Pre vacate Inspection

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Brits, 26th Nov, 2017.

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  1. Brits

    Brits Member

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    Hi
    My tenant just vacated my rental property. She has been a good tenant for the past four years but once she decided to leave completely lost interest in my place and as a result left my property in a pretty dirty state. I imagine this would be quite common as the tenant is flat out organising the new property and moving into that. I am wondering how to prevent this happening again and have only just read about conducting a pre vacate inspection one or two weeks before the tenant leaves.
    Do any of you conduct these where you can point out exactly what needs doing, remind them of the importance of leaving the place clean and the implications of not doing so? I did send her a cleaning checklist of course but that was overlooked obviously.
    So my question is does a pre vacate inspection help and what other suggestions do you have for ensuring leaving tenants do their duty?
    Thank you
    Brits
     
  2. kierank

    kierank Well-Known Member

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    Do you have a PM?

    Do you have a rental bond?
     
  3. Zepth

    Zepth Well-Known Member

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    Personally when I was renting if a landlord tried to give me a notice of inspection a week before vacating I would tell them where they could stick it.

    Identifying and resolving those kinds of issues is what the final inspection is for
     
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  4. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Personally I don’t like the idea of inspecting the property before the tenants leave. First of all it’s likely to be clean and have stuff everywhere so I’m not sure what will be achieved.

    Regular routine inspections should have been done up to that point anyway.

    It’s only when all furniture is moved out when you notice how dirty it is. You will not be able to predict this a few weeks before.

    All you can do is give them instructions. We have a move out guide on how to clean certain areas and what we expect them to do.

    If they don’t do it then organise what should have been done and claim from bond.

    Done, finished end of story.

    Tell them what they should do and be prepared to take action if they don’t do it. You can’t make people do things
     
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  5. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    I agree
     
  6. Travelbug

    Travelbug Well-Known Member

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    The thing I recently found annoying is that my tenant gave notice then the flat was found filthy. The agent said tenants have to be given the right to clean it before they can get someone in to clean it (taking the money out of the bond). So they told the tenant it wasn't good enough and I lost another 2 days while they cleaned it. Frustrating.
     
  7. Brits

    Brits Member

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    Yes I do take a bond. As Travelbug says it's about not being able to re rent again until it's all done. I want the place the following day not a week later when the leaving tenants finally clean or I have employed a cleaner using their bond. I had found a tenant quickly who was keen to move in. I did not want to lose a week's rent and possibly lose my new tenants because my past tenant did not keep up her end of the bargain.
    I understand what some say about not liking the idea of a pre vacate inspection but I kind of think being there a week before and reminding the leaving tenant of their responsibility could be worth a lot more than an email or letter reminding them of what my expectations are.
     
  8. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    This is incorrect information and time wasting. We do not give tenants a chance to go back. I’ve tested this at tribunal lots of times.

    Last week a tenant argued that they hired cleaners with a bond gaurantee who would go back and clean for free had we notified them that some areas were not done right.

    We got cleaners to redo oven - it was not to our standard, range hood shower screen and venitian blinds. We charged through bond, tenants fought it at tribunal because their cleaner would have gone back and did it for free.

    We argued not our problem they should have gotten their cleaners to go back and do it for free before they handed keys back to us.

    We won the case - charged through bond.

    Agents have no obligation to give tenants another chance once property is handed back, tenants have no right to go back and redo things. Agents have every right to rectify issues. End of story.

    This misunderstanding happens every week, we argue a new bond dispute over cleaning every week at tribunal and it’s usually because tenants think we should have given them a chance.

    We used to but don’t now because we have the right to take control and have it leased quickly
     
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  9. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    I’m not sure a preinspection will make it quicker. You still won’t be able to control what the tenant does - that’s impossible

    You can only take quick action against what they don’t do.

    You can arrange a final inspection and cleaning in a day and you can sign a new lease on the same day too. New tenants should have been looking through while the outgoing tenant was still living in property
     
  10. Owlet

    Owlet Well-Known Member

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    For me, it is the potential loss of rent. I understand that there is no point cleaning until all your stuff is out. So move out two days before. Allows a day for lawns and cleaning and a day for the carpets to be done. I don't agree with them having the opportunity to come back and remedy the situation after the vacate date. Our PM will get a quote for the cleaning, ring the tenants and get approval for it to be done and taken from their bond. But I believe they should also be charged pro-rata rent for the the1-2 days required for the fixing up.
     
