Pay your rent on time or get a 10 day letter

[Gibbonz]

We have a tenant paying fortnightly and has for a second time gone on to ACC. The first time I delivered a 10 day letter immediately the rent was late, I was told in no uncertain terms how bad I was. Apart from the lawn mowing, this chap and his girlfriend/partner are reasonable, or so I thought.

Rent was due on 23rd September, and on the morning of the 23rd I get a phone call to advise that he is again on ACC and there is a delay with them paying him, AND I could ring ACC and confirm if I wanted too. I felt for sake of my tenant/landlord relationship, (being at an all time low with this guy) I would hold off on the 10 day letter. Then 12 days later I sent a text message, with no reply. Then I phoned and he explained to me his employers pay person was on holiday in Bali, and no one else could give the pay information to ACC.

I asked if this lady had been killed in the bombing, NO, then asked if she had, would any employees ever get paid again. Pointing out that this is the tenants responsibility to pay the rent and deal with their employer and ACC, not mine, and that a rent payment had not been received since the 9th Sept. Well the abuse I received at being such an unreasonable landlord, and the following day was rent day….. (only 1 fortnight payment was made the next day though)

I delivered today a 10 day letter, and a cover letter stating what responsibilities a tenant has etc etc. The partner came to the door and repeated all the “unreasonable” “my dad says” and so on. We feel that already having 5 weeks loss of rent while fixing a trashed house, the cost of repairs and 3 weeks lost up until they left, this in the last month, I made an error of judgment 2 weeks ago, and will now always deliver a 10 day letter the day after the rent is late.

Your comments would be appreciated.

[Propoholic]

Hi Gibbonz

Apart from the lawn mowing, this chap and his girlfriend/partner are reasonable, or so I thought.

Stop thinking they are reasonable and you will start moving forward!

The first time I delivered a 10 day letter immediately the rent was late, I was told in no uncertain terms how bad I was.

They'll always tell you how bad you are and all the reasons they cant pay the rent. I'm sure there is a standard Tenancy Services booklet that is issued to assist tenants with reciting of life stories.

Rent was due on 23rd September, and on the morning of the 23rd I get a phone call to advise that he is again on ACC and there is a delay with them paying him, AND I could ring ACC and confirm if I wanted too.

You need to be quite blunt in these situations, thank him for the advice on the ACC payment delay but point out it is his problem.
State that:
"You are sympathetic with his predicament but you require the rent to be paid tomorrow." "My bank requires the rent to be depositted tomorrow, how can you assist me in this situation?"
"Can your bank help you in this situation, can you borrow the outstanding rent from a friend or family member?"
"I would appreciate it if you can contact your employer, ACC, bank or any friends this afternoon, I will contact you at 4.00pm today so we can arrange payment for tomorrow!"
"You appreciate, this will help me out in a difficult situation."

I made an error of judgment 2 weeks ago, and will now always deliver a 10 day letter the day after the rent is late.

Yes, the ten day letter is standard procedure required by the Act but it is most important that these people have you upper most in mind awareness as far as payment priority. A ten day letter will not make these people jump but a regular meeting (ie the day they miss payment) reconfirming your requiremnts for payment will have an impact. When you are on their doorstep three days in a row they will take you very seriously. You will always remind them that "you are happy to have regular meetings with them so you can assist with resolving their problem."

If they were my tenant I would give them a ninety days notice to vacate and then proceed with recovering the outstanding rent. You dont need these types in your property, get them out, cut your losses and move ahead.

[Traff]

Tenants trying it on

I have owned my first investment property for 4 weeks now and have had problems with my tenant from day one. The first time they didn't pay the rent I went and collected it from them. We agreed there and then that they were to set up an automatic payment. When the rent was due again - nothing. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and left it a few days, then i phoned him. The excuse was he didn't have time to go to the bank to set up the AP. I gave him a deadline of 5pm the next day - still no rent and then the following week was also due, so two weeks in arrears. I spoke to my Property Manager who manages one of my other rentals, she said to issue a 10 day letter which i did straight away. I checked my bank a few days later and part of the two weeks rent had been deposited. I called him and asked him where the rest was he said he had to scrape it together but had the cash there. I went to pick the rent up AGAIN on Sunday as I couldn't trust him to put the money in the bank. I had a conversation with him and asked him what the problem was, they said they couldn't afford to live there, wanted to live in Oz at the end of the year and had another baby on the way. The agreement was to get them out of the tenancy - as carrying on this way doesn't help anybody.
My husband kept saying pass it over to the Property Manager to deal with but I kept persevering with the situation. I actually felt in control. Now i know as soon as the rent doesn't show up in my bank a 10 day notice letter will be issued.

[Gibbonz]

Some mothers breed bad tenants

It is about "values" and I believe that as we are told by stats, so many people will only ever rent. And along with this is that of those people they will always mistreat the property (mess and damage) and pay rent late, just as they have seen during their upbringing!!

