's a bit late now, but next time buy with vacant possession.

 

Landlords trying to get creative in order to skirt the rules is exaclty why tenancy legislation keeps tightening in favor of the tenants (allegedly).

Either offer them more money or accept the terms you bought the property under.

 

I don't agree with the OPs wanting to find a spin to remove a legal tenant from the house and agree they need to suck it up.
And with $10,000 they are willing to pay for them to leave - they can just rent a short term accommodation until the end of the tenancy anyway. They gonna need it anyway, while they cleaning up the place after the leave.

I'm just saying that if the situation is so dire, the OP might have legal responsibility to the health of the tenant until they leave as the landlord.

It's probably gonna be a world of pain to get them out when the lease is finished.
If their description is close to being accurate - those people are not very flexible to moving.
Makes one wonder why buying the place in the first place. Strange story all around....

 

That's the part I'm not fully agree with.
Again, not accepting the OP wanting to find a way to kick the tenant out, but if the OP bought a property and deem it not kept in reasonable condition, regardless of who the previous landlord enforce it, they are totally within their rights to do so.

In my person experience, I've bought a tenanted property and very quickly it turned out the previous landlord couldn't case less about it. It was just a place to park their money.
Nothing was by the book and the tenants were very happy with the non-exstient oversight, which allowed them to treat the place like their own, not always in a good way (they did kept it clean and organised, but also installed whatever they wanted, everywhere they wanted, in whatever way they wanted - creating damage that would be left behind them when they leave).

I had a different view to the property and I started to sort things out, which made the tenants quite upset.
It was within my legal rights, but they were used to different things.
It end up with them becoming hostile, leading to me becoming hostile and than premature termination of the lease (I've provided them the option and they took it).

Win-win for both sides in this case; they avoid ******** landlord (in their view) and I could do the (required) reno the place needed and re-let it for better rate.

 

If tenants are on a fixed term agreement, then you can't increase the rent anyway. And as per the other comments, you would need a professional report/opinion that the property is unlivable if they tried to fight your claim.

I would give them their termination for November, then offer them the $10k again to leave early (say next 21 days). That way they know they will have to go regardless, and it will hopefully make sense to them to take the extra incentive.

 

Exactly what I would have done.

And we have allowed a tenant to break a lease without penalty when it was clearly in our best interests to have them gone.

 

For some perspective, these are the internal photos

 

I believe you can as per below

 

I dunno.... It's touch and go.
It's not the type of hoarder I was thinking of. Definitely not something you can comment on (the tenant can live the way they want. It's not pretty, but it's not dangerous.

The mould seems quite bad, but I'm not an expert.
I'd get an expert to come, test and create report.

If they deem is dangerous to the occupants - I'd issue vacate notice based on not-fit for living, followed by full and proper reno to fix the core problem that created this.