Renters that live like pigs

Hi I have a rental house that ive owned for 3 years. The renters that I have came with the house and I think they have been there for 4 years now.

The problem is that over the last 2 years they seem to have been accumulating more junk in the house every time I see it. Earlier this year it got to the point where most of the bedroom floors were covered in a foot of junk and theres a stacks of junk about 1m High along all the wall (through the full house). On top of that there is a pungent off/sweat smell through the house. And I found out the rabbit that we said could only stay out side had been living in doors, and you could smell it’s **** smell really strongly through some of the rooms. It’s was so bad that all the carpets would need to be replaced, and the walls painted to make it fit for habitation. There’s was about 4-5 dumpster loads of junk in the house.

At that point (about 4 months ago) I got the agent to tell them that the place would be inspected again in 4 months and we were expecting to see it in a liveable states again when we came through. That was on Saturday and and from what I can tell the place had actually got worse.

The 12 month lease is finishing in a month. At this point the carpets and paint will have to be done regardless of if they leave now or stay longer. There’s an argument that could be made to defer the need for restoration work for a bit long, the main risk I see is that we can’t get them to improved there living habits and I get left with even more junk if they stay for longer. Ultimately I’m i thinking I want to get them out. How would you handle it?

 

Firstly, have you decided whether you want them out or not?

As I was reading your post I thought it was going to be one complaining about how to get them out... but now you have a chance to get them out and you're not sure whether you want to do it?

 

Get them out. This might take longer than you think.

The longer stuff accumulates, the more damage there will be, and the worse it will be to remove and clean/fix. Also a fire hazard.

Hope their name isn't Bobolas ...

 

I would have kicked them out ages ago and told them to go live on a farm.

And go see a doctor about your eyes. The last time I saw eyes like that was when we took Boogsy to North Bondi after he done a year in the big house.

 

i feel a bit heartless if i give them a notice to vacate. but when i consider it logicly they have to be considered a bigger liability the longer they stay. i am tending on the side of removing them, but a well considered decision is usually the best, which i why i'm open to hear people's experiences. i'm not going to limit any options if i decide in a day or two.

 

On the flip side, depends on the property location, value, rental vacancy rate and personal expectations.

I have one property in a rather low socioeconomic area with tenants on welfare. They previously rented the house next door and their lease was not renewed. I got to know the owner/ landlord who thought they were "too messy", also the PM who let me look through and then became my PM for while. Tenants got all their bond back, no damage and it scrubbed up as well as it was a year earlier.

Now they are my tenants and have been paying 10-20% above market rent, before it is due, for over 3 years now. Never a late or missed payment and they pay weekly installments for water up front. They were happy to move in before I replaced the disgusting 40yo carpets and in living area. Its still disgusting but I don`t live there. She is somewhat a hoarder and the house has furniture collected off the kerbside, I`m sure. Their bedroom looks extremely "lived in" but TBH is probably cleaner than my teenage son`s room was.

These tenants would not be the most preferable by any standard, but the devil you know is better than the devil you dont. Next door`s landlord has since had 2 years worth of different bogan meth-head tenants, untold police visits, thousands of $$$ worth of repairs and many weeks vacant. She told me she seriously regretted not renewing the lease of the "messy tenants".

Whenever they move out the interior would need another cheap Bunnings paint over and I will tile the living & dining areas as initially planned. But in the meantime I`m happy for them to keep paying off the property for me. Excellent yield, no dramas, and it`s insured anyway. They can smoke in bed.

On the other hand, if they were in one of my better houses or as bad as some of those tenants on Current Affair, the lease would not be renewed. Horses for courses IMO.

 

upping the rent is definitely a good possibility for option 2, similar to your situation it is a lower end property. but the thing that bothers me is they could not clean up after 3 months, there is a high chance i could be left with a clean up bill 3-4 x the value of the bond, on top of that they get worse every time i see it.. and the rabbit defecating inside is a bit too much.
they would need to change some habits or they are too much of an ever increasing liability. cheers for sharing.

 

All depends if you're an investor or a charity.

 

I really do wonder how a LL would go if the hoarder tenant took them to the Tribunal about the state of the property?

 

What's there to wonder about? I've acted on a number of these sorts of cases. The usual legal principles for terminations apply.

 

Hi @PandDos

If a property is found to be unsatisfactorily clean and maintained on a routine inspection, 4 months is too long to offer the tenants before the next inspection. Rules differ from state to state, but if a property manager finds a rental to be too unclean or with damage, the tenant should be advised to clean it up and that the property manager shall be back in a week to review - not 4 months. If still no good, issue a breach notice.

You would be unlikely to win at tribunal on the basis of your tenant having lots of possessions, unless you could prove it was damaging the property beyond fair wear and tear. Many tenants have lots of possessions - it's part and parcel of having disposable income due to not having to chip away at a mortgage I suppose.

