How to evict bad tenant at end of lease

Hi all,

I have a bad tenant whom I wish to evict at end of fixed lease [after eviction ban date]. Tenant told my PM that they had no where to go so they would appeal to VCAT against the eviction.
PM advised me that "Notice to vacate + Notice to renovate" is not sufficient ground for eviction as VCAT would challenge it. In place, she suggested "owner's family moving in" as reason.

I am fine with not renting out the IP for 6 months, as long as I can evict that bad tenant and end our months of headache/frustrations.

(A) Besides selling the IP, is "owner's family moving in" truly the other effective ground to evict the bad tenant ?

(B) Do I need to provide proof to VCAT ? Can I simply leave the IP vacant for 6 months ?

Would really appreciate your opinion on this . Thank you in advance.

 

Just a casual bit of fraud/perjury to a tribunal?

 

I would let VCAT do it's process. Can you prove/show they are "bad" tennants?

So the secret of remaining in a rental for ever. Is to have no where to go?

 

@thatbum, my PM is ethical. She proposed that grounds thinking that I could genuinely move my family into the IP. However, I work overseas and my wife+kids are stuck here with me, not able to travel back due to travel restrictions. We are hoping that situation eases. If that doesn't happen, we would have to leave the IP vacant for 6 months.

My principal residence address is my parents' place. PM did also suggest having my parents or other dependents move in.

My parents don't mind moving in for 6 months just to help me tide over this situation. I am not sure if VCAT accepts this since parents already have their own principal residence.

@Ryan23, ethical PM stated that "selling" won't work since I had no intention to sell, and that would be perjury to a tribunal..

 

I don't understand why you can't just evict them on the grounds of the end of the fixed term?

 

@Shogun, this tenant is bad. They were brought in by an ex-PM whom I had later found to be irresponsible, thus dismissed.
Tenant is perpetually late at rent payments, constantly ignoring my new PM's calls/texts, giving empty promises just to stop my PM from hounding them, and even telling my PM that "it's covid so we don't have to pay rent if we don't wish to."
My PM reminded them that it's not how things work, since they were fully on centrelink so they were not suffering financial hardship due to covid, and that landlord had been very kind to grant them very cheap rent -- at half market rate. Tenant looked apologetic, said sorry, then shut their door at my PM's face.
Rent was paid in bits and pieces, $100 now.. $150 a fortnight later... $50 sometimes .... $0 if my PM took a break from hounding them .... but never crossed the 14-day-no-rent-deadline ..... so basically, my poor PM has to work darn hard for that meagre management fee. I reckon PM is doing this as goodwill service since she is also managing my other IP.

The IP is filled with clutter. Tenant seemed to be going around the neighbourhood collecting junk. PM had twice sent them breach for clutter.

We have tolerated long enough. When my PM sent them notice to vacate at end of lease, tenant said they had NO WHERE to go so they would stay for as long as they wish and VCAT would definitely help tenant. Apparently, they knew the loopholes of the rulings well, and would be able to put up a good show of "hardship" in front of the tribunal.

Can you imagine such incorrigible tenant abusing the system, leaving us landlords at their evil mercy ?

We are at our wits' end.

 

@thatbum, this is no longer enough to evict tenant. We require solid reasons unless VCAT would favour the tenant's decision. By the way, my IP is in Melbourne.

 

What's the legal basis for this? I haven't checked specifically recently, but I don't think its true.

 

You don't need any reason to terminate at end of lease, they can claim hardship all they want, stuff them, up the current rent while you are at it !

Can't your PM get rental payments made directly from Centerlink due to ongoing defaults ?

 

@Stoffo, I reckon things work differently here in Melbourne ? We can't increase their rent. Trust me, my PM had already tried all possible approaches, thus for my case, it's now left with Sell or Move in. Unless there is another solution which we do not know of.

 

Do I need to provide proof that Owner's family is moving in ? Tenant knows owner is working overseas, so they would probably use this against us.

 

I think you're making this way harder than it needs to be. I can't see a reason why you can't give a normal notice to vacate for the end of the fixed term.

 

True, currently due to Covid, the day after the tenant protections (on eviction and rent raises) are lifted I would have the PM issue the max increase.
Continue with regular inspections, continue to breach on clutter issues

 

I believe that either the owner or a close relative does need to move in and checks are performed.

I don't think you can do that anymore in Victoria. Vacate without reason isn't on the very short list of ways to get a tenant out these days.

 

Let the process work. Apply as per the law to end agreement
You have given "cheap" rent and they are always late.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and your rights

 

My agent told me so. My friends' agents told them so. If 5 agents from 5 different agencies in Melbourne had told us the same thing, I have no reason to doubt them. Goodness. Even the scumbag tenant told me so.

 

@Peter_Tersteeg , we received the same signal.

 

I just checked - this isn't true currently. Is it a proposal or something?

 

Can we play the Little Skater girl card for her take on this?

 

Bring her on