Are My Parents Being Duped by This Real Estate Agent?

Lthiscouldberealbad on 31/01/2024 - 22:13
Last edited 01/02/2024 - 09:35 by 2 other users

big sigh Massive apology for the long read, I am currently furious.

Having moved out from home years ago, I have never been involved in my parent’s finances. However, they do approach me from time to time as they are first generation immigrants when shit does not look right and they are concerned. I’ve today come to learn about a situation with their investment property that has been going on for two years that I am highly suspicious about. I will try to describe the situation below as best as I can.

My parents have an investment house in Melbourne and engaged a realestate agent to rent out the house from Jul 2021 – Jul 2022. A bond of $1955 was lodged with the RTBA. My parents are highly trusting people and put full faith in the real estate agent’s management of the property.

At the end of the tenancy, there were a number of issues noted by my parents and sent to the real estate agent. These were fixed at my parents’ cost as the tenant was unresponsive. Parents took many pictures of the damage on the property, sent to the real estate agent and are still saved time stamped + dated in a google drive. Roughly $2000 worth of damage.

The real estate agent advised my parents that she would need to apply to VCAT to recover the funds from the bond and said there was a 17-19 week delay in this hearing. I can’t seem to locate any emails in my parents’ emails from the RTBA on what happened next. This all occurred in July.

My parents contacted the property manager again in December and were informed they haven’t heard back from VCAT and they shouldn’t expect to hear anything till mid 2023. They heard nothing all year and contacted again in January this year.

From here is where ear piercing alarm bells have started going off in my head.

PM (Property Manager) emails back saying they still haven’t heard anything but once they do my parents will need to pay a $250 attendance fee to be represented at VCAT by the PM. A day later my parents got a call from a separate PM who also was involved in managing saying that they will need to continue to wait and once they do get a date my parents would need to represent themselves. This same PM called again 2 days later informing my parents that a hearing date was set and they would be attending themselves to represent my parents. My parents requested some confirmation that the hearing was going ahead.

Today this PM sent an email with paperwork which included
1) A summary of proofs for bond/compensation applications with tables outlining the damage and values
2) A VCAT notice of hearing dated from 10:30am today morning?
3) Attached the residential rental agreement

There was no picture evidence with the documents, the hearing apparently happened today morning after there apparently not having been a date a few days ago and the PM essentially said I’ll call you regarding the outcome. I will be calling the VCAT tomorrow morning to see if the reference number in this document is even real.

I am almost 99% certain nothing has been lodged and he’ll likely call back informing that they’ve lost the appeal. I have no idea what happened to the bond as we have no documentation or notice from the RTBA nor REA. I suspect the tenant took it? According to some research a bond application had to have been lodged by the REA within 14 days.

Some questions

1) Am I paranoid crazy and could this all be legit? If so, ignore the rest of the questions.

2) My parents have been led to believe that they have been waiting for a hearing over the last 2 years. If there is no such thing ever applied for, I imagine there is absolutely no way in hell my parents will be able to claim the damages on the tenant?

3) Is the REA/PM liable for these losses? There is significant amount of email chains between my parents and the PM regarding the hearing, damages and not to mention what I suspect is a completely faked, signed VCAT notice. Is it worth pursuing the REA for these damages? Where do I even start with this….

4) How do I make sure this PM loses their license if there are indeed literal faked documents being used to dupe my first generation, highly trusting parents?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Downvoter on 31/01/2024 - 22:18
    +3

    Ghost dupe account /sigh

  • soan papdi on 31/01/2024 - 22:24
    +1

    Legal Aid: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/renting

    • djc on 01/02/2024 - 08:40

      This is probably the best answer you'll get.

  • randomusername2017 on 31/01/2024 - 22:36
    -1

    theycouldbedupedrealbad

  • Alexander420 on 31/01/2024 - 22:44

    Welcome to VCAT, a representative will be with you shortly.

    👩‍💼 Unfortunately we are closed right now. Please call us back on the weekday Monday-Friday 8am-6pm.

  • Ghost47 on 31/01/2024 - 22:53

    PM called again 2 days later informing my parents that a hearing date was set and they would be attending themselves to represent my parents. My parents requested some confirmation that the hearing was going ahead.

    the hearing apparently happened today morning after there apparently not having been a date a few days ago

    This contradicts, did the PM call your parents with a date and was it for today?

    1) Not at all.
    2) Not sure. I feel like two years is a very long time and chasing a tenant for something that old might not be possible.
    3) Hopefully, good thing you have an email trail. Contact a lawyer.
    4) Refer to 3), in particular the part about the lawyer. Although I have a feeling if you go to court it'll cost you a lot in legal fees, possibly to the point where it's not worth bothering.

    Hopefully the reference number is legit… only time will tell I guess.

    Oh and OP, username checks out 😏 Although $2k is nothing in the long run. That's probs 0.2% of the property's worth, and this kind of thing is really part and parcel of property investing.

    • thiscouldberealbad on 31/01/2024 - 23:19
      -3

      Thanks for your response.

      Email from female PM on 22nd Jan "No date as yet, I will let you know as soon as I do"
      Call from male PM on 23rd Jan "No date yet but know that you will need to represent yourself"
      Call from male PM on 25th Jan "We have a date and we will represent you"
      Email from PM today: Contained a VCAT notice with a hearing date listed as 10:30am today.

      I am highly sceptical of the timeline where there was no info about a hearing for two years and within a week it's already happened? Will update tomorrow after calling VCAT chasing the reference number.

