Does your agent let you know if they can't pay your bills?

Was going through my emails tonight and opened up one from a PM today with this month 's rental statement. No rent received for the month and in very small print at the bottom it states that there is an unpaid bill for council rates and the amount.

Is it normal for an agent to not call you to let you know they can't pay a bill? This isn't this first time that I've found out via a statement that a bill hasn't been paid and I then have to chase up a copy from the agent and then pay late fees.

 

not normal
the small print is not there as an effort with communicate with you, it's the auto notes that are attached to their CRM

Yes they should communicate with you and say "your council rates are due, do you want to handle them yourself this month or we are short $345 - can you deposit that to our trust so we can pay them for you"

 

Sounds like it because there was no rent for the month, ie not enough to pay it with?
Hopefully they've been in contact with you long before that to say they're doing something about that situation firstly. And if not enough to pay a bill by due date, ask for owner contributed funds rather than letting it run late - this could have credit file implications

 

NO!

A lack of funds in a landlords ledger does not all have to mean that the tenant is in arrears. Without knowing how many disbursements per month the agency is doing, what other invoices were handled for the client, whether letting fees were deducted, whether the agency is withholding funds for maintenance or a whole range of other situations that occurs in a property management business, you cannot jump to the conclusion that a tenant is in arrears.

 

DT you said "no rent for the month - they should first do something about that...."
Doing something about what? If it's not arrears then what would be the "no rent" that they should be doing something about first?

 

In my situation there has been arrears each time. You're right that receiving no rent for a month and not being told is worse than an unpaid overdue bill.

 

Do agency agreements typically have any rules/conditions for timeliness of communications for this sort of thing?

( will need to check my PM agreement once I am back from a work trip )

 

Where the agent is aware of the billing cycle they can usually forewarn you of next month's expected bills.

 

I like to receive rent fortnightly. It is a non negotiable when choosing a property agent. Not only is the money in my pocket/offset sooner, but it is a good way to monitor payments to see ASAP if there are issues so I can get onto the property manager to ensure action is underway.

 

Shouldn't the PM be the one monitoring?

 

Yes they should, obviously, but no harm in keeping an eye on things. Keeps them on their toes.

 

this is relatively easy to set up in a PM office - it's a tick in the CRM system that disburses funds to owner twice a month. It does help with financing. Some accountants prefer to have monthly disbursements instead of bimonthly as they perceive it as "neater"

Regardless, many agencies offer a choice.

 

Dear Beachgurl,
regards to Arrears:
ask your agent what is their arrears policy?
If the tenant is
1. One week in arrears
2. Two weeks in arrears
3. three weeks in arrears
etc.
THey should say something like
Wk 1. we send them a text and phone call to tenant
Wk2. Letter sent and Notify Owner
Wk 3, Notice to quit. etc.
About paying your Accounts, I would say that you negotiate with them, have an idea how much needs to be in the kittty ..etc (up to each owner and agent)
I hope this helps

 

The accountant in me means I manage/pay all of the IP bills myself. However if I did ask my agent to do this on my behalf, I would keep a rotating spreadsheet so I could check the monthly rental statement to ensure bills due were paid.

 

NOOOOOOO!!!
LOL

We once had a landlord who rang our office 3 months before a lease expired to ensure we were doing a lease renewal, rang just before a routine inspection was due to ensure that it was on the list for that week, nice guy but micromanaged everything.

We managed his properties for 8 years then they were sold. When one property was sold, the tenant was slightly in arrears - around $400, he wanted the $400 paid to him from the purchaser as the purchaser was at the advantage of claiming that money from the bond at the end of the lease. Only this guy would request something like that - none of us were surprised given his personality.