CAN ANYONE HELP..???? subject- renting to family

[becka]

I am after some general advice please or can you point me in the right direction??

My parents current have a rental property in which another member of the family rents.
My parents started to have a few problems with the tenants and to avoid family conflict handed over landlord duties to a tenancy company who manage the property.
Recently the issues have continued with rent being late, lies back wards and forwards with them telling family that the rent had been increased by stupid amounts and bills given to my parents for cost of landscaping ect that were not permitted or discussed.

So my parent have decided to issue 42 day notice so one of their children can rent the property.
so then the tenants have made threats of violence and abuse so the police had to issue the tenants trespass orders.

The current tenants have now said that they had a verbal agreement that they could stay forever or rent to own after 3yrs which is incorrect and another lie
and was not part of their signed tenancy agreement.

they also have ordered my parents to give them money to cover bond when they move into another house.. yet my parents never charged them bond when they first moved in... they are also ordering them to pay for movers... and have also said they have broken a verbal agreement.


so they all went to mediation but no agreement was decided..
so then they went to Disputes tribunal where the judge ruled that she could not make a decision because it was between two sisters.


My questions we need help with..???


• Can the current tenants claim for bond if they were never charged any in the first place..??

• If the tenants signed a tenancy agreement when first moving in does that apply or does the agreement of the landlords who have since taken over acting on the behalf of the old landlords apply.

• How can a no ruling decision be made by a judge if there are sighed agreements... after all it is still a landlord and tenant signed agreement.???

• Does the 42 notice given to the tenants still apply since the judge could not reach an agreement on if the tenants should be given compensation.???

• and most of all what can my parents do from here and what advice can you give..


Please any help would be much appreciated.


Sincerely .

[drelly]

Can the current tenants claim for bond if they were never charged any in the first place..??
Absolutely not. A bond is not a "charge". It's merely a sum of money that is held in trust in case of damage/rent arrears etc. At the end of the tenancy it is either returned or paid to the landlord in part or whole to cover losses. You can't return what you never received.

If the tenants signed a tenancy agreement when first moving in does that apply or does the agreement of the landlords who have since taken over acting on the behalf of the old landlords apply.
If you mean does an agreement with a property manager apply, I would doubt it but it depends on what authority you have given them. Don't bother going to court and argue hearsay. Stick to evidence. If it's not in writing, they haven't got a leg to stand on.

How can a no ruling decision be made by a judge if there are signed agreements... after all it is still a landlord and tenant signed agreement.???
Sounds like bollocks to me. Call Tenancy Tribunal and ask them. You may want to complain to the courts.

Does the 42 notice given to the tenants still apply since the judge could not reach an agreement on if the tenants should be given compensation.???
Yes since it's a separate issue. However, if they are more than 21 days in arrears, just go direct to the tribunal and ask them to terminate the tenancy immediately on that basis alone.

And most of all what can my parents do from here and what advice can you give.
1. Never let to family or friends.
2. If you do, keep it strictly business.

[Gatekeeper]

1. Never let to family or friends.
2. Never let to family or friends.
3. Never let to family or friends.

I've been on both sides of the coin. I got ripped by a friends grandson, he's still paying me off at $10 a week. The final cleaning was revolting to say the least.

I've been a tenant of the mother-in-law from hell .
We left real quick!

Get them out how ever you can, I think the judge may be mucking you around, and never never rent to family & friends again.
Its just not worth it.

[Robbie]

I totally totally totally agree on never let/rent to family or friends I'm currently renting (with my partner) from my partners parents and it is complete hell with no maintenance ever being done months after we bug them every week, nothing in the bathroom works NOTHING! and we've had nothing but continual problems since...

I say cut your losses and get them out asap then you can start getting a better new tenant in - however, considering all the problems they've had now with a family member why are they planning to have a new family member as the next tenant???

[artemis]

Not all family members are bad tenants ...

My son and his family have rented from me for several years, with pretty near zero issues.

We are all very upfront, however, and each of us takes speciifc responsibility for ensuring that issues are raised immediately and talked through to a conclusion rather than being allowed to fester.

At the outset we talked through what would happen to the house in the event of a split, and agreed that the house is primarily for the children, and that would drive any decision. Fortunately we have not had to deal with this, but it is a potential issue.

They do like renovations etc to be at the more expensive end of the scale, but contribute labour so I figure that balances it out.

On a different tack, my accountant is very clear I must charge a market rent, and be able to demonstrate I am. The way I do that is to keep one or two copies of property mags for each year showing median rents for the area. And I make sure that the rent charged is above the lower figure in the range. (They still do OK though!)

[Glenn]

The act excludes family so the provisions of the act do not apply.
I had to manage a property once for a client that has his brother as the tenant. The brother had a drinking / gambling problem.
The rent was way in arrears. In the end I managed to convince the owner to let me evict him. Luckily the brother did not object.
I have seen some families sell properties to get rid of the problem.
Glenn