Re-sign or Get Out

Its your right to continue on a periodic lease... its also the landlords right to serve you with a 90 day termination notice as DT said. Whether SACAT would consider this retaliatory or not, apply and see.

As for insurance... any policy worth having from a specialist insurer covers periodic leases.

 

Not as much reletting commission for the agent though

 

You can only say 'sign or get out' @Xenia IF it is before the end of the lease. As the lease has now expired with notice to vacate it is now a periodic lease and as such the owner MUST give the required notice for a periodic tenant to leave.

Personally I have not found a landlord insurance policy that does not cover periodic leases but I haven't tried them all. I do know some don't like self managing owners though.

 

Surely agents aren't in it for the money

 

Keep in mind it will cost you $$ and big hassle to move. Why not go the happy medium and negotiate a shorter lease such as 6mths. That alleviates the LLs insurance dilemma and also gives you portability sooner than the 12mth mark.

 

I don't really wish to be locked in for any period of time. It's definitely not self managed though, I'm sure the agent wants their reletting fee

 

The agency employee is unlikely to care that much. The agency employee doesn't get a bonus because you renewed. Anyway generally the agency earns more advertising for a new tenant rather than renewing an existing tenant. ( @D.T. and @Lil Skater could speak more accurately re this ).

You cannot control which insurer your LL chooses but you can control the amount of unplanned inconvenience to yourself. A lease commits the LL to providing you a place to live till a fixed date. That can be handy to you as a tenant.

 

If they request vacant posession and give me 90 days notice, can I move out and stop paying rent sooner? Do I still need to give 21 days notice in that regard? Obviously we could come to a mutual agreement.. but we probably won't

 

Once you get the 90 day notice you go when you like. Possible 1 week notice

 

You also need to consider the practicality of it. Why would you terminate an otherwise good tenant who (presumably) pays rent on time, and replace them with an unknown quantity.

The insurance argument that xyz policy covers less time on periodic than fixed is moot if the tenant is otherwise excellent and the risk factor of the policy needing to be used is low.

 

The rules differ from state to state. In VIC I believe you'd be required to give 14 days notice if you were on a periodical lease as noted here : Tenant giving notice of intention to vacate - Consumer Affairs Victoria

 

Thanks for the info all.

I've certainly been paying rent on time every time. However I have been paying my water bills extremely late, because the agent was sending them to the wrong email address, and I'd only get a "reminder" once they were 6 months overdue. Heh.

 

Pretty sure this was covered on another thread, someone was adamant their insurance didn't cover periodic whereas when they called to confirm it actually did, as long as it was a periodic that had rolled off the back of an initial fixed term. Otherwise, there'd be thousands of un-insured landlords out there who's fixed term leases have ended and rolled into periodic with no thought from withe party.

@joel As a landlord I'd want to sign you back up to a new fixed term, but as a tenant I'd like the luxury of periodic. Just thought I'd mention the insurance as it's something you may be able to use in a counter argument if that's all they are hanging their hat on.

 

@Xenia what are your professional thoughts regarding this? In your 15 years experience,what is actually covered with EBM ?

 

Ebm and TS allow periodic leases. Its mostly the little names that don't which people shouldn't be using anyway.

Regardless of the insurance, if representing an investors best interest then fixed leases are preferable for certainty and stability of cashflow.

@Corey Batt if you're doing a top up for someone and they produce an expired lease would the bank use it for servicing?

 

I would think the expired lease would be ok given that you had a current rental statement showing there's a tenant in there paying. I do wonder if they tweak the risk factor?eg Use 70% rather than 80% rental income for the year? Or the assessor doesn't get the right warm and cuddly feeling

 

Didn't affect my top-ups at all.
I will be checking my insurance co. and if they don't cover periodic leases, I'll change.
A PM made the mistake of thinking I wanted a fixed lease (by deafault) and signed up my tenants for another year. I prefer more flexibility all-round.
PMs make too many assumptions. I know the PMs on here are very good but there still seem to be too many blanket statements that turn out to be ********.