Tenants breaking up - options?

Hi all,
IP in Brisbane - 3BR house. Current tenants have been leasing since mid 2020 (couple with few pets ; on a renewed 12mo lease ending mid-2022) are separating. Guy’s relative wants to move in and join as a co-tenant. Both men are casually employed and their combined affordability is close to 30%.

PM says if all checks out - transfer of new tenant onto agreement should be straightforward.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation and if so, what are the watch outs?
Thanks in advance.

 

Okay, so you had a couple renting before the breakup. Now you have two single men renting plus possibly their part-time respective partners! Not a big issue except possibly more wear and tear and less "domestication".

NB: If both tradies, possibly a good thing!

 

Behavior patterns count for a lot, in that regard, check their previous tenant ledgers etc - if they've always paid on time, it's unlikely for that to change, also, if they're not on a tenancy database for being evicted/trashing a place, they should be fine. I've found, in 5 years and hundreds of tenancies, 99% of tenants are fine - they're degrees of cleanliness vary between the allowed scoped, but otherwise they are all fine. You have landlords insurance to mitigate the risk of outliers.

 

One option is to not change the lease at all. That's probably what I would do in most situations.

 

You have two options
1, allow

2, deny the second application and terminate the current lease and go back to market

As others have said, go with the relative, it's better than having a "mate" move in, also costs less

If you want to get greedy, you could agree to the new co-tenant but on the condition that both tenants sign a new 12 month lease

 

If the new tenant checks out as a good tenant then there's no issues changing them. Nothing to really watch out for.

 

Change of bond? Removal of the ex? I know that I wouldn't want to be on the hook if I'd moved out.

 

One benefit of husband and wife is the wife kept him under control and made sure the place was clean. Single guy now so its all changed.
The other option is offer to allow him to break the lease and move out.

 

If the new guy checks out, great! Just make sure that he's on the lease, the bond is appropriately lodged, etc. Otherwise you'll have headaches later.

 

Yeah that's true, but why would that benefit the lessor? A lessor would just be going out of their way with the hassle of varying a lease to reduce the amount of liability/enforcement options they have under the lease.

They can do that anyway, and you don't have to have the issue of commencing a contractual relationship with the new occupant. Plus the issue above of basically letting one half of the responsible parties off the hook.

I'm not saying there aren't some advantages to varying the lease, but it certainly isn't the clearly better thing to do. I'd say its generally not actually.

 

The first house we bought came with existing tenants, three students, who moved out shortly after settlement. The property had previously been self managed.

The original tenant (whose bond was appropriately losged) had long moved out. There had been a string of tennants since then, one replacing another over time. No new paperwork done ever. Each new tenant simply gave some cash for the bond to the previous tenant. They all paid the owner directly.

When all three tenants moved out, they wanted their bond back and we were happy to release it. The only problem was it was still lodged in the name of the original tenant who hadn't lived there in over 5 years. The previous owner eventually tracked him down to WA (property is in VIC). Caused a massive headache.

 

I have had a situation like this before.
In WA (and I assume other states) it is the Landlords choice to release the leaving party from the lease. They may request to be taken off but it is not their right - unless it is a domestic violence situation.
In my instance I was considering 4 options
1. leave original 2 on lease and add third person. This would cover any existing damage that had been caused by the person who wanted to leave
2. add third person on lease and if all was well after 3mths allow person that wanted to be off lease could be allowed off. Depending on condition of dwelling 50% of bond could be refunded to that person and new person places 50% of bond
3. allow original person to leave by terminating lease by mutual agreement, do condition report to allow bond to be repaid (minus claimable items) then start new lease with the other occupant and new person with new bond and new condition report
4. Terminate lease and find new tenants - not always possible

 

Thanks so much for all inputs people. Current Tenant A has moved out already with Tenant B living there alone. Potential Tenant C will move in.

So the references (both rental history plus work) for tenant C checks out.
Tenant A has told PM she's happy for Tenant B to be in charge of the bond (PM advised bond is for the property so no formal paperwork reqd.). PM will draw up new paperwork for lease agreement to now include Tenant B & C still ending mid-2022.
I've asked for a 3 monthly property inspection with new tenants to ensure property is kept well. Closer to end of lease, we'll see how we're tracking.
I do like the idea of adding Tenant C on the lease with A&B and then removing A after 3 months if everything goes well. I'll check with PM if that's a possibility. Thanks once again!

 

If A&B have signed the lease, both A&B will be required to sign the release of the bond not just B in 6 months or 10 years.