Tenant Has Disappeared. Can't Contact. Late on Payment.

jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 10:00
Last edited 08/02/2017 - 20:09

Hi all, I've read a lot of rental horror stories on OB and now adding one to the table.

My parents own an apartment, no real estate agent, they've been doing the work themselves.

A new tenant moved in December last year and just recently randomly said they need to leave in 2 days.

They are 2 weeks late in payments.

My parents have tried to contact them to sign some papers but the mobile number is now cut and no physical evidence that they want to terminate the contract, only a phone call.

When we tried knocking, the locks have been changed and damages to the front door.

What's the next step as I'm helping my parents resolve this?

EDIT:
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the replies, turns out he was a Person of Interest to the police, they were the ones who damaged the door.
When we contacted body corp on Monday they let us know the police had a warrant to search the apartment.

I thought they were required to contact us right after, instead we were blind until we called.

He seemed to had fled, cops said his passport was fake when we showed them the papers.

The apartment was not empty, nice tv, no remote though…

Home & Garden

Comments

  • altomic on 04/02/2017 - 10:04
    +9

    lock smith to open the door.

    clean the place up.

    get a real estate agent.

    • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 10:13

      But if I open the door without proof of eviction or termination of tenancy agreement, wouldn't that cause more issues for my parents?

      • Gershom on 04/02/2017 - 11:19
        +8

        We'll in that case then leave it locked up for the rest of eternity. Sheesh!

      • poboy on 04/02/2017 - 11:26
        +2

        Can you look in the window to see if all their stuff is gone? If it's gone, they ain't coming back. Take photos of everything to cover yourself. Date and time every correspondence you had with them. Send their mobile a final sms message (even if you know it's disconnected). That will also help cover you. You need to show that you've been beyond reasonable with these people in case they go full idiot on you and change their mind.

        • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 12:03

          Nope, unless you can climb to up the side of an apartment building to the 5th floor haha.

        • poboy on 04/02/2017 - 12:30

          Oh. Bummer

        • Randxyz123 on 04/02/2017 - 18:44
          +2

          @jerjergege: Where are you located? I have a drone… :P Can you see their mailbox? is there stuff in it? Try knocking on the neighbours door. Tell them you are friends of <their names> and were meant to meet them today. Maybe the neighbours will have noticed them moving out or going away.

          A few things to try….

          Email them from a new email with a read receipt and mark it as high importance so they can't claim they "didn't see it".

          Call them from a new phone number and see if it has been disconnected or if they are just blocking you.

          Send them a letter of demand by registered signature required snail-mail. That way if they have their mail redirected somewhere it might get noticed. You need to be firm in your letters/emails.

          Tell them to pay you the money owed, give you the key, sign a contract to say the lease has been terminated and then get their crap out of the apartment or legal action will be taken.

          As per above document EVERYTHING.

          I would say they have bailed overseas or something.

          Once this has been sorted have a REA manage it. Yes they are a rip off but when shit like this happens they can barge in and help.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/02/2017 - 19:28

          @knick007: Any email I get from an unknown email address marked as high importance get deleted wthout opening. Just saying :)

      • nikhi24 on 05/02/2017 - 08:46

        Sounds like the evidence speaks for itself.

  • shadowarrior on 04/02/2017 - 10:14
    +7
    • Inform police. Lodge a report so in case the tenant comes back, they don't charge you for something.
    • Does your parents have rental agreement signed by tenants? No tenant should get access to property keys without submitting id proof and signing a rental agreement <check your local tenancy union for the correct agreement forms>
    • If there is no tenancy agreement, then the tenants don't have any legal rental claim to the property either, so get a locksmith and open the door. You might have to provide ownership proof. Best to inform police, say you will get a locksmith, and get a letter stamped by the police station that they know about this and you can show it to the locksmith in case he wants some ownership proof.
    • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 10:15

      Yea, we have the rental property agreement signed, but don't want to breech it since we don't have him signing one that they are cancelling it, so we don't want to change the locks yet.

      • shadowarrior on 04/02/2017 - 10:20
        +2

        Then check your state's tenancy union on the proper procedure and wait period. In short, you send notice of fault which is rent in arrears, then a notice to vacate, then lodge your case with the tenancy union and civil court. All notices go to tenant's address and any alternate address/contact details they have given. Then wait for the court to try summon tenants. You attend the court even if the tenant does not. Wait out till court gives the order to go ahead and take possession. Court will appoint police to be present when you get locksmith to gain access to the property. There's also some law regards to tenant's belongings…have to keep for X days. There's a minimum time gap between each notice you send. Be prepared for multiple court visits.

        • Gershom on 04/02/2017 - 11:21
          +3

          Go back to Altomics advice. They told you they were going, and they've gone, FFS.

        • shadowarrior on 04/02/2017 - 11:29
          -2

          @Gershom: A verbal confirmation holds 0 value in a civil dispute. If he breaks the lock and the tenant comes back and charges him for breach of privacy, he will be in a shit hole in front of civil court. Sure it sucks, but if you wanna change the methods, lobby and run petitions to change the rules instead of encouraging someone to do something illegal.

        • Gershom on 04/02/2017 - 11:38
          +7

          @shadowarrior:

          A verbal confirmation holds 0 value in a civil dispute.

          I see you're not a lawyer.

        • shadowarrior on 04/02/2017 - 11:52
          +7

          @Gershom: How many years have you managed properties or worked in real estate? How many rental dispute cases have you attended so far? Do you want to know how many times I have witnessed statements like "But I have verbally agreed with the agent that I will pay the rent later or in small parts"; "But the tenant verbally agreed he is willing to pay out of his bond"; "But the tenant isn't living there any more, he told me when he visited my agent office the other day…" thrown out by the court?

