VIC Tenant making changes without permission

Hi All,

Need a bit of advise.

Got an email from PM today advising

“The tenants at said property has installed the fly screen door on laundry door which goes outside at their own expense and they will paint the both doors with same colour.

And they are not asking for any sort of reimbursement. The door will stay intact at the property when they will leave.”


My concern is we were not even asked for permission.

I have asked PM to clarify on who permitted above installation etc

But what are everyone’s thoughts on this. Is this common?

TIA
MM

 

Permission should obviously be sought first, but if it's done professionally, and remains with the property when they leave - a flyscreen is a good free bonus for you and the next tenant.
Hopefully this current tenant is planning on staying for the long haul, if they are doing this.

Just make it clear to your PM that permission needs to be sought BEFORE the tenant does anything.

 

Tenants in Vic are allowed to make changes as per their recent legislation changes.

 

Isn't the answer obvious though? "No one"?

Seems like an odd response to the update from your own PM. What do you want to do here exactly?

Personally my answer probably would have been something like "cool, thanks for the update".

 

I do not believe this to be true. I believe that the reforms are only from July 2020.

 

Yea, you might be right - check with a Vic property manager like @Lil Skater to be certain. The CAV website said that some parts of the amendment bill were coming in 1 July and some were straight away.

 

To make improvements at their own expense?? In one word - no.

And be equally clear with your PM that the email/phone call to the tenant is done in a respectful, professional and polite way. I certainly understand it is frustrating when things like this happen. Yes the tenant should have asked first, yes it should be made clear they need to in future, but you do have a new free door!

I can just imagine a PM sending a terse email to the tenants telling them they must ask permission. I would then expect you will be paying an electrician to change light bulbs going forward! Given they have installed a screen door at their own expense, a thank you with a gentle reminder to run any changes past the owner prior to actioning them should do the trick.

- Luke

 

Tenants can do unapproved modifications still, and what they can do is still to be completely clarified. Like, all the ads said they could install picture hooks.... But then the new section says that they cannot "penetrate" the property

So in short, they should have asked permission. I'd do as above, make sure it's professional, thank you and either leave it or take it when you go etc.

 

Got to admit one of my pet peeves with properties is not having flyscreens on front and rear doors as an absolute minimum.
Security screens are great and allow cool breezes to flow through a house and you dont end up with flies salivating or laying eggs all over your food.
Lots of areas also have issues with serious mosquito borne diseases, especially in areas with stagnant water .

 

I have a slightly different view. I understand all of the Hey, you got a free door reply’s, but I would find this concerning.

First, the agent’s email is poorly written and leaves many more questions. If the tenant installed one flyscreen door, then why are they painting TWO doors? What colour are they painting the doors? Will they use undercoat?

Most (cheap) flyscreen doors have a metal frame and are powder coated. Why would it need painting?

Was the flyscreen door professionally fitted (and does it have a lock)? Fitted by whom? Was it fitted internal or external of the existing laundry door? Would a flyscreen door fit in with the style of the house? Why not install a security door? Is the fly screen part of the door just netting or is it like a security screen? And this does not even start to consider the quality of the door and fitting.

 

Yes from a certain point of view, your concerns are valid. And legally you're entitled to ask those questions and press the tenant about those issues.

The risk is that the tenant sees you as "that" sort of landlord who isn't willing to do them any favours. You might then find your tenant might be more inclined to become "that" sort of tenant who won't be doing you any favours either - so as @PMC Property mentioned earlier, electrician callouts for lightbulb changes etc.

Risks outweigh the benefits for me usually.

 

Yup, plenty of people can never see the forest for the trees

 

Years ago I had a tenant offer to paint the property.
I thought I had won lotto.

Turns out my kids could do a better job blind folded and high on Mars bars

I didn't think it was possible to use that many different colours in one house!

 

Yeah... I knew an owner who made the same mistake. You need to pay attention to the details / specify a colour. Her house was half painted black... takes a fair effort to fix that properly.

The legislation is coming in Vic 2020 July for this one, but they haven't written it so to speak - we're hoping for a a clearer description on what is included in the list as currently it is contradictory as Lil Skater said. You can have picture hooks / but you can't penetrate the walls?

 

I'll let the experts determine right and wrong here.
Questions I would ask. Are they paying rent on time? Creating any headaches with frivolous requests? Disturbing my life or investment?
If the answer is clear to these, I would let them live a peaceful life and carry on. The door is already up so no point changing it at the moment I would wait until they leave and see if it requires rectification work (same with the colour choices of painting the walls). If I could get tenants to commit10 year leases that would be great for the long term view as an extra $1k to repaint a room over 10 years is $100/year or $2/week to have a hassle free investment......

 

I would have no concerns with the door, so long as it was done properly, but the painting????, that, I would have a huge problem with. Paint, good or bad, can make a huge difference to a property & I've only once been happy with a tenant painting. Said tenant was a painter....and was a long term tenant who painted it several times throughout the tenancy.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses. As I wrote back to Property manager too, it is not about whether the tenant is doing it for free or now, there are other concerns that needs to be addresses as already pointed out by someone of you here.
I have asked for pictures of doors etc from the tenant for IP#1.

PM also advised that tenants at IP#2 have done some work too (without permission again) and are now asking for reimbursement.
We have declined the reimbursement firstly any work done was not approved by us and secondly , we never got to compare any quotes etc for said work.

I have also asked the PM to convey in writing to tenants at both IPs in written to seek permission in future.

Its been a week and PM has not bothered to respond.

Not sure if this is the norm with PMs or just our PM is not doing a good job.

 

For this to be an issue at both IP's, I would be questioning what your pm is saying to the tennants to make them even think this is an option.
Especially if they are asking for reimbursement.

 

Out of curiously, what work has been done at the second IP that they are asking for reimbursement of?