taking possession of my investment property

My tenant has been subletting my Pyrmont unit to backpackers without my permission. There are many issues. Another owner in the building emails me about major concerns in the building/tenants but usually awhile after they happen. My agent sent the tenant a 90 day notice to vacate. Since then, the tenant has stopped paying the rent and is 5 weeks in arrears, has changed the locks on my unit door and won't communicate with the agent. The agent sent him a notice to vacate due to breach for non-payment of rent. And appiled to the tribunal for non payment of rent but not the other issues of breach.

My questions;

1) Can we raise the other issues with the tribunal at the hearing if I get them in writing from other owners who witness the subletting.

2) If after the tribunal hearing the tenant/ occupants won't leave, can I go in with my father, his mates and a locksmith, change the locks, gather up all their crap and turf it out onto the footpath?

thanks
Lollie

 

Your property manager should be able to advise you on this.

I think you should be able to raise the issue, but I doubt it will be any faster than what's currently already in place.

If they don't move out until after tribunal, tribunal need to issue order to vacate on specific date (I think). You can't just barge in until there is a court order.

I hope you have a good landlord insurance as it looks like it's going to be impossible to chase any money from the tenant after.

 

Ideally the agent should have given them 14 days notice if they were in breach of their agreement due to subletting without permission. Otherwise it can seem that it is being made up because the agent gave the 90 days notice that does not require a reason instead.

 

Agent has ballsed that one. It's fine to issue 90 days notice but a breach is still a breach and the notice period provided just exposed you to more risk.

Once documents are lodged with tribunal, you can't simply rock up to the hearing and add additional issues. The member must be informed of the issues prior to the hearing and the respondent given notice of the matters in question.

 

My manager went on holidays for a month just as the rent was 2 weeks in arrears. He handed the job over to another PM and said they would send the arrears letter if rent wasn't paid. I made the assumption for a week or so that rent must have been paid, until I followed it up myself. I told her to send out the arrears letter and apply to the tribunal, and not knowing how important it was to have the other breaches on the application until I spoke to Dept of Fair Trading today. When the tenant received a copy of the arrears letter, he replied by email to say he would be out by the 28/4/16, the day before the hearing, but I just don't know.

I have emails from owners stating their observations that support the breach and can try and gather even more from other owners and present them to the tribunal. Will that help?

Also, should myself and my father go to the tribunal as I feel we are better able to communicate our evidence to the tribunal than an agent I've ony just met. Also, my family have an excellent lawyer, should I get him involved.

I don't care all that much about a few weeks lost rent over the bond. I just want the bludger out of my property, so I can get on with the process of cleaning it up and getting it ready for a good tenant.

 

You won't be able to take their place seeing as the agent has sent the notices and applied for the hearing.

From the sounds of the email the tenant isn't intending the pay the rent anyway and will be moving out. There isn't much else you can do now besides waiting and letting the agent take care of things.

 

thanks for all the advice. what happens if the tenant moves out but backpackers are still residing there? They just ring a mobile number which opens the security door into the building.

 

Your agent will then need to go back to the tribunal for a warrant and have a sheriff called in to enforce it.

 

Iv'e decided as soon as I get the court order next week I'll barge in and change the locks. From speaking to a resident owner today, it looks like the tenant isn't living there at all, just the backpackers. The tenant also sublets the double lug to a professional with a big boat and BMW who doesn't even live in the complex. A real money spinner for the loser.

 

Are the backpackers aware that they have to move out and by when?

 

Don't know, perhaps, the owner said she saw lots of garbage bags being put out today, so maybe they were having a cleanup.

I've organised for my father to go there tommorrow and put a sign on the security door into the building, on my front door and on the lug which says, `this unit is being illegally occupied. You will be trespassing on entry and will be prosecuted.' The agents phone no is there for any queries.

We hope that while he's there he gets to see and talk to the backpackers. He'll tell them the situation. I'd also like to know where they found the ad so I can get it removed.

 

You might want to mention on that note that the Dept of Immigration have been notified of the situation.

That will clear out any illegals from the property real quick.

 

Those signs should give them the indication that they have to move out ASAP.

But it would have been ideal if the agent notified them earlier which could have prompted them to vacate the property by now.

 

The backpackers may have no idea that anything dodgy is going on, so I think your idea of talking to them is a good one.

Being backpackers, they can probably move to a legit backpacking place pretty easily.

Being a backpacker doesn't equate to being illegal - I spent a fair amount of time in backpackers in my twenties and early thirties as I travelled and worked in various places.