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  11. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Tenants are charged up to the minute they have possession of the property.
    It’s until they hand keys back and once they hand it back it’s game over. There is no going back to clean better.
     
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  12. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    Although I understand Xenia's viewpoint here, it's FAR more common for agents to give tenants an opportunity to return. If you're short for time it might only be 24-48hrs, if there's a bit of breathing room it could be a bit more. I can't imagine the astronomical amount of time I would waste in court and the damage to my businesses reputation if I never gave tenants an opportunity to return to the property. Unless your foresaw problems and had the cleaners booked in advance, in most cases I can't see my cleaners getting back to do the job any faster than the tenants anyway. In most cases -where the needed rectification cleaning is minimal- I just head over to the property with the tenant and spend a couple of hours finishing up, it's a lot more efficient than going to court.

    On a side note, for QLD at least, there is an expectation to give them a "reasonable" time to rectify.

    As far as the pre-vacate inspection, some tenants request them, others would prefer not. It depends on the situation. I like doing them when there's a very tight timeline between tenants (i.e. break lease).
     
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  13. WestOz

    WestOz Well-Known Member

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    I believe there's a perception, not discouraged by any PM I've come across, that as a tenant their lease/contract expires on the 25th of November, as long as all their possessions are out of the property by the end of that date, no-longer residing there, they can pop-in and out of the property as much as they like over the next couple of weeks, FOC, until the PM finally ticks the final inspection off.

    We as landlords are pretty much held ransom by all this, hoping the PM we're paying gets it sorted ASAP, we can complain, but FA will happen, we can't keep changing PM all the time, that comes with many of it's own issues, usually with the same standard of service, if not worse.
     
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  14. Lil Skater

    Lil Skater Well-Known Member

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    I've done pre-vacates, but found them utterly useless to be perfectly honest. Tenants know what they need to do, but sometimes they're too lazy to do it or too cheap to pay a pro to do it.

    I don't tell the tenants they have the opportunity to re-attend, as far as they're concerned as soon as they vacate they do not get the opportunity to rectify. In saying this though, if there are issues I would call the owner and speak to them - most of them are happy to give the tenants 24 hours to rectify, but they don't get beyond this.
     
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  15. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Not sure what PM's you've been dealing with, but if contract finished 25th November then we'd prefer it to be ready to move into 26th November if another tenant had been found. Obviously had already commenced looking, and/or had cleaner/handyman lined up to do stuff if needed.

    They certainly can't pop in and out of the property as much as they like, they've finished their contract and provided possession.
     
  16. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    You inspect once left and give them the chance to rectify or pay for it to be done.
     
  17. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Nah, they need to have it done as a matter of urgency, or PM just takes it from bond and pays, they already had notice by which date it should be done by. I guess it will depend on the PM.
     
  18. WestOz

    WestOz Well-Known Member

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    Come-on DT, you know I'm in WA, need I say more, lol.
    When are you starting up your thing over here?

    Not saying yourself or @Xenia would stand for it, as said "any PM I've come across".

    Move out and clean over the weekend, cant hand back keys until Monday after work, get a call from PM Monday advising oven needs more work, dust on bed 3 blinds etc, simple stuff, still got keys so use them to sort it out that night, agency closed now, can't hand keys back till Tues arvo, PM contacts on Tues advising just noticed shower screen has soap scum in lower left corner, back that night with key to sort it out, PM has Wednesday off sick, get a call from another, plant out back needs trim, weeds in garden bed, FFS! back again that night, tenant has to work late Thursday night, can't return key, Friday traffic congestion don't make it Friday before close.

    There's a week gone, bogans would push it longer, in the end what can you do about it, hardly worth tribunal.
     
  19. Brits

    Brits Member

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    Thanks all. You've given me enough here to go on. I don't think a pre-vacate will make much difference as some of you say. I have however drafted a very no nonsense letter stating what needs attending to and that it needs to be done by the time the keys are handed back no later than 5pm on vacate day which I will forward to tenants two weeks before vacate day. I then go on to say if the work is not to my satisfaction I will be employing professionals to do the work the very next day. However what will happen is they will freak out at 5 pm vacate day and say "we are so sorry. We didn't have enough time." to which I'll reluctantly agree to give them one day to rectify.
    Can't say fairer than that.