Rent reviews by property Managers.

Same tenant for 16 years? They look after the place? I wouldn't be thinking of getting them (or wanting them) to leave then getting new random tenant. I wouldn't be putting the rent up to the max "market value" maybe 80% as a good customer bonus but ymmv

 

Tenant probably can't believe their luck...

You have 0 likelihood of getting any missed rent retrospectively..

 

We have only just become aware that he even owned the property, and now have to deal with his stuff under Power of Attorney.

I don't know if he spoke to the agent but would have relied on him doing so.

Yes, he now wonders why the rent wasn't raised and so do we.

 

I'm not trying to recover it from the tenant.

 

The tenant knows that they're on a good thing ie undermarket rent.

If you increase it, you've gotta weigh up the by 'how much' with 'how much work will you need to do If they vacate' & 'how much more rent will you lose if they vacate'.

 

That's my point - even If only basic/essential maintenance has been done for their last 16 years, market is irrelevant If everything needs updating or replacement - 16 years or longer on a kitchen is a good life and due to be replaced.

 

So why create the thread then ?

Yup, market rent possibly not much different given age of property and everything in it. Or if market is higher, send an increase notice

 

From the original post,

 

@Random Username - to answer your question, unlikely unless there are written instructions you can find showing that the agent has not followed directions.

 

Thanks Scott.
It will take some time to sort back through 16 years worth, but so far can't even find a periodic inspection report.

 

No come back.

But I say that most PMs side with tenant in this regard.....they send the letters saying no change, but that is the computer or them wanting the easiest path....i.e an easy tenant and no work changing over.....

So, keep your eye on things yourself.....so you know when your being stiffed or have lazy agent on your payroll....

 

lol...you want it from who then ?

lol x 2.....forget this runbish.....move forward with info goven....

 

It's an interesting case, but so extremely uncommon that I think you wont be able to get any meaningful advice from anyone except a legal specialist. I would think that your chances of claiming any monies from the agent are next to nothing, but we could all be wrong. I'd be curious to know whether it could be considered negligent for an agent not to proactively prompt rent increases.

You're also left with a situation now where it's not reasonable to increase the tenants rent to market value in one hit. Your best place to start is probably to get in touch with the tenant and find out how they feel about the situation. If the tenant takes it reasonably well and the property is tired, you might consider negotiating to an amount below market (i.e. 80%, as suggested above). Alternatively, if they really balk at it then you might need to ask them to leave, which might also involve spending some money before it can be rented again.

 

Thanks for the reply,

The REIV says he's negligent on a couple of counts and so do our legal advisers.

The agent will make good......

The agent will be fixing this too.

 

Has the agent said they will make good on all this? I can't see how you could prove that no rent reviews were conducted. I mean they could have called your father each year and asked if he wanted to raise the rent and he said no thanks (even if they didn't really, they could still claim that). So unless it's all written somewhere then I can't see how they could be held liable.

Also, didn't your dad receive rental statements? Did he never wonder why the rent never seemed to increase over 16 years? That's a bloody long time to not notice that! Even if he has multiple properties, I would still think anyone would notice that.

 

You’ve had specific legal advice from a lawyer that there’s a reasonable chance that the PM was negligent?

That surprises me because I have some experience in these things and it’s pretty hard to see how there’s a actionable case of negligence against the PM.

I can also see lots of potential issues such as getting direct evidence from your father and limitation periods being expired...

Lastly I suspect any opinion from from REIV to be legally useless since they aren’t qualified to give legal advice.

 

I'm not a lawyer I'm only going on what they (solicitors) are telling us so who knows?

One thing we have is a lease for $135pw stating "Rent increase of $10 pw effective 4/9/11 bringing rent to $145 per week"

 

I cant see PM as neg, as person would have been taking the payments for a long time.....anyway in this crazy PC world, who knows.....

 

Does the agent (or his relatives) live in the unit ?