Help! Landlord Selling Property during Our Fixed Term and Now Penalising Us for Leaving Early

Lnadstar on 19/08/2022 - 01:50
Last edited 19/08/2022 - 15:54 by 1 other user

Dear OzB friends, hope you are all safe, well and happy.

I'll keep it direct, as a fellow Australian/Sydney sider - I need your help!

  • Sold my home in Apr'22. First time renting (have young family, two kids under 4) while we're in the process of building our dream home. Our property managers are Century 21. We are landlords to three investment properties with long term tenants.
  • Entered fixed term lease (6m) Apr'22 - Oct'22 with the view to extend
  • 3 weeks ago Jul'22, Landlord decided to list property for sale, we were advised by a different selling agent (not Century 21)
  • Yesterday 18/8/22 we gave notice as we have found a new place and are vacating - we didn't want to wait around for auction 3/9/22, in case a owner buys and moves in and we would have to move in Oct'22
  • Today 19/8/22 Century 21/Landlord said we would be penalised for breaking fixed term lease (we are only 6 weeks out our lease ending!)

  • Sent them fair trading website https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/rent… - excerpt as follows

  • In some circumstances, a tenant can break a fixed-term agreement early without penalty.
    A tenant can give 14 days’ written notice to end an agreement early without penalty if:

  • they have accepted an offer of social housing (e.g. from DCJ Housing)
  • they need to move into an aged care facility or nursing home (not a retirement village)

  • a landlord has put the property on the market for sale during the fixed-term, and the tenant was not told before signing the agreement that the property would be sold

  • Today 19/8/22 again, Century 21 replied saying the landlord advised them to charge the one week break of lease fee

  • I sent them a reply reaffirming the above website, specifically two points. 1) we were not advised before we signed of their intention (why would we even have rented for 6 months only to move??) 2) they have advised they are selling during our fixed term. Now I am unsure what to do next if they respond with the same answer. What are my rights? how enforcable is the above website.
    This entire ordeal has been a nightmare, as you can imagine, searching for a rental in this market (2022), packing and moving with young children whilst working..
    Dealing with these horrible property managers who are not emphathetic at all. This is the worse property company I have ever dealt with. I wish to be as amicable as possible but the fighter in me is firing up. Any advice team OzB?
    -DKB

TLDR: landlord selling house while we renting, we found a new place (in case we can't find one at the end of lease) and advised we are leaving, and now they want to charge us a penalty.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Hybroid on 19/08/2022 - 02:05
    +13

    Contact Tenant's Union on Monday: https://www.tenants.org.au/tu/about/contacts

    Or your local area one tomorrow by hovering over (GET ADVICE) e.g. https://www.tenants.org.au/taas/istaas

    Worst case, you may need to lodge an NCAT complaint: https://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/ncat/case-types/housing-and-prop…

    As someone with 3 investment properties generating stable income and the means to build your own dream house, doubt will get much sympathy here for potentially being out of pocket for ONE WEEKs rent being referred to as a "nightmare ordeal". But if it's your right, then certainly fight for it.

    • Hardlyworkin on 19/08/2022 - 07:13
      +1

      Agree, sounds like life rather than a nightmare ordeal.

  • mafroew on 19/08/2022 - 02:33

    Sounds very similar to this article, albeit details slightly different

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11111671/Sydney-fam…

  • screensaver on 19/08/2022 - 04:28
    +4

    tell them they should know the law and you have already been caused inconvenience and you are exercising your rights under the law

  • cookie2 on 19/08/2022 - 06:47
    +7

    Ignore them. Contact by email only. Move out, record the property condition etc, record handover of keys etc. Lodge for bond asap. If you need to, you'd easily fight this and win. Sounds very clear cut in your favour, that's just an idiot agent that doesn't know what they're doing or f'd up with the landlord.

  • 87percent on 19/08/2022 - 08:33
    +2

    bet they'll shaft you on the bond

    • coffeeinmyveins on 19/08/2022 - 11:28
      +2

      Landlords/REA do not hold the bond, contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe.

      As a tenant you can make a submission to get your bond yourself and the LL/REA have a period of time to submit an opposition to this otherwise it's granted.

