PM refuses tenants number

As my tenant had been complaining continually to the PM about doors not closing, TV reception not working,hotplates not working, next door neighbour mowing his lawn at 6am , doorbell not working, etc , I decided to arrange my own handyman to go out there and make a list of all the complaints and fix them all .

I asked the PM for the tenants number , "oh we cant give you that she says, its under the Privacy Act.
Well I done a search of the Privacy Act And I cant see it.

Not that its important but I did think by me getting the handyman to call the tenant directly to arrange an appointment would take stress off the PM.

 

You pay the PM for the privilege of that stress. Let them do their job.

pinkboy

 

It's not up to them to give out someone's number. They could ask the tenant to call you on this issue though.

But why hasn't PM facilitated those repairs themselves?

 

The PM is your agent - what they possess belongs to you.

 

I find it a cop out for businesses to hide behind the 'privacy act' to avoid giving out details. In most cases, the agent, supplier etc can provide the number in the course of business.

Typical use: "
Sharing of your personal information
We may occasionally hire other companies to provide services on our behalf, including but not limited to handling customer support enquiries, processing transactions or customer freight shipping. Those companies will be permitted to obtain only the personal information they need to deliver the service. Company Nametakes reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations are bound by confidentiality and privacy obligations in relation to the protection of your personal information."

or the alternative:
"
Personal information
If you contact us we will collect the email address you nominate and any other identifying information you provide, such as a name or phone number.

Please do not give us other personal or sensitive information.

Other than circumstances such as unlawful activity or serious threats to health and safety, we do not share Personal Information with other government agencies. If you ask us about an issue that needs to be dealt with by another agency, we will provide you with the necessary details to make contact yourself. You may opt out of further contact from us at any time." - Privacy policy | australia.gov.au

and from Ray White
"
To whom may we disclose your information?

We may disclose your personal information to:

• our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors, franchisees, franchisees’ real estate agents and employees or service providers for the purposes of operation of our website or our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, utilities providers, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;
• suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes; and
• any organisation for any authorised purpose with your express consent.

We may combine or share any information that we collect from you with information collected by any of our related bodies corporate (within Australia)."

 

Under the law of agency the agent is acting as the landlord. Similar to having a power of attorney. They enter into contracts with tenants on the behalf of the landlord. Therefore any information that they have belongs to the landlord.

 

Law of agency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia has a nice little bit on the laws of agency

 

Ask your PM to use your chosen handyman only, you contact handyman, handyman investigates the problems, speaks to tenant and you.
Problem solved.
No contact between LL and tenant required.

 

why do you seem to have so many petty dramas to deal with? is it just bad luck or do you think you might be contributing to the problem?

surely no one is that unlucky?

 

Unless the PM charges an hourly fee to act as a middle man

 

I can't see why they would or should. They will have to issue a work order anyway no matter who the preferred handyman is.

 

I have a property with fantastic tennants in unit 1 and a petty tenant who had all the above complaints in unit 2.

I took over the management myself, did all the repairs to appease him and things have been pretty peachy since. I found once he had to deal with me direct he stopped playing 'hard ball' and became reasonable. I think the main issue was the PM ran her rent roll like a dictatorship and he was rebelling against her.

 

I infrequently cop the 'Privacy Act' when I make information requests at work.

No one has ever been able to name the section of the act they are referring to and I always have the section ready that explicity states the reason they can give me the information.

 

Some agreements allow an agency to charge arranging repairs and maintainance.

 

Major renovations...maybe although I've never been charged for this to date and I use a decent cross section of national and independent RE agencies.
Routine repairs providing your not being a pedantic PITA I can't see the problem. Provided the handyman is qualified and appropriately insured.

 

look on the lease, it could be there, look up the white pages, you know the address

They seem to throw road block after road block at you, what they worried about ?

 

My agent signed a lease with the tenant and gave a copy of the lease to me, as they should. The tenants phone number is on the lease. If @Darlinghurst Boy's PM did the right thing, signed the tenant to a lease and gave him a copy of the lease, the PM has already given him the tenant's number. Citing privacy is BS if the tenant put their contact number on a contract.

 

Just because you haven't does not mean that it doesn't happen. Thought I should give a heads up.

 

In Qld, can the landlord have access and see the application for tenancy? One of my PM's wouldn't show it to me, said it was due to privacy laws. Then I have a PM in Sydney that emails it to me for assessment...!

 

AFAIK the Privacy Act is federal law, your Qld agent is sprouting BS and ducking for cover hoping you don't know. If you take the management back from the agent they'd be giving it to you anyway.