How often do you go to Tribunal?

A client of mine commented recently that they had been to a seminar where another property management company was presenting, and they said they never had been to Tenancy Tribunal, and were promoting this as their point of difference. So, my client asked me, "How often do you go to Tribunal?".
Frankly, we go more often than we would like.
Accurately, even once would be more often than we would like.
Also accurately, we do very well at Tenancy Tribunal and have a very good success rate when there are issues that need to be resolved but couldn't be resolved otherwise.
Property managers who don't take tenants to Tribunal are perhaps not looking after their client, the landlords, best interests. I have seen for myself many instances where landlords are dissatisfied with the care shown by tenants, and by proxie, their property managers. Stains on carpets are left as they are, chalked up to 'wear and tear' rather than asking the carpets to be cleaned or paying for the cost of patching these to be paid. This is only one example of many where damage is in excess of 'fair wear and tear' and is the tenants responsibility to put right, but the property manager ducks the confrontation and lets them get away with it. Over time, these things add up, and the property rents for less and less, and attracts lower quality tenants, which further damage the property. Alternatively, the landlord needs to pay for these repairs, which erodes the income they are supposed to be making from the property. One way or another, a property manager who does not hold tenants responsible for their own actions costs the landlord.
The property managers who boast that they do not go to Tribunal will state this is because they are 'just that good' they never have any issues. Ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah right. That would only be the case if they were dealing with machines, not people. People are infinately variable and are motivated by a huge variety of factors. People have changing circumstances, which can sometimes mean they don't live up to their own standards, and may not leave a tenancy as they intended to. Another reason a property manager could boast such is they have so few properties they don't get much experience at all. Or they try to stay out of Tribunal as they know their own actions would not withstand scrutiny. Or, they failed to collect sufficent evidence to prove their case.
We're not afraid of such things. We know our processes and behaviours are robust. We know we have the evidence we need to prove our case. If tenants don't fulfil their obligations, we are not afraid to do what we need to in order to protect our clients.
We do go to Tribunal. It is more often than we would like. But it is not more often than our clients like.

Mediation Matters

When things go wrong in a tenancy, apply for Tenancy Tribunal as soon as it is clear trying to sort it out with the tenant (or the landlord, for that matter) isn't actually advancing the situation, particularly if you are getting promises that are not being kept.

Most likely, you will be scheduled for Mediation. Here are some things you need to know:

The mediator should be impartial. They don't favour the landlord or the tenant.
They should explain their role clearly to all parties and explain the process.
They should let you discuss the issues and reach a decision, while keeping everyone cool.
They shouldn't ask leading questions.
They should not suggest solutions.
They should help all parties reach agreement.
They should know the tenancy laws, and guide everyone to a lawful solution.
They should make clear what has been agreed upon, and write up that agreement.
They should write up mediated orders in a timely way and send them to be sealed by the Tenancy Tribunal promptly.
They should always act professionally and calmly.

If they don't do the above, you have a couple of choices. If you cannot reach a decision in Mediation, you can have the matter referred to Tribunal. This will take longer to get an outcome, and this may not be satisfactory if the problem will get worse with time (like rent arrears accumulating).

Or if the mediator has failed in their duty to be impartial and professional, you can complain about how it was handled. To do this, contact Department of Building and Housing on 0800 83 6262 and ask them to put you in touch with the mediation team leader and state why. In our experience the team leader has returned our calls the same day, and has acted swiftly and appropriately to see matters handled correctly.

Your name is your most valuable trademark.

We come across plenty of young people who rent properties. They have no idea of the repercussions of not paying your rent, damaging the property or just not notifying the landlord about critical maintenance issues.

If they have to go to the Tenancy Tribunal this will be on their record – with all other potential Landlords being able to see the outcome of the hearing. This could make it difficult to rent in the future. It may not worry a 20 something who jumps from flat to flat, but I am sure a 30 something with young children and a desperate need to find a decent home may regret having a record.

If they owe money after the Tribunal hearing then this may also affect their credit rating. Which in turn could affect their ability to do a who number of things such as gaining credit, buying a house or even limit your job prospects.

One young “ex” tenant that have been dealing with told me it didn’t worry him if I got debt collectors to collect the amount he owed in rent arrears. After all he owned nothing and had nothing for them to take, he was bullet proof and invincible. I sent him a little email, outlining the impact that decision will have on his future. He is due to make his first payment tomorrow towards paying back his debt.

