Tenant AWOL

Hello everyone. Today we received confirmation from our PM that out tenants have packed up and shot through. They are already 4 weeks in arears with rent and are behind in excess water charges. PM says they are going around to do an inspection of the property tomorrow but are expecting a mess as they have been sent multiple breach notices over the last few months and no rectification has been made in the past.
PM didn't think there was any point chasing them as it would be like getting blood out of a stone and it is what it is sort of thing.
I've never had to deal with this before so any advice would be appreciated

 

Which insurer are you with? And what state is the property in?

Ease of bond claim and insurance claim will depend on those 2 questions.

Process varies a little per state, but essentially:

- Change the locks to prevent them coming back - insurance covers
- Get all the junk removed - bond covers
- Get it cleaned - bond covers
- Get things repaired - insurance may cover, go to police and report it as an incident so that it goes under malicious damage. Depending on the insurer you're with they might want to charge separate excesses for each item or one for all of it.
- Get water calculated up to move out date - bond covers
- Get outstanding rent - insurance covers
- Get ad back online to find new tenants - PM to do
- Get prorata letting fee - Bond covers (probably SA only?)
- Get rent to cover vacancy time - insurance covers
- Live happily ever after with better tenants in place

 

Thanks DT. We're in QLD and insured with CGU.

 

Do you have a subscription with Barclays. If so it would have been recommended through the agency normally.. They will chase all outstanding monies that the bond and insurance claim dont cover with a court order from QCAT as they are debt collectors. It could take a while to get monies back but at least its better than nothing. Yearly subscriptions are $65 per year from memory.

 

Get the agent to contact CGU ASAP and find out exactly what they do/don't cover and what requirements they have to make a claim. They need to be very careful with this step because the bank insurers are notorious for building "rings and hoops" into their policies to escape responsibility at claim time, and sometimes the staff conveniently leave out important details when explaining the process...

The PM will also need to apply for and attend Tribunal in order to have any chance of recovering your costs and at the very least listing them on TICA to give the next property owners a heads up of what's coming their way. If it's not too expensive for you I'd implore you do what you can to hold them to account for their actions.

 

If the rent is four weeks in arrears and the tenants have been issued several unmet breaches in the past, why hasn't the PM issued a notice to vacate long before it came to this?

 

No Chivaun we don't have a Barclays subscription.

 

Thanks Tom, We received an email this afternoon from the PM outlining what they want rectified before they will let the property again but they make no mention of what if anything they are doing with regard to anything else.

 

@Ray have you provided a copy of your insurance policy to them. I would instruct them to start the insurance process and ask them to send a copy of the claim and all paperwork before submitting the claim to ensure you are happy with what they are claiming and also you have a copy for your records.

 

Great points @D.T. This point shows the importance of always having the tenant under a current lease. My last insurance claim for tenant leaving unannounced with damages did not cover the vacancy period as the tenant wouldn't sign another lease, then it went downhill.

Lesson learnt and trying to get another PM to get a tenant under a new lease, or will advise to move them on. As someone said in another thread, treat property management as a business, know where your affairs are at and if needed, manage the managers (or at least be aware of what the PM is and isn't doing and be comfortable with their actions - or move PMs)