Property damage by tenant upon moving in

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by hematite, 31st Mar, 2018.

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  1. hobartchic

    hobartchic Well-Known Member

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    The person who is at fault pays the excess however sometimes fault is ascribed to both parties and split e.g. 80 per cent excess for one party as they are 80 per cent responsible; 20 per cent for another. Your case sounds quite unusual. Generally, with no fault, no excess is paid. Policies differ though.
     
  2. hobartchic

    hobartchic Well-Known Member

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    People can pursue civil penalties where parties are not covered by insurance but it's a matter of figuring out whether the legal action is worth taking.
     
  3. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    If tribunal would make an order for the amount, then it can be lodged as a debt with magistrates court or via debt collection agency
     
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  4. hobartchic

    hobartchic Well-Known Member

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    I just meant from a car accident perspective. You are right, of course, there are other ways to deal with this matter.:D
     
  5. brettc

    brettc Well-Known Member

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    As has been said, yes, it is the tenants responsibility, personally I would want it fixed straight away and would be insisting they do so. How they pay for it is up to them. From an insurance perspective they could do that by claiming on their car insurance where they will be responsible for the excess. And no, in theory you wouldn't get anywhere by trying to contact the insurer yourself even if you did know who it was, it's the tenant's policy and they need to act on it. Of course the tenant may not be insured.

    If the tenant didn't fix the damage in a suitable time, then the landlord could make a claim on their building insurance, but the excess will then be the landlords problem. The Insurer may choose to seek recovery from the tenant and you could ask that they also seek recovery of the excess, but there is no guarantee they would. So you are likely to end up out of pocket for the excess, unfortunately household insurance is not like car insurance where it would be the norm that you would not pay the excess if you are not at fault. That said, and this one is a property management decision, I presume you would be able to recover that from the bond at the end of the tenancy as a legitimate expense (presuming there is adequate bond money).

    The downside that remains by claiming on your building insurance is that it is still a claim, even though you were not at fault, so it may affect future premiums.
     
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  6. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Thanks for the clarification and information @brettc

    That explains why we paid an excess when tenants damaged our house as we claimed it on our landlord insurance.
     
  7. EllaIerino

    EllaIerino New Member

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    Hi,

    My recommendation would be to have your property manager issue a breach for damages to the property immediately.

    Request your property manager to source some quotes for the repairs to help them along in the rectification of the damages they have caused.

    I would not offer any assistance with insurance. This is damage caused by the tenants and they need to fix this themselves. You can help them along the way however only with guidance.

    In the email i would include both before photos of the damaged area taken from the entry report and current photos of the damage. Photos can not lie and tenants will not be able to dispute that it was them.
     
  8. Phoenix Pete

    Phoenix Pete Well-Known Member

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    Definitely will increase premiums. I'd get the tenants to pay for the damage.
     

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