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