This question is for the property managers here. Is there such thing as a national database that blacklists bad tennants? If so, do all agents have access to this?
There are several different databases that agents use, they are subscription based and not all agents use them. Ask an agent which ones they use during the interview process. The restriction with some blacklist databases is that they rely on all fields being entered ie date of birth plus name, plus car registration and if one is wrong then it comes up with - nothing found. Some of the better databases can search on one single field ie only a car registration, even if someone else now has the car.
Thank you. So this means the database does not report the full picture - ie agents that don't use it obviously won't be logging bad tennants into it. Out of curiousity, if you had to guess the percentage of agents that do subscribe to it, what would the number be? Are we talking about the low end being 30% or so, or high end 80% of so?
I think most use them but you need to ask the question and ask them to specify which ones they use. There is more investigative work going into tenant screening than just databases.,
Depending on what state you are in tenants blacklisted may only stay on the tenancy data base for as little as 3 years, I personally would like to see data bases hold these details for 10 years
Hey PM's I have a fair idea of what would place a tenant on a naughty database....but what about those that break leases early? I doubt it would give them a mark against their name as there's a range of factors that could cause it to occur - but just interested to know if it's something that could potentially have a negative effect on the tenant? Cheers Jamie
Nope, listed reasons in the tip above and this isn't one of them. Mostly for when tribunal ordered exit or bond is exceeded by outstandings / expenses.
The main disadvantage of a break lease from an investor's POV is that it can reset the lease end date that you may have aimed to have deliberately expire on certain date of time of year. Other than that the risk and cost of vacancy falls to the tenant in a break lease. No marks against the tenant for this.
Thanks guys @Andrew Hancock - what's the deal with breaking a lease in QLD? Do the tenants simply continue paying rent until a new tenant is placed? Cheers Jamie
There you go, for landlords that are sensitive to those dates it could be a disadvantage and setting the next lease to that date is restrictive so limits the market. Lease breaks are a pain in the butt however should result in zero (or limited) financial loss to the landlord
Yes, but the agent must make all reasonable efforts to rent the property. It's a little subjective I guess but provided it's being advertised and inspections are happening then it's reasonable.