It's christmas and you know what that means - rental arrears

I'm sitting at a 66% strike rate of rental arrears for this month. 2 out 3 have not paid.

When contacted one gave the excuse of Christmas and another didn't give one.

One thing that frustrates me is that there has been no notice given to my PM this was going to be an issue. I'm happy to work with tenants to minimise any problems, heck it wasn't so long ago I was in the same boat.

Sometimes I love international students. they are low risk and normally the parents pay the rent - the only rental income i've gotten this month.

 

You're international students - Are they excessive harsh on the place(s)? Are they messy? Any problems with them? I was looking at a few last year.

 

Christmas doesn't have to mean rental arrears, you know.

 

I love it when your tenants don't pay rent for a few weeks over Christmas and when you drive past the place you see the boxes of hideously expensive toys next to the bin.

 

I also love it when you take a tenant to tribunal (not specifically Christmas time) & they are lenient on them because they have children. Hello! Landlords have children too!

 

Oh stop your whining, where's your xmas spirit?
You not only own the place you live in, but also the place I live in, so you must have plenty of dollars, you can obviously afford to wait for me to pay so I can buy my kids some presents.
Ya don't expect me to spend xmas without a few drinks etc do ya?

Oh and I won't be in the place for 2 weeks while I go down the coast for a holiday, 2 weeks no wear & tear on your place should be worth something right?

Have a good one, catch ya sometime February

 

I shouldn't have to pay rent while I'm away on holidays right?

 

Honestly,

They are pretty good honestly. I've only had one bad tenant in the years i've been renting to them. The ones i've rented to have been quiet and not caused too much trouble. I always make sure to give them a copy of the renters rights book so they know where they stand.

 

It's reasonably common for bad tenants to fall behind over Christmas, but good tenants don't.

 

Last year I bought one of my tenants and her kids a Hoyts gift card so she could take them all the movies, with a $50 candybar voucher included. I posted it direct myself (I sent a few different things to different tenants) and when I didn't hear anything for a few weeks, I asked our PM to check that she'd received it ok. Her response?

"Yes she did but she actually complained and said it would have been better if you'd have given her a week of free rent or something better than a movie voucher."

So this year I sent my other tenants gifts and gave that particular tenant a rent rise instead of movie vouchers.

Merry Christmas!

 

I read last year that mortgages are often not paid by enough families at Christmas that the banks were making moves to fix this. The major banks had reportedly looked at increasing interest rates for these customers. Clearly people are out looking for a free stable at this time of year?

 

Our bank took the mortgage payments out of our account last Friday since this Monday is a public holiday. How many times a year does Monday fall on a public holiday? Does that mean we can expect our rent revenue four days early too. Come on Andrew, get that PM software upgraded so that everytime the rent is due on a long weekend, it comes out of their bank accounts the week before.

The tribunal will agree this is fair, right

 

I know it's wrong but Just hang in there, most of them get back on top of the rent within a few weeks. Imagine telling the tax department 'Oh sorry, can't pay you because my tenants want to have a great holiday break'.

 

Only got 1 in arrears atm, but thats back to 10th November. NCAT hearing first week of Jan to get them out, then will be selling that one

 

What's the going rate for a used tenant?

 

Bugger paying the rent - Gotta have money for me ciggies and drinks for Xmas first......

I feel your pain but it will be over soon - New Years is next weeks rent gone too .....

Seriously - some workers are forced to have 4 weeks leave over the Xmas period and often miss overtime loadings with their pay - so their incomes can be short enough to cause problems.
PM should be on to it though........
Good luck!

 

Should have given her an eviction notice in a red bow.

 

Tenants showing they have a steady savings habit and a buffer to cover temporary loss of income during application time helps avoids these kind of woes.

 

Christmas is just another excuse. If people can’t handle their finances, the time of the year does not make a difference. They get into arrears in winter too.

 

What do you ask them to provide to be able to check this?