That is why we are very clear on sharing the names of bad tenants and see TINZ.net.nz as a great resource, which if all the bad tenants are registered, it must make a difference. To say "it is not worth the time and effort" dos'nt wash with us.

Some one should tell them or their supporters (the landlords who will not register the bad ones) that a bad credit record sticks like S**t for a very long time.


Cheers

[hort1]

Hi Gibbonz
Can you register bad tenants on TINZ for free or do you have to be a registered user ? The sooner there is a national register for all the tenants in the country the better it will be for all of us.
Cheers

[Gibbonz]

Tinz

Yes you can upload or fax 10 day letters and Tenancy tribunial order against a tenant for free. There is always a concern that it is "private information" but I believe we should advise others. A Tenancy tribunial order is public information.

Cheers

[The_Dog]

I just pinned a tenant that abandoned my flat owing $2,000 all together.

I have a direct payment attachment, for the grand sum of $5/week!!

I worked out this is about 12 cents a week once the fees and lost opportunity (interest) is taken into account.

So, it takes me 8 years to get my money (joke!!) but the tenant’s reputation is now trash for a long long time. It gives a little satisfaction.

The Dog

[whitt]

but the tenant’s reputation is now trash for a long long time. It gives a little satisfaction.
The Dog

Yes if we all stand up against bad tenants it may stop them doing it do other landlords.
To many times landlords give in.

[essence]

$5/week

Hi Dog

Must be something in the air. I have just managed to find an ex-tenant (sixth attempt in four years!) and get her to court. Okay, so I had to issue an Order of Examination (OOE) then a Warrant To Arrest (WTA), but at least I found her.

I received a call from Court staff last week, advising that they had finally found her at the sixth address I provided and had arrested her. To quote Court staff - "She had a bit of an atttitude" - duh, ya think!!!!!

Likewise I have been issued with a princely sum of $5/wk. By my reckoning this will take 7+ years to pay off. GRRR.

I rang my local Court staff person and she advised that one can actually appeal the judges decision, (ie you believe it is too low/high etc) but one does run the risk of getting the order cancelled (the judge can do this). The best thing to have is the Statement Of Income that the ex-tenant submitted to the court at the hearing, and then use that as a basis for your appeal. Be aware that the Courts have a policy of a certain percentage (60%?) income that living costs must not exceed.

Court ordered debts (unpaid rent/court fines/speeding tickets) are paid on the first lodged basis and have precedent over other debts (Farmers/Chrisco/shop accounts).

[The_Dog]

I'm not going to appeal as basically, I have written the money off anyway. If the tenant wants to spend the next 8 years with a debt record, that is worth more than money to me, and other landlords as well. Yes Whitt, I hope other landlords return the favour, as it's expensive to pin these buggers and I would appreciate other landlords warning me as well!

It does occur to me that if the tenant wants to clean their slate, they could offer to pay up quicker, but this is not really going to happen.... is it.

The Dog

[Hound]

Essence is right about the 60% protected income threshold. This means if the debtor is getting say $200.00 p/w benefit, then total attachment orders must not exceed $80.00 p/w. The statement of income should have the existing attachments included, with the help of the court staff.

Of course it's not up to you to reconcile the debtor's living expenses, you just have to claim/insist that your T/T ordered debt takes priority over those expenses. Which legally it does.

[Julian]

Hmmm ...this residential landlording sounds like fun. I think I'll sell up my commercial properties and take up charity work in the form of residential landlording.

As a comparison a year or so ago one of my commercial tenants missed a monthly rent payment of around $2,350. By the time he settled up his account at the end of the following month his bill was over $15,000. He paid for my lawyer's time, my time, my costs including travel, motels, phone and meals and bar tab. He had to pay for the locksmith I arranged to change the locks and the alarm technician who changed the alarm code. He had to get all the bills for which I was ultimately responsible (such as rates) paid right up.

Apart from a little bit of agravation this default cost me nothing. It benefitted my company in that better systems were put in place for other and future tenants.

Julian

[DreamsofDeco]

I think it is worth posting a "reference" for those who do not look after our properties as well as those who are financially irresponsible. If it saves another landlord going through what we had to, and being able to make an informed decision about potential tenants, then it would have to be a good thing. I have found that you need a clause in your Tenancy Agreement that you will record adverse behaviour on a website so the tenants are warned.

[essence]

Ex-tenant

In all fairness (to me?!), this situation occurred by having an incompetent PM and me being - at that time - a newbie investor.

If nothing else, this event has taught me lots.

I've have learnt by listening to the masters *nods to Glenn* and unfortunately having to grow a very thick skin and a cynical attitude - but only when it comes to tenants.

I have not had any problems since that time.