When should a tennant hand over bond and rent for a rental

[Micky]

Hi I am about to sign up a new tenant for a house. She has to give 3 weeks notice to her old landlord, so just a few questions as I have had property managers do this in the past for me.

A. When should I get her to sign the tennancy agreement, now or when she moves in in 3 weeks, obvioulsy she can't sign the inspection part of the agreement till she moves in but what about the rest of the agreement, that way I guess she is commited to the property??

B. When should I receive the rent from her. Does she pay her first two weeks in advance upon the day she moves in or again should I ask for this now so there is some form of financial commitment?

C. Same as B when should I ask for the 3 weeks bond now or on the day she moves in.

My worry is that come the 3 weeks without any form of financial commitment in the form of either bond or rent or a tennancy agreement etc she may decide she no longer wants the house and I have to start the tennant search again. She mentioned something about WINZ paying the bond and not being able to do so until the start of the tennancy??? Is this a risk.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[drelly]

I get them to sign the agreement right away and expect either the bond or the rent up front as soon as I've committed to them. I have just had exactly this situation. The guy signed up 2 weeks ago, paid the bond but has now changed his mind as soon as the tenancy started.

No one gets any keys before the rent is paid in advance and the bond is received.... bad experiences from not doing that and the subsequent court dramas have taught me well. Just stick to the law and the agreement. No exceptions.

[RentMaster]

I would at least get a signature on the tenancy agreement up front. I have had situations where people change their mind, and with nothing signed, they just walk away.

Althought I recently had a tenant who signed a tenancy agreement, and went to WINZ to get the bond, and I never heard from him again. I probably could have chased him up and asked for 3 weeks rent from him, because that is how long he needs to give me when he leaves. But I decided to just move on and find someone else. Very frustrating though.

The more commitment you can get the better. Handing over cash is normally the best commitment.

[Muddle]

Hi Micky

Explain to her that she needs to sign the tenancy agreement, with the appropriate parts filled in. I allways write in the amount of rent and bond in, and put " to pay " next to it. She has to take her copy into WINZ to get her bond. She may come back to you with a form to fill in. You will have to provoid your bank and company/individual details so that the bond can be put directly into your account.

If she forfits on the deal, you can then claim the bond as payment of three weeks notice. Get the tenancy agreement filled out asap. I allways ask for 3 weeks bond now. It can avoid future problems.

Fill in a direct debit/auto payment form and get her to put in her details and present it to her bank. This can sometimes take several weeks, in one case 3 months with Kiwi bank. Make sure she pays rent due up to her pay or benefit day when she moves in. Check your bank details the day after the rent was due to go in. Usually there are hickups in the first weeks due to the banks slow reaction time. Contact her if it is not paid.

With phone/power/gas bonds to be paid it is a very financial stretching time for most tenants. How they handle this is usually an indication of what sort of tenant they will be. I usually give them some slack in the first weeks because of this.

On a personal point. A tenant told me he was moving out just before christmas, gave me 3 weeks notice, then changed his mind. Had to cancel the add in the paper. Two weeks later he says he wants to leave in one weeks time. Stupid me says OK. Got recomended a tenant who had only 4 days left to move out of her home and was desperate. Should have set alarm bells ringing. But a credit check and a recomendation from a debt collection agency and her fathers guarentee put me at rest. She told me that her previous house was sold. I asked for her landlords details, which she never provided. Due to the rushed change over I forgot to follow that up. Even though it was christams, the first few weeks rent went through ok. Then they started to miss a few. After a couple of visits and a 10 day payment notice they caught up. Then the abusive phone calls started. Won't go into details but the complaints where without substance and I soon realised they where just venting their frustrations at me. Several more missed rent payments and 2 more 10 day letters ( 3 in total ) I had had enough. Gave them the standard 90 day eviction notice. During all of this I was contacted by the debt collection agency who had recomended them originally. They had just loaded a debt of $2,800 from thier previous landlord. Plus several more minor depts all originating from the same house involving tradesmen. Apparently they put in a concrete driveway and made changes to the house. Without the landlord permission.

Because the previous tenant changed his mind and my rush to get a new tenant, in order to gain a week or two extra rent. I had broken one of my golden rules. Allways check their history thoroughly. They eventually found a new place to live and I was surprised that I was only contacted by one prospective landlord during their search. Their current landlord has got a big problem on his/her hands. She must have told some whoppers during her search for a new house.

Hope this has not put you off owning an IP. In hindsight I should have waited untill after christmas to let the house. My original mistake of accepting just one weeks notice snowballed out of all proportion

All you can do is put it down to experience and move on.

Good luck

Barry

[Alec]

I put it in the agrement that Rent & Bond are paid before keys are given. No Bond Tranfers if they want the place they will soon find enough for the bond till they receive there refund in a few days

[BusyLizzy]

I would ask for Bond up front (even if it is 2-3 weeks before they move in), and give them 2-3 days to come up with it otherwise I continue looking. I would then be happy for rent to be paid a day or two before they move in. But it MUST be appearing in my account before they get the keys.

I wouldn't just settle for a signed Tenancy Agreement - they must pay bond. When signing the Agreement (at the time they accept the tenancy), I fill in everything except the inspections stuff and water reading. I DO fill in the amount owed, write 'To be Paid'. Do NOT sign the little receipt section until you get the money.

Hope that helps :-)