Tenant not paying rent

Hi all,

Well I was advised by my property manager that the tenant is over 2 weeks late in rent and is not responding to phone calls or messages. They have issued notice to leave. The issue is that prior to the missed rents, I was planning of not renewing their lease and re-advertising as the house is a mess and they have 5 kids instead of the 2 the mentioned when the applied for the rental. I believe they know the system and will stay in the house rent free for as long as possible.

So my question is lets say it takes another 6 weeks before they are evicted and another say 4 weeks to clean, advertise and find new tenants, am I able to claim landlord insurance for loss of rent from the moment they stop paying to the moment I find new tenants? So in the above example, 10 weeks rent plus repairs or cleaning?

 

You will be able to make a claim, but how much they will cover will depend on the insurance company's policy. It is best to check the PDS (Product Disclosure Statement) or call the insurance company to find out exactly.

 

• How long before the lease finishes?
• Can notice to terminate be given now?

 

Striple
If you have the right policy ie a landlords specialist insurer, your financial loss should be zero or close to it. Assuming also that the property manager knows how to push it all through and claim to completion.

Also, advertise property as being available as soon as you get order from tribunal or know of lease break. Insurance will ask for proof of advertising.

Good luck
X

 

Thanks I just checked the pds and I'm covered. Though I don't have much faith in my property manager. I just checked the lease and it ends on the 22nd of May.

 

The tenant could be out of there before the lease technically ends anyway. In the meantime it is best to still monitor what your property manager is doing to ensure that they don't forget anything.

 

@striple if you have no faith in your property manager, use the tenancy changeover as a good opportunity to do a bit of "house keeping", (i.e. switch agents). I can highly recommend @Nick Valsamis if you're in his neck of the woods. We swapped both of our NSW IP's to Nick after getting some bad vibes from our original PM, (which turned out to be quite justified in the end).

 

Thanks Propagate... I'm just going to hold off and see how they handle this... If they fail to communicate or forgot anything, then it'll give me grounds to terminate

 

Just to understand if Tenants don't pay rent for many months to come .. they are not willing to pay then is it that landlord can't do anything about it ?

 

@Ash - LL or agent can issue a termination notice.

 

One notice is issued they have to move out irrespective of situations ? As what i heard is that if tenants don't have income LL can't evict them is that true ?

 

Smart tenant. Is there hypocrisy on PC when comparing the tenant versus the Landlord ?

• Moral outrage:
  • Tenant is using the tenancy law to the maximum to screw over the poor Landlord.
    
  • Poor LL cannot claim rates from tenant, blacklist tenant, throw her/him out, sell tenant's organs/children/assets on the black market....
  • Tenant is in tenancy for the financial decisions he/she has made. Tenant deserves it (Growth mindset).
• Legal rights:
  • Landlord is legally allowed to claim maximum deductions (and then some) and then claims NG and CGT exemption from the taxpayer.
    
  • Taxpayer does not know how to best utilize the money (Kerry Packer said so decades ago).
    
  • It is the taxpayer's responsibility to pay for any shortfall (NG) on my xth IP as well as provide me with a CGT exemption, for the privilege of paying my NG. I deserve it (Growth mindset).

 

Some states may vary but normally yes they have to move out at the expiry of a termination notice.

If they don't move out at the end of the notice period you will need to take them to the tribunal. The tribunal will then decide what will happen if the tenants don't have any income and can't afford to move anywhere.

 

• I don't believe so? I have been a tenant longer than I have been a landlord. I have only asked what is fair. Not paying rent and squat as for 3 months are not exactly fair
  

You can't claim tax back without income. You are claiming back the tax you paid - not tax from other tax payers

 

The reply exemplifies the original discrepancy:

• One justification is moral (fair) and the other legal (tax return against income), but both skewed towards the interest of the landlord/investor.
• Change of tone in describing the two (squatters vs tax-payers).

The rules for comparison are not consistent.

• If playing by the legal yardstick tenants or for that matter squatters have legal rights and responsibilities which are consistently overlooked.
• If playing by the moral yardstick, the investors are morally unjustified in reducing the tax pool, for financial decisions that they have made.

 

Hum, why?
I claim my tax back when I can, even before becoming an investor.

Squatter has legal right, as much as the property owner has legal right in getting them out.

 

The tax payer is not responsible for financial misadventures of the few (5% of population claiming 11.4 billion losses). It is not the tax payer who has speculated in loss making venture with a view to escape tax liability hoping for a capital gain. Think of tax payer as a JV partner. Who will be willing to be a partner with an investor who says:

• I am going to invest in a loss making venture.
• I will pass on the losses (NG) to you.
• When and if the profits materialize, I will also take 50% of your share (CGT exemption).

The above arguments are merely capitalistic. It would also be worthwhile to consider:

• The degenerative consequences on the society and country's economy at large.
• Uniqueness of NG to a handful of countries.
• The quasi-legal basis of separating the active and passive income streams.

In spite of the provisos, this is one of the few rare admissions/posts on tenants rights. Might not be palatable to investors, but tenants might be human beings and homelessness a social ill.

 

@Skilled_Migrant

I'm not economy expert so can't comment on the country economy. As individual who work and pay income tax like everybody else, I view it as claiming some of tax back on income i didn't earn. I can't claim tax back if didn't earn income and paid my tax (or earn less than tax threshold) - this has not change from when I was not an investor.

Both tax payer and investor can be the same person. Why the separation?

Landlord and tenant can be the same person. Again, why the separation? In case where tenants do not pay they rent and experience distress, landlord do experience distress as well in a different way. I have had bad landlords and I have had bad tenants.

 

The separation lies in differing tax treatments for active and passive incomes. Similar to differing tax rates for business and personal incomes, it is the source of income, which determines the tax regime. In its current form, the tax system promotes a hybridization of personal and investment income streams, which is rorted by a minority, does not achieve the cause of its inception and has created social and economic problems.

That is exactly the point. Differentiation has been created on this site (not by all), by denigrating (vicious dehumanizing if I may) the tenants rights and exaggeration of landlords morality. For some reason, it is ok for the investors to maximize their profits using all kinds of legal connotations (trusts, companies, financial distributions), but not for tenants to use their legal rights even when facing homelessness.
Listing on National Tenancy Database
This is how biased the tribunal is

 

I do wonder if changes is made, what should it be, and would that be enough to address the social and economic issues (whatever it is). I am a sceptic, I think general people (not all) will take advantage of the system if it is within their means to do so, even when changed. This is not limited to investors.

I have heard the same denigration in my network made about landlords in general. It's just not written on PC can't see the denigration int he thread you mentioned? I see the discussions mostly about rules. Discussing tenants situation don't usually answer the question on what to do when they don't pay rent.