Property Management Inspection Fee

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Chomp, 17th Feb, 2020.

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  1. Chomp

    Chomp Well-Known Member

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    My tenant had some things to sort out after the last property inspection (nothing major).

    I asked my property manager if she could follow up and make sure the tenant had fixed them as I didn't want them getting out of hand.

    Her reply was "I can but it will cost you for another inspection" , I said a follow up is part of the original inspection if not it's managing the property so that comes out of the percentage of rent I pay you.

    So she came back with;

    "Unfortunately we can only go to the property and check if tenant cleaned any issues only if we issued a breach notice, allowed 14 full days for tenant to rectify the breach and booked a re-inspection. The re-inspection will incur a fee which is the same as your standard inspection fee. Unfortunately this is how the legislation works in WA."

    Is this standard practice or is she taking me for a ride here ?
     
  2. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    What does your management agreement say in regards to inspections (other than you have to pay)?
     
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  3. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Some agencies charge for inspections and some dont. If you've signed a management authority that says you pay for inspections, then you pay for inspections.

    However, IMHO, if it were me, i probably wouldnt charge on the reinspection.
     
  4. Chomp

    Chomp Well-Known Member

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    Ok, I managed to find this regarding attendance fees, so they shouldn't be charging me as far as I can tell ?

    upload_2020-2-17_16-33-32.png

    upload_2020-2-17_16-35-4.png
     
  5. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Its a routine inspection mate, the line above.
     
  6. Chomp

    Chomp Well-Known Member

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    This is my argument though, they already performed the "Routine Inspection" this is just a follow up attendance.
     
  7. Scaphella

    Scaphella Well-Known Member

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    Photos / receipts not suffice ?
     
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  8. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Its definitely an inspection. However, since the tenant caused this to be needed (ie you wouldnt be reinspecting if they had done everything properly), you can pass the fee onto the tenant.
     
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  9. Jarrad Mahon

    Jarrad Mahon Active Member

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    If a full re-inspection was carried out then yes, ordinarily another inspection fee would be charged as per your managing agreement.

    There are other options to following up though to ensure they are completed prior to the next inspection and not incurring another fee, such as requesting the tenants to complete the items and provide photographic evidence, this can be done with or without a breach notice.

    Not only will this save you the cost of an inspection, it is less disruption for the tenant but ensuring the property is well looked after.
     
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  10. Chomp

    Chomp Well-Known Member

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    Good point, if they can't be assed to go around there it's better than nothing. Will probably charge me an admin fee.
     
  11. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    Actually you can't pass it onto the tenant. I don't think you can ever pass it onto the tenant unless they have actually somehow impeded an earlier inspection that you had to pay for.
     
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  12. Jarrad Mahon

    Jarrad Mahon Active Member

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    Unfortunately the tenant cant be charged for anything in WA- nothing!
     
  13. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    TBH, I don't think this is specific to WA. Off the top of my head it should be the same in every state.
     
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  14. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    I know PM's who have successfully charged reinspection fee in WA.

    Can charge for a few things here, so not sure what you mean by every state.
     
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  15. Shogun

    Shogun Well-Known Member

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    Go and inspect yourself while doing "maintance" ?
     
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  16. Air_Bender

    Air_Bender Well-Known Member

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    I guess we're pretty lucky down in VIC. My property manager doesn't charge a fee for inspections and she has attended to the property previously for other matters but never charged a fee.
     
  17. Pumpkin

    Pumpkin Well-Known Member

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    Sorry I dont know WA much so cant help here.

    But just curious how is the entire fee structure?
    Are they one of those super-low commission but trying to hit you with "other" fees?
     
  18. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    From what I can tell, WA has high commission but also high "other" fees compared to other states.
     
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