          Hell, if the rental contract is joined; Mr and Mrs; and one of the parties verbally commits to something, an agent/owner still can't take action till both parties agree. Every change/request/denial needs to be in writing for this very reason.

          Husband and wife rented a property for 2+ years… we got a call from the husband that he wants to terminate lease and is willing to pay termination charges, kept changing dates when we asked him to come over with a signed notice to vacate form from both parties. One of our agents contacted the Mrs, we found out husband had a fight and filed for divorce, moved out of the property and was not willing to pay his share of the rent. Mrs still lived in the property with their kid, and was still paying for both her as well as her husband's rental share. She had no idea her husband had filed for a lease termination over the phone.

          Rental law (like any other law) is bit thorough, I wouldn't expect armchair legal aids like you to fully comprehend that though. There is a reason anything related to rental agreement needs to be in writing, to cover all bases and all holes.

        • try2bhelpful on 04/02/2017 - 12:04

          @shadowarrior: That is a good warning to make sure everything is done properly. Some people are just scummy, aren't they. Sounds like she was well clear of him.

        • blitz on 04/02/2017 - 16:53

          @shadowarrior:

          and all holes.

          Steady on, it might be a very nice property!

        • nikhi24 on 05/02/2017 - 08:50

          @shadowarrior: He is gone which basically means the damage inside and the late rent is more than the bond he left. He wont be arguing anything.

        • Gershom on 05/02/2017 - 09:13
          -2

          @shadowarrior: You're very tense. I would certainly never have you manage one of my rental properties.

      • djkelly69 on 04/02/2017 - 12:24
        +2

        Yea, we have the rental property agreement signed, but don't want to breech it since we don't have him signing one that they are cancelling it, so we don't want to change the locks yet.

        Tenant is likely already in breach for changing the locks without approval and/or not providing the owner with the new key. As well as being in breach for not paying rent.

        It is not a space shuttle launch, you do not need them to sign something in order to terminate.

        Just serve a termination notice or whatever is required at the last known address for the tenants. If they don't comply, get a locksmith.

  • Diji1 on 04/02/2017 - 11:28
    -1

    This isn't a great question to be asking a random bunch of internet strangers. Would you trust the answers you got if you went outside and started asking strangers that happened to be walking past these questions?

    • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 11:57
      +5

      I've been on OB a while, lurked a lot, there are quite a number of helpful people on here, and funny ones. :)
      It's good to ask, so I thought why not as VCAT aren't open on Saturday.

  • PJC on 04/02/2017 - 11:49
    +2

    the locks have been changed and damages to the front door

    I sincerely hope they don't have squatters.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2017 - 12:15
    +9

    In Qld the process is below:

    First you would fill in a form 9 (entry notice) to say within 24 hours you will open the door to "inspect" the unit to confirm it is indeed abandoned, by the sounds of it the lack of reply and payment of rent pretty much clearly summaries proof of this

    then you fill in a form 15 - Notice of Abandonment and they have 7 days to question this dispute with the rental bond board (qcat in qld)
    If they fail to respond after 7 days the lease in then legally ceased and you may recover costs / the complete bond from the tenant (for repairs / cover rent etc)

    Please tell me they took a 4 week bond and lodged it legally for the property?

    Rent arrears should have been the first breach notice so no idea why this has not been mentioned, as it would of made your life easier had it gone to court

    Once the 7 day period is up for Abandoment I am fairly certain tenant property can be removed legally once the form 15 has been served and the waiting time has lapsed
    but it then must be stored for at least (in qld anyway from memory 60 days) a certain period of time

    They cannot claim the bond once this has gone past the 7 day form 15 period

    Property that is unclaimed can then be sold off once the storage period has lapsed although most people usually take items of value before they decide to fly by night

    • Euphemistic on 06/02/2017 - 11:07

      This sounds good. But if your tenant has said I'm leaving, then surely it is not abandonment, more like an unscheduled lease termination. My understanding of abandonment is if you thought they were still living there, but they have dissapeared.

      In this case, the tenant has advised they are moving out, so I'd take the opportunity to inspect the property. Use a locksmith if required. If the place is empty, assume they have left. If it is still full of stuff, then carry out the full formal notification of abandonment. If you inspect and the tenant walks back in and asks what are you doing here, you have every right to ask the same question back and politely say that you haven't disturbed anything and you thought they had left as discussed.

  • Marcsie on 04/02/2017 - 13:10
    +2

    That's why we always need Real estate agent to manage your property,all the fee will be tax deductible anyway :)

  • stratbargain on 04/02/2017 - 13:51
    +3

    Keep in mind depending on the state they are not legally allowed to change locks without giving your parents the key.

    https://www.tenants.org.au/factsheet-07-locks-and-security
    https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing-and-accommodation/re…

    • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 14:24

      Thanks, didn't know consumer affairs would have any info on that, just printed a copy for my parents when they call up VCAT on Monday, hopefully that will be enough to terminate the contract without their signature.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2017 - 18:10
    -7

    well since you do everything yourselves, thats your bad luck

    also do you declare the rent income? ;)

    • jerjergege on 04/02/2017 - 19:49

      Yes they do, but It's not a positive income, the mortgages are higher.

    • chriise on 05/02/2017 - 01:49
      +1

      wtf has that got to do with his question??

  • affable on 05/02/2017 - 12:28

    If you can get to the 5th floor, you could put some kind of discrete sticker between the front door and the door frame that would tear when the door is opened, to determine if the tenant is still coming and going.

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