Tenants will try anything

I attended a tribunal hearing this week due to lease break disputes.

Tenant challenged break lease charges by claiming that he had evidence that the house was not available for rent after he had vacated because the owners took possession for the purpose of conducting repairs and improvements to the property, therefore he believed he was not liable to pay the vacancy period of the break lease charges.

He was able to show that in December when the house was vacant, the owners were there every week and he took pictures of their car in the driveway. He also took pictures of my Alexa car in the drive way - thank you for helping my case ❤. My car is distinctly branded so can't be missed.

The owners were there just because they wanted to be, watering gardens, trimming plants, extra trimming etc and at no point was the property taken off the market for improvements. No improvements were done on the property. The fact that photos of my car were taken proved that I was there at least once (or twice) a week holding open inspection viewings for prospective new tenants, proof that the property at all times was advertised as being available.

The judge found that it was reasonable to assume that a property managers car being in the driveway every week means that inspections were conducted and it is not reasonable to assume that I was there with my high heels on ripping out carpet and painting . Case closed, full bond awarded to landlord to cover lease break costs and other charges (which were not disputed). ☺️

I was very annoyed on the way home because this case was so time wasting and couldn't believe someone would go out of their way to stalk a house and take photos of cars in a drive way only to prove absolutely nothing - it went on for 45 minutes as he presented the times and dates and pictures and took all my energy to refrain from jumping over the table and shaking him. So stupid!!!

But - the landlord laughed so hard over this that he couldn't even breath so now I've put it down to just another experience.

So nice when tenants subconsciously love you and do their best to help the case in your favour. ❤ I didn't even have to look at my notes of inspection times to prove mitigation of losses, this tenant did all the work for me and went out of his way to provide picture too.

 

Shrug, I have seen lots of cases where its the landlord or PM wasting the court/tribunal time with rubbish claims or arguments.

Including trying to claim break lease costs when they indeed were not advertising the property or doing the other reasonable things they ought to have been to mitigate their loss.

I don't see why you need have the rather inflammatory thread title of "tenants will try anything" for your anecdotal description of how a single tribunal matter went your way.

 

Years ago when I was a tenant I was taken to VCAT over a 4cm scratch on the OUTSIDE of a sliding glass door that could only be seen from a very particular angle - there was no way we would have noticed it on the inspection report and had likely been there from when it was installed. The landlord pushed the PM to take it to VCAT, we were talking before we went in and he even said he had no chance of winning and had tried to talk the landlord out of taking it to VCAT in the first place.

The Member heard the PM's case and instantly dismissed it without us saying a thing. Then this cheeky landlord calls me directly and says he was unhappy with the decision and wants to appeal unless we pay some money towards the repair. Having some basic knowledge, I knew if he appealed we could claim legal costs and told him I would get a mate to write up $10k in legal fees and counter claim for costs. Never heard from him again.

 

Wow
How much was the estimated damage on that door?

Often they also look at whether the landlord is asking for full payment or a portion back as compensation.
Whether the work has been carried out or just quoted also plays a role.

They do also ask for routine inspection reports or proof of whether the tenant has reported this damage during the course of the tenancy.

Great for you that is was dismissed.

 

On the flip side, I recently broke a lease and the agent was making no effort to readvertise the property. Initially they told me that they would not readvertise until I had moved out, done the end of lease clean and returned the keys, even though I gave 3 weeks' notice that I was breaking. Then the next excuse was that they were waiting for the landlord to do their final inspection. I eventually listed it on the local community facebook page with the agents details to call and within a few hours the property was listed online for rent. But by then, the agent no longer had a space for the weekend inspections so I was out of pocket for longer.
So I understand that the tenant would've been edgy about the efforts to readvertise but yes, having your car in the driveway would suggest otherwise. Unfortunately it's the few bad agents that make tenants think the worst of every agent.

 

That's very proactive effort from you, well done for taking control.

If you had challenged this they would be seen as not mitigating losses and therefore the lease break charges against you would be reduced.

We advertise on the day a tenant gives notice and inspections are done while the tenant is still in the property - whether lease break or not.

This is for the benefit of both parties.

 

I'd probably take this bit out if I were you, its very valid grounds to challenge the decision on.

 

That was the tenant's claim, not what happened.

 

Ah gotcha.

 

Thanks Bullion
Yes that's what the tenants were claiming b cause they saw a car in the driveway.
Any I was apparently helping them....

Ridiculous lol

 

Roll up the suit sleeves Xenia, get renovating

 

Good work Xenia, and I agree, Tenants will try anything!
We just had a tribunal case concluded and amongst the "dispute" as the payment for pest control. On handover day, the Tenants mumbled over whether their cleaner has done the pest control, but couldnt produce any receipt/invoice/proof. A few SMS/Emails later, she agreed for us to find someone. It was also a breaklease situation and the new Tenant was moving in the next day hence the urgency! Lucky for us our usual guy was able to come in and do the work. And we paid him.... The case too over 6 months to the court, and on the day the Tenant presented an "invoice" from their cleaner, stating that pest control was done! We presented all our emails and SMS of her "approval", but she just sat there not even blinking! Blatant liars. I was really shocked as to how someone can lie like that with all evidence against them.....

 

Yeah I bet you have heaps of time and the inclination to help landlords renovate.

 

The quote the PM received was $3,000 (very large double glazed door). The fact that the scratch was so insignificant that the PM couldn't even get a picture where it was visible pretty much killed it. The fact that they had new tenants in the property at a higher rent without fixing the scratch probably didn't help.

 

Even if it was visible and proven that you did it, a tenant would never be responsible for replacing an entire glass door because of a scratch.