SA PM renewed lease without authorisation

Hi there,

I had an issue where my tenant had started to fall behind on their payments. The PM contacted me to ask if I would give them any leeway. As the previous reports from the PM had been that they were a good tenant I said I would allow them time to catch up as long as they didn't fall any further behind. Unfortunately, the tenant continued to fall behind and then the PM renewed their lease without any consultation or authorisation from me. I'll admit that I didn't follow things closely as I expected that should the situation worsen I would be advised and the timing of the lease renewal meant I didn't pick it up at tax time.

The following renewal period the same thing happened. The tenant had continued to fall further and further behind and the PM renewed their lease for another year without consultation. I discovered the extent of the issue when I went to do my taxes as the rental income all went into an account I didn't touch. When I saw that the balance had not increased I started asking questions.

Eventually eviction proceedings began and, after the tenant missed payments on their SACAT order, eviction and a bailiff were approved. The week of the eviction the PM contacted me to say the tenant had caught up some of the missed payments so would I consider renewing their tenancy. Due to the total value of the debt I said no, and asked the eviction be carried out ASAP. Instead, the PM cancelled the eviction.

What legal recourse do I have here and what compensation if any would I be entitled to?

 

It just sounds like you let your agent do whatever and don't learn your lesson?

 

Quite possibly!

Up until this things were fine, no issue with the previous tenant and everything seemed fine with this tenant for the first lease period.

Always willing to learn though, and it's never too late to make a change or to learn for next time.

The tenant is finally out now at least.

So... any advice?

 

Change agent

 

Start reading the monthly rental statements that the agent sends to you?

 

So far I have learned not to post when it's open mic night at the local Just 4 laughs Cafe. Either that or the input of General Nuisance, Captain Obvious and Major Douche indicates I'm on some military forum instead of a property one... My bad.

 

So has the old tenant paid up what they owed with the late rent? If yes, then move on and get your new PM to find another tenant but this time monitor the rent you receive so you'll know if they're falling behind or not. I have a spreadsheet for every FY with each IP in its own tab. When I receive a rent statement, I transpose the info into the spreadsheet. I enter the statement date, rental period, agent fees/commission and any outgoings with the net rent received which should match the statement. Only takes a few minutes to do every month for each property and gives me all the figures I need when I submit my tax return

 

What do you expect? you took your eyes off the ball game and it went off the rails ...

 

Check statements. If Agent is not performing, change agents. Get insurance.

 

Makes you wonder how much lower the bar for PMs could go, doesn't it?

 

Well you could expect a decent PM

 

BZZZZZT ba bow! Next Agent.

 

Yea not sure how that is even in their vocab lol

 

Ummmmmm ...

 

Of course, but when the PM doesn't do what you ask, common sense says to move them along.

 

Many investors are naive, swayed by cost, glossy presentations, agency size etc and wouldn't know a great pm if they bit them on the bum.