      Username very much reflects my current feelings.

      • Ghost47 on 31/01/2024 - 23:29

        Call from male PM on 25th Jan "We have a date and we will represent you"

        Date wasn't mentioned on the phone? If not then that's a huge red flag.

        I don't think you need to stress out too much. In the end it's only $2k and the value of the property is likely multiple orders of magnitude larger. Can't do much until you hear back from VCAT, will be real interesting if the reference number is faked.

  • cashless on 31/01/2024 - 22:55
    +4

    TLDR

    • Ghost47 on 31/01/2024 - 23:02
      +1

      OP's parents IP was damaged in July 2022 (presumably at end of lease). $2000 required for repairs, REA said they would go to VCAT to recoup repair costs from tenant. Nothing happened at all from end of lease until this month. PM allegedly went to a VCAT hearing today. OP wondering 1) how to get money from tenant, 2) if REA is bullshitting them and 3) how to destroy the REA's career for being so slow.

  • bmerigan on 31/01/2024 - 23:00
    +3

    From the description it sounds like the application was never made 2 years ago. REA made a mistake and now trying to cover it up.

    • thiscouldberealbad on 31/01/2024 - 23:20
      -2

      This is both what I think is happening and what I really hope isn't.

  • Drakesy on 01/02/2024 - 00:00
    +4

    Property manager screwing over the landlord/tenant.
    Nothings changed.

  • brendanm on 01/02/2024 - 00:19
    +7

    Tldr, however if it involves a real estate agent, then yes, they are likely being duped.

  • garetz on 01/02/2024 - 04:41

    Why did you or your parents not contact the VCAT directly yourselves to confirm the information the rea was giving you was real?

    If the rea is scamming you, time to sue them and find someone new.

  • Pumpkin_rrr on 01/02/2024 - 04:56
    +1

    Afaik, First Generation Migrants are smart operators, and I can't say they are more trusting than the second generstion.
    They own an Investment Property ( or more), surely they know the ins and outs of the Tenants. If OP can write what happened 2021/22 and how they managed to cop $2k damages (what damage is that), might help with understanding the case, rather than quoting the VCAT, Bond etc. How much is this versus the rent received? ( Have they received rents in a timely manner?)
    It is customary for REA to charge Court Lodgement and Attendance Fees.

    Also, what happened post July-2022? Is it rented by the same REA?

    It is not hard to find out yourself the exact dates of lodgenent, hearing, results… And not hard to find iut whether Bond has been released (shouldnt be if there's a Case pending). Again, ready to find out.
    OzB don't have the details to check for you.

  • djc on 01/02/2024 - 08:39

    What does PM stand for?

    • jellykingdom on 01/02/2024 - 08:48
      +1

      You're probably not able to add much to the conversation if you don't know what a property manager is

    • pharkurnell on 01/02/2024 - 10:30
      +1

      Prime Minister.

  • JIMB0 on 01/02/2024 - 08:48
    -1

    I'll have an answer for you in 17-19 weeks. Please check back then.

  • JimB on 01/02/2024 - 09:24
    +1

    No point complaining to the Real Estate Board. They are there to support the agents, not the vendor, buyer, landlord or tenant.

    Who is currently managing the property?

    "I will be calling the VCAT tomorrow morning to see if the reference number in this document is even real."

    Good idea.

    You/your parents should go to VCAT to make a claim against the agent (lying to cover up/not doing their job correctly) and claim back the fees you have paid equal to the damage.

    I'll probably also make a claim on the landlord insurance. They will request documents from the agents and check if they have lodged the VCAT documents correctly or not.

    However at the end of the day, don't get caught up too much emotionally. The property has gone up 100x or more the value of the damage. It's all a cost of doing business.

  • dtc on 01/02/2024 - 09:31
    +1

    1. wait for 'VACT decision'

    2. if lost, go to real estate agency owner - probably different to agent. Ask how the case was lost given the evidence. Ask for all the information presented to VCAT. Ask for their file on the case.

    3. if obvious mess up, ask the agency to pay the $2000

    4. change agents

    5. if you dont get the agency to pay the $2000, which is possible, may as well lodge a complaint to the RE Board. Sure it might not get anywhere but it might .

    6. if you are still heated up about it then you can go to small claims

    7. as others have said, maybe claim on landlord insurance. It should cover the costs but it may not if there is a requirement to go to VCAT/an argument that if you dont win at VCAT then you dont actually have a valid claim

    8. tax deduct the repairs, that will reduce the expense.

  • pharkurnell on 01/02/2024 - 10:30
    +2

    Member Since
    12 hours 46 min ago

  • Massive Flog on 01/02/2024 - 13:58

    For what it's worth, I vacated a rental property in September 2022. The real estate agent put in a claim for the entire bond. I still don't have a hearing date. I contacted VCAT last year and they told me there is a massive backlog of cases, that they were still holding hearings related to 2021…

    The sudden appearance of a hearing date does seem strange. I suspect they either didn't communicate it to your parents in a timely matter, or didn't pay attention to the notification from VCAT until the last minute.

  • Daniel Plainview on 03/02/2024 - 11:27

    If VCAT is anything like the Victorian Criminal Court system, I don't doubt it's backed up massively - my brother was killed by a meth driver, who near 2 years on is walking around as the court still can't get around to trying the case.

    Stay patient and take good notes of who you speak with etc - you're parents will appreciate it and are lucky to have you assisting them. Well done. :-)

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