Tenant wants to take us to VCAT - Help pls

The lease in which no part of the granny flat was excluded from the tenancy

You can claim xyz at tribunal, verbal agreements, etc etc, but the legal instrument in this case is the lease which is what you and the tenant are held to.

All the tenant needs to say is "I never agreed to that" and your arguments fall flat.

 

:-(((
what will you do if you were in our situation?

 

Ok a better reply this time.
- Stop using the 'common' area immediately.
- give him notice to vacate
- say your husband never used the common area.
- get back your property and more importantly peace!

 

thx Mumbai. Ok with point #1,2&4 but re point #3 we dont know how to lie:-(
also according to the rules I understand we cant vacate the premise. we have to give him 60 days notice b4 the lease ends which is 10 months away. Any way out for us?

 

This is in Melbourne? Don't you have to be related to rent out a granny flat there anyway?

 

What is that "work station" ? a big machinery or just a computer ?

 

Also sounds like your tenant is not some one easy to deal with.

 

Not really. The fact you have advertisements and the rent is slightly below market rent really don't help your case too much. The fact remains that you have granted your tenant exclusive use of the granny flat. If the intention of both parties was for the common area to be excluded then there should have been a condition in the tenancy agreement stating this.

Your arguments is based on an oral agreement. An oral agreement (as with a written agreement) needs a "meeting of the minds". That is to say that both yourself and the tenant were on the same page with the use of the common area. All it takes is for the tenant to say they never agreed this and then your argument of an oral agreement has no basis.

If you are really concerned you should seek legal advice but based on what you have posted here I would be very surprised if VCAT found in your favour. It might be best to find a new workstation for the next 10 months.

 

work station includes work desk, bookshelves and mini printer.

 

sorry I used the term granny flat but it's actually a one bedroom unit at the back of our house

 

Okay Ive got some more information here.
Ive retrieved text message trail between us and tenant where he blamed us of having my husband work in the common area everyday which is contradicting to our initial agreement of having him work there occasionally (he used the word 'rare days'). He said it causes him troubles (ie poor study results) because of my husband's presence.
Does it mean:
- we can establish that we can use common area
- now we need to fight over the balance between each party's right to use the common area?

Does these evidences help ease our problem?

 

thx JDM.
Ive got some more information here.
Ive retrieved text message trail between us and tenant where he blamed us of having my husband work in the common area everyday which is contradicting to our initial agreement of having him work there occasionally (he used the word 'rare days'). He said it causes him troubles (ie poor study results) because of my husband's presence.
Does it mean:
- we can establish that we agreed to use common area
- now we need to fight over the balance between each party's right to use the common area?

Does these evidences help ease our problem?

 

Geez that can't be a very comfortable environment for your tenant. Sitting in his dining room eating a nice roast dinner while your husband goes to town on his work station

Is there any possible way that your husbands work station can be moved to the main house in order to keep the peace? Avoiding going down the path of VCAT and keep your tenant happy = $$$$

I highly doubt you would win this one. They will probably side on the tenant. Poor poor tenant

 

Increase the rent and move huby out.

 

It's only a one-bedder/granny flat, so space must be small, so looks like its very intrusive (everyday! 9-5? ) . Are you prepared to say that you have given him "quite peaceful living condition"?

I would just charge for room rental, or do a Sharehouse agreement. I wont do a lease for renting the whole unit.

Agree with others, IMHO your chance of winning is very low.

 

Very good point. If you are renting a granny flat to an unrelated party against the dependant accomodation laws, then vcat may be the tip of the iceberg for you

 

Did you actually call it 'granny flat' in the contract? Looks like a lodging/boarding than a granny flat . In that case, it is implied you would be using common areas.
Let them take you to VCAT. Tell them they will have hard time proving your husband uses the area on regular basis. This suggestion is to relieve you from what you got into.

In all fairness, I would hate having someone sit in my living space entire day working with no privacy.

It also seems that the tenants were happy to stay all this while and now either want to get out of the contract or want money. Ask them verbally if they want to move out and offer them some compo (moving costs?)

 

VCAT will down you. "Why would anyone agree to this agreement?" will keep playing in the member's mind. Cut him off by reaching a compromise. Tell him his case has poor prospects because you have this and that but in the spirit of compromise, take some cash and vacate. This is the cheap way.

But if you have time to waste then take a punt at VCAT.

 

It's not a granny flat and never a granny flat (sorry for the confusion by using that term). It's a one bedroom unit at the back of the main house. Wish we used the term boarding home in the contract but we didn't.
My husband works in the common area 70% of the time = 3-3.5 days/week pretty much 9.30-6pm (and we can provide his travel diary as a proof. He's away the other days.
It seems to me that tenant was once happy with the idea of sharing the common area but now when things go wrong at his end, he's trying to get $ from us and kick us out of our property. Dont know how he justify the amount he claimed (3months worth of rent for him being there for 2 months). By paying this amount, it means we are paying him for living in our property. Doesn't make sense!
Tried to offer him ending the lease early with some $ incentive or arrangement around the share of common area (ie. hubby works there for certain days, for certain hours) but he rejected. He wants $ plus full right to the unit :-(((