NSW rental issues

Hi,

Just hoping you might be able to provide with me with some insight/advice about a situation I'm in currently.

My brother and I own a unit in NSW in which the tenant was living on a month to month lease as the original lease period had expired.

We advised the tenant that we would had found a new tenant and gave home 90 days notice to vacate.

The 90 days ran out on Christmas Eve and he had paid rent up until that date.

Just prior to the 24th the tenant told out PM that he had back issues (minor surgery) would likely have trouble moving out in time.

The PM kept in contact with the tenant but he has not left nor paid rent since the 24th.

After going back and forth we have a tribunal hearing with NCAT set down for later this month.

I was just wondering what's likely to come out of that hearing? Can the tribunal evict him immediately or is he likely to be given a period of time to vacate?

Cheers.

 

The legal test is the relative hardship to the tenant balanced against the hardship to the landlord. So it depends a lot on the circumstances. Some of the more important factors would be how much rent is owing, and why the tenant hasn't moved out to date.

 

The tenant claims that his back issue makes him physically unable to pack up and move, he told the PM that about a week before the 90 day period had ended on the 24th but has become pretty much uncontactable since then.

In terms of loss of rent, the unit is rented for $270 per week, which he had paid up until Dec 24th.

The NCAT hearing is scheduled for the 19th, so we're missing out on pretty much 4 weeks rent.

 

So certainly one of your arguments would be that any further rental arrears takes it above and beyond the bond amount - and therefore potentially very difficult to recover.

Unfortunately, medical issues on behalf of the tenant can also be given quite strong weighting in relative hardship, so I wouldn't be surprised if the tenant was given another week or two beyond a hearing date.

 

That sucks. The tenant can pay someone to pack his belongings and move out. Get a removalist.

In situations of hardship and emergency accomodation the tenant should approach charities and public housing authority. The landlord should not subsidise the tenant in these situations.