outstanding former tenant debt when changing managers

Hello,

So I moved a property from one manager to another as the old manager was useless and let a tenant run up a huge debt. The old manager managed to get the tenant on a slow repayment plan (like 2 years) before I gave them the boot however the money from the old tenant stopped coming when the new managers took over. I followed this up with the new managers a number of times and they said they are onto it however nothing happened. Now months later they are saying as it wasn’t our tenant (ie they were not managers at the time they managed the place) they legally aren’t allowed to deal with the tenant or the debt. They said talk to the old agent or chase it your self. I checked with the old agent and they refused the payment (autopay from centrelink) when their management ceased. I pay managers as I don’t want to chase old tenants myself.

Sounds a bit silly to me as the new agent is meant to take over all outstanding issues as far as I’m aware. Anyone aware of the legalities around this? Would be annoying to have to change agents again.

The really annoying thing is if they did the handover right in the 1st place it would be easy, now months later its going to be way harder to get the $ out of the tenant.

House is in WA.

Cheers

 

Why hasn't the agent taken over the centrepay arrangements?

 

Thats what i thought would have happened

 

Sounds like your new agent needs to do some work or you need to get yet another new agent...

 

I can't see any legal barriers to your new agent dealing with prior arrears.

Quite the opposite actually, they should be doing it unless there's some sort of specific agreement that they aren't (which might actually be in the small print in a management agreement - who knows).

 

Not their tenant but it’s their landlord and their property and they should be chasing the debt for you.

It’s the current agents responsibilty. We have very similar cases in our office where we have inherited debt from past tenants, difficult to chase I acknowledge but it’s part of the property they are managing.

 

Sounds like i need to have a serious talk with the agent and explain they are managing the property not just the current tenant.

 

Anyone else had this issue before?

 

I had a current tenant that was in arrears and the new management had to deal with getting them up to date (years ago). Not a previous tenant though...

 

Is thier a time limit for chasing ex tenants for debts?

 

Yes
It would probably be 6 years. See limitations act in the relevant state.

 

Cheers plenty of time

 

@smallbuyer - is this still the same tenant ie you only gave the agent the boot?

 

The debt is to the owner, not the agency since agencies just act on your behalf.

The whole reason why we collect the rental ledger as part of the handover pack is to know what date the rent is paid up to. If its a forward date, then great, the tenant knows to pay the new agency from that date onwards. If its a date in the past, then obviously they have some catching up to do.

 

Lazy agent, absolutely no legal barriers to them following up the old tenant on your behalf.

 

@Terry_w Hi Terry, I have a question for you - I emailed you earlier today. How do I contact you directly on propertychat?

 

I don't accept messages on PC, turned off the PM feature.

And I have along waiting lists for new clients. Old see my signature for a sign up link.