      99% of the time the REA are bluffing when they say they'll take it out of your bond.

      I had a REA say I had to paint all the walls because of minor damage. Gave me a quote of $4k and said it can come out of the bond + cash. I said no, hung up, submitted for my bond the next day and got it a week later.

      • trustnoone on 19/08/2022 - 14:15

        This is great but I think there's a few asterisks required here (Note i'm not a lawyer).

        Landlords/REA do not hold the bond, contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe.

        This is meant to be true but not always the case, there is many times where a landlord/agent will illegally hold the bond or don't submit it. Esp if you go the gumtree/facebook marketplace route. This may make it much harder to get your bond back and require agencies involvement due to the landlord/agent not doing the right thing.

        submitted for my bond the next day and got it a week later.

        This is important, in some states you can both submit for the bond. The first one that does it, the other will need to dispute it. As such if your landlord/agent submits first they may submit at a lower amount and hope you won't go through the trouble to dispute. And vice-versa if you submit first, then they may not go through the trouble to dispute. So as dchurch1 did, you should typically submit for it right away.

  • mooney on 19/08/2022 - 09:24
    +1

    Seems clear cut you are in the right. Don't only communicate via email. Go get face to face, people can be 'brave' on email, much less so face to face when they are being unreasonable.

    • singlemalt72 on 19/08/2022 - 09:47
      +2

      Totally, even a phone conversation beats email - be polite, but curt (I know it's an oxymoron) perhaps "to the point".
      Make it clear that you know you are legally in the right here and that if the landlord pushes for a lease break penalty then you will be pursuing the matter, a matter which you KNOW you will most certainly win.
      Inform the Manager that you want the landlord to know that you know your rights and that he/she should have considered this before listing the home for sale.

      Being firm, without being an a$$hole is the key.

    • Quantumcat on 19/08/2022 - 12:08

      The problem with phone calls is there's no written record if they say they will do something. You'd need to record the phone call.

      • mooney on 19/08/2022 - 13:58

        You do both… make it clear to them that you are someone who wont let it drop. They will buckle before you do.

  • coffeeinmyveins on 19/08/2022 - 11:30
    +1

    Today 19/8/22 again, Century 21 replied saying the landlord advised them to charge the one week break of lease fee

    Landlord is trying to pull a fast one on you and collect extra money.

    (profanity) move, but totally not unexpected from a landlord. If you could make a few extra hundred/thousand bucks just based off sending an email, why wouldn't you try.

    They don't have a leg to stand on. Century 21 are assholes.

  • pegaxs on 19/08/2022 - 13:57
    +3

    Naaaaw, did a landlord just get a raw deal from another landlord? Looks like I gotta break out the tiny violin again…

    • MS Paint on 19/08/2022 - 14:30
      +1

      🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻

      Saved you the effort.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 19/08/2022 - 16:00
      -1

      Who shat in your sandwich?

      The stereotype that all landlords are assholes is pretty tired mate. Not everyone who has a property for investment is a complete (profanity), it's just that the ones that are, are really bad.

      • pegaxs on 19/08/2022 - 20:15
        -2

        The stereotype exists and will continue to exist long after I am gone. And the reason it persists is because a majority of (read: almost all.) landlords are arseholes.

        This forum is awash with questions from renters who have been (fropanity) out of their bond because the landlord found a single dead cockroach or 3 specs of dust, or whining landlords bitching about wanting to remove tenants for trifling tenant complaints/concerns.

        So, when one landlord shits on another, I call it karma, because deep down, landlords are only a layer of slime higher on the arsehole scale than the real estate agents that represent them.

  • 2esc on 20/08/2022 - 10:33

    The sister In law had lots of struggles with her last landlord taking forever to fix a heater in winter. But on the other hand my uncle who was a landlord got out of residential and into commercial properties instead because of tenants completely destroying houses.

    The last one left a dog in a room while he went away for a week with food and water but the dog nearly died because it knocked over the drum with the water. Dog s%$# everywhere the owner then went on a bender kicked in nearly every wall and half the windows.
    But it's okay landlords have insurance!

  • Awoke on 20/08/2022 - 11:01
    -2

    TLDR So you broke the lease early?

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