Change of tenant "SERVICE" fee lol

[fatjoez]

My friends flatmate wants to be added to the tenancy agreement.

Their property manager advised them to

1. signing a bond change of tenant form
2. new person signing an application form and providing a copy of driver license
3. paying a $200+GST service fee.

I was surprised to hear about this fee & called Tenancy services who said there was no law "against" charging a fee.

Adding another name to the tenancy agreement gives the landlord and property manager 1 more person to chase and hold legally responsible for financial debts.
Aka. It is a benefit to the landlord, not the tenant.

I don't see why the tenants should pay for doing them a favour.

I'm instructed my friend to simply reply back to the property manager to keep their forms and forget about adding anyone to the tenancy or get the landlord to cover the "service" fee

[Learning]

Providing they're not in breach of their tenancy agreement by staying off it.

[fatjoez]

Providing they're not in breach of their tenancy agreement by staying off it.

I don't anticipate that being an issue.

The property manager has already replied and said
"your tenancy is renewed until X date. To add your flatmate, fill in the forms & pay the fee or you will be solely responsible"

[sidinz]

While there may not be any official rules either way, this seems to me to be a 'reasonable and actual expenses incurred' sort of situation.

$200 + GST seems way above the labour involved to actually make the change and I doubt that the TT would look kindly upon it, if for any reason it came up in a hearing.


P.S. 'Aka' doesn't mean what you think it means. It is actually A.K.A. which stands for 'Also known as' and originally used by law enforcement when listing known aliases of a suspect.

[fatjoez]

Thanks for the feedback Sidinz.

Didn't think of that. I'd definitely argue it being unreasonable.
I am a prop mgr myself and it doesn't cost $200 labour to process 2 forms back, sign and email one and review /add a name to tenancy agreement.

Purely a money making exercise.

Thanks for the lesson on aka also lol.

[flyernzl]

There is also the time/cost involved in checking out the credit background and tenancy history of the newly additional tenant. He would not be automatically approved without any checking.

[fatjoez]

There is also the time/cost involved in checking out the credit background and tenancy history of the newly additional tenant. He would not be automatically approved without any checking.

understood and there are in fact online tenant / credit check services which charge a fee which they may be incorporating in their cost. None the less the crux of the issue here is that this is not a "new" person per se but rather a person who has been living in the property for many months and essentially offering to make themselves legally liable for everything to do with the tenancy. If anything the landlord should cover this cost since it is in their interest.

[RollingCloud]

I was on a tenancy agreement with 2 others. They left and it left me as sole tenant. I got a new flatmate in but never put them on the tenancy agreement but they did pay me a bond. Tenancy Services also provide a flatmate agreement. This is not controlled by Tenancy Services but it is an agreement between yourselves. This is an option. I never had any problems with the flatmate. He got a receipt for the bond and a copy of the flat agreement.