So for all tenants who are new to the renting scene. Don’t take your decisions lightly. Take care in who you choose for flatmates. Always pay your rent and look after the place. Your name is your most important trademark and don’t ever tarnish it.

The Child/Parent Relationship.

The tenant /landlord relationship is very much like a parent and child. You will have tenants who will always try to push the limits and take advantage of a weak landlord at any chance they can get. We see landlords who don’t chase up rent arrears, because the tenant gets angry and calls them mean. We see landlords who defer maintenance, because the tenant won’t let tradesmen into the house unless it’s on their terms and a time that suits them. We see tenants who try to break fixed term leases and try to justify their demands.

If these tenants were children what would Super Nanny recommend? She would say you need to stand your ground and you have to back up your demands and NEVER back down. If they persist stick them in the naughty corner (go to the Tenancy Tribunal).

I was recently talking to the building manager of a complex we manage apartments in. I had mentioned that on my last visit both entry doors to the “secure” complex were wedged open and the place was looking a bit messy. His response was “what can you do?” My response was “if you find them wedged open you shut them, and you send a letter to tenants telling them to do the same. You try to find out who is responsible for the mess and give them warning” It’s pretty easy to find the culprit when the mess is directly outside an apartment. Like Super Nanny says it may take time and it will be a battle of wills, but unlike training a child, if the tenants persist with being stubborn you don’t renew the lease. If it’s a bad breach, take them to the Tenancy Tribunal.

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The first rule to avoid "bad tenants" - you can never do too many checks.

Further to Jackie's last blog, I came across another situation recently where the property investor could have been saved time and expense if their Property Manager had spent a few minutes checking the prospective tenants thoroughly. While doing a routine check for a prospective tenant on the Tenancy Tribunal site I noticed an individual had a history of seven Tenancy Tribunal applications made against them over a period of 3 years with total costs awarded being over $7000.00 plus other costs that were not pursued at Tribunal. All the applications were made by Real Estate companies and each of the offences were similar to the last.

You can forgive the first applicant and maybe the second as the first case might not have been published at the time of checking the tenants background, but there is really no excuse for the real estate companies who filed the last few applications. One of which required a bulldozer to remove the rubbish on the property, it was that bad (one wonders why a property inspection didn't pick this up sooner). Amazingly enough a few of the real estate agents were also chasing their letting fees. I would have thought the tenant would have been required to pay this before moving in. Yet another alarm bell ringing that was ignored.

If they had taken the time to do the checks and looked at warning signs they would have realised that this is a tenant nobody should ever rent to. They would have saved the property investor and themselves undue stress and cost.

Check your prospective tenants Tribunal history here

Check your Tenants Carefully

This week we have had two incidences that show how important it is to check tenants backgrounds before you sign on the dotted line.

The first was a tenant we currently have gave notice to vacate (following an 'ugly rent rise'). 'Hooray!' we said at the office, glad to be rid of a grotty tenant who came with the property when we took over management. That's one property we'll be glad to get cleaned up and rented out to a suitable tenant at a much increased weekly rental. However, we had not heard a peep from any prospective landlords asking about their suitability as tenants. Not one. Well, good luck to whoever takes them on, they are about to have their property declared a health hazard.

The second was a prospective tenant who applied to rent a property. They produced a glowing written reference from their landlord who was 'not contactable' having sold the property and moved overseas (yeah right). A little digging by us revealed they had forged the written reference, and had not one, but two, Tenancy Tribunal awards against them for breaching the conditions of tenancy. In my experience landlords rarely take poor performing tenants to Tribunal, so for them to have gone twice in recent history tells me they performed very poorly indeed - how many more times had they caused problems and not been taken to Tribunal? I shudder to think. If they are lying right at the start, you don't want them. If only their past landlords performed background checks. I have no doubt they will find someone silly enough to sign them up to a tenancy based on a bogus written reference.

So, if you don't know how to check a tenants background effectively to save yourself heartbreak and a great deal of work sorting out problems, or you just can't be bothered, call us to do it for you. The money and time we will save you will more than likely pay for the property management fees. And best of all, we guarantee our tenant selection, making your investment property lower risk.