 

Obviously he is not a charity but IMO many investors are too emotionally invested in their properties, like it is their PPOR, to have a businesslike approach. Particularly if it was once or will later become their PPOR, which is understandable.

I`m not defending the tenants or their lifestyle choices and certainly could not live in a house like that myself. The tenants clearly can and do, they likely think it is normal and were ready for inspection. Possibly at least one of them has a mental health issue. How many BTW?

Although there are many details we do not know, the implication is that they have been paying rent OK; there is no malicious damage; no alcohol / drug use; no neighbour, council or police complaints, criminal activities, domestic violence or any other prominent issue. Just a lot of "belongings".

OK, so house needs an internal repaint and carpets need replacing at end of tenancy, whenever that is. That takes 2 weeks maybe more before you can have prospective new tenants inspect and quite unlikely they sign lease and move in immediately. PM will take at least one week`s rent as letting fee. That is one month`s rent gone before receiving any income. Much longer If a clean up is required, advertising / letting delayed, or demand is not there anyway.

In the 3 years current tenants have been continuously paying rent, you could have gone through 3 or more different tenants, letting fees, vacancies and different issues, possibly more serious and expensive. Realistically since the carpets & paint are now F`d anyway they won`t depreciate any more. New carpets & paint will.

If junk is already 1m high, they have 1.4m to go before reaching maximum capacity. Then they have to recycle some to make space for more. The worry then becomes the back and front yard, will they start cluttering that up? Will it become a visible eyesore? I don`t know, your judgement call there. I would have to draw the line at that point. However it sounds like there is a long way to go yet before it ever gets to that state. Has the PM enquired about the mess? Perhaps they are sorting stuff from a deceased estate or storing a relatives belongings? Is it actual garbage as in garbage? One man`s treasure is another`s trash. Maybe they really are pigs?

Rabbits are cute & fluffy, their droppings are solid & easy to pick up, they don`t smell, think of small easter eggs. LOL. Probably they have a male rabbit, they literally pi$$ up the walls leaving their scent. Just like cats & dogs do. Most rabbit hutches smell better than a unit with a cat inside IMO. Many other tenants don`t mention Puss on their application or ask permission for a puppy till a few weeks into their tenancy. Had "one cute little puppy that stayed outside" make the master bedroom smell like a kennel within 12 months. Took the carpet shampoo guys 2 goes before the carpet was replaced, at the tenant`s expense.

At one time I would have been outraged and kicked them out at the first opportunity. Now I think more about the cost and look at things somewhat more realistically. With my particular messy hoarder tenants, I have incrementally increased the rent, essentially created some contingency funds to cover any cleaning at the end of the day. Would simply prefer to do that once and rake in the rent meanwhile. Assuming the house next door was as messy as mine is now, I was amazed how they cleaned it up so good as to get all their bond back and no damage, only slight wear / dirt marks to a few walls that probably needed painting anyway. The average toddler or young kid makes more "mess" well before they take markers to the walls.

Best of luck with your investment whatever the outcome.

 

If anyone is willing to accept that in their IP, good on em. I will never. It's ridiculous.

 

Man. It's a business not a charity.
Stuff their feelings unless they've done the same for you

They have disrespected you by turning your house into a dumpster

 

I’ve had instances where the owner is not in a position to do a full cosmetic renovation and have kept tenants longer than they should of, purely because they were paying rent.

Years back, I had an inherited tenant. Place was as you described, it took 3 breach notices and 4 inspections (they were on a lease, so had to do the process). On the last one I was certain they would be on the curb, on their final inspection before terminating for successive breaches the property was almost spotless. They desperately wanted to stay, literally brought in a couple of skip bins and hired help to get it sorted. The carpets were stained, but nothing major. Owner let them stay, but didn’t sign a new lease for a while until they kept the same level of cleanliness.

If you’re not sure you want them out just yet, maybe that’s the way to go. Sounds like you’ll need to do a cosmetic reno anyway, but if that doesn’t work for you right now you can try the above approach and see what happens. Best of both worlds?

If they’re not on a lease though, I’d probably just get rid of them. You gave them a chance and it got worse.

 

There was a case recently where the hoarder kept a dead body under all the mess in his house.

The hoarder had passed away and when the cleaners came to the house they found a clothed skeleton......apparently the hoarder had shot and killed an intruder many years ago, never told anyone, and just left his body in situ lol. With time, layers of garbage just built up over the body.

Well that's a hoarder's mentality....."where's my 'to do list'?, here it is, yep, I'll just jot it down.....notify cops and ambo of fella I shot in lounge room last night". Two weeks later "where the heck is my to do list? ahhh what's that smell? Hmmmm, I'll just order a pizza and then look for that to do list"