Managing Tenant Expectations
by: Mandy Tickle
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Word Count: 1284
What do you say when your tenants leave a message with your managing agent, or calls you direct, saying they are "scared" of living in your flat and want security screen doors fitted? The cost will be something of the order of $1500 to $2000 for fabricating and fitting two security doors. And you already have flyscreen doors fitted! What's wrong with them?
Maybe the tenant asks, "Where is the phone?" or "I need air-conditioning in this climate ... it's your responsibility as landlord to provide proper heating and cooling!" Then there's the issue of preference. "I don't like your washing machine and want to use my own. Please take it away! " Or, "I've got my own curtains. Can take yours down?".
These are tricky matters because of the mix of legal responsibilities, good landlord/tenant manners and simple bargaining and logistics. What are you going to do with another washing machine at home if you take yours out of the flat? How are you going to get it back to your garage? What often makes tenant requests more difficult is the way landlords are expected to respond to them: promptly, decisively and financially. The question all landlords want answered is this: "Am I obliged — preferably by law — to comply with this request or can I say a flat 'no'?"
Difficult question. What I can say with confidence is that this is one of those moments when the landlord stands alone. You're not going to see a lawyer about your tenants curtains for one thing.
Your managing agent will have an approximate idea of the law in many of these areas but they could equally be quite wrong. What your agent will be is pragmatic. They don't want to see the tenant leave over a trifle. So, when it comes to minor matters it is questionable whose side your agent will be on.
While there are differences in tenancy law across the country, it is possible to give a few guidelines for determining the legal weight behind a tenant's request: the bottom line is you must provide premises which are reasonably clean, safe, healthy and secure.
Watch out for Tenant Safety
Electrical wiring, fitted appliances, gas heaters, air-conditioners, stoves, fans, light fittings ... these are your territory. Don't let the tenant play with them. Install a residual current device (also called a 'safety switch') to help protect tenants against electrical shock.
You are legally obliged to provide safe premises and you have to maintain appliances that were in the premises at commencement of the lease and to replace them if they cannot be repaired. There is no obligation to provide appliances that were not there at the start.
What you can do is specifically exclude some things from the lease by writing a condition into the document. For example, you could write that a washing machine has been provided for the convenience of the tenant but will not be fixed or replaced. When you next inspect your property you should consider the condition of the appliances and fittings and determine whether to repair, replace or remove them from the premises and from the lease.
If your agent tells you that the gas heater or hot water system pilot light keeps turning itself off, send in a professional to investigate. The problem is about safety and the underlying cause must be investigated. The same issue arises where a fuse keeps blowing, a light flickers or sparks illuminate a power switch.
Smoke detectors are now a matter of law and your agent should provide you with the guidelines for your state. Many landlords choose to supply their tenants with a new battery each year and there are now obligations about keeping the devices in working order. Ask your agent, in writing if possible, to test each smoke detector when they do an inspection. You might not be protected, as landlord, by installing a safety requirement and then not maintaining it in working order.
There are other safety issues that can slip under the radar until there is an accident. Look at your property with an eye to such things as a damaged shower screen, uneven floors or the need for lights along a shared pathway.
Tenants may be the ones who bear responsibility for the spread of mould in the bathroom or kitchen, but you should do something about it. Ensure that exhaust fans are fitted and are effective. The tenant may have to pay for professional cleaning on departure but you should see that the systems are in place. Mould could be a sign of dripping taps or roof leaks — these are your problem to fix without undue delay. Ditto for termites, rats, spiders and so on.
At the least you can buy the tenant a can of Mortein but, as happens occasionally with apartment complexes, it might be a building-wide phenomenon. Then you should pay for your share of any plan by the owners' corporation to launch a full-scale assault.
Locks and Tenant Security
Leases usually refer to locks. The landlord's obligation is to "provide and maintain" locks or other security devices. What this entails will depend on the local area and the nature of the dwelling. Take advice from your agent but for a property in an urban area with ground-floor accessibility, I would expect to pay for keyed window locks, deadlocks on doors and security screen doors.
The question of the quality of the security devices (provided they at least lock effectively is up for negotiation.
What about this: you rent a place that has curtains or blinds on every window except for the sliding glass doors onto a terrace/balcony.
The tenant asks for curtains to stop people looking into the flat, and complains: "There is no privacy". I don't believe you are obliged to supply privacy. However, as in most issues between landlord and tenant, it is pragmatic to confront the problem and deal with it in a way that prevents control shifting from landlord to tenant.
If you don't put up the curtains, the tenant will start drilling holes in your investment. When in doubt, take control. You'll depreciate the curtains anyway. In brief, the basic rule is that when you spend less than $300 on an item you can write off the expense that year as an immediate deduction.
Expensive items are depreciated over their effective life while assets acquired for less than $1000 (known as a low-cost asset) can be claimed as part of a low-value pool for depreciation over four years. That figure of $1000 comes after any allowable GST credits or adjustments, by the way. The relevant date for pool assets is any acquisition on or after July 1, 2001.
A general rule is that the tenant is liable for connection costs associated with their occupation — reconnecting services such as gas, electricity, water, phone and internet. What is not so clear is who is up for any initial charges when a non-essential service such as telephone or pay TV is connected to the property for the first time.
Future tenants will benefit from this facility long after the initiating tenant has gone. Many landlords pay such costs in full or part after negotiating with the tenant, but pay attention to the particulars of the installation bill. Rolled up within this invoice there can be charges that are really part of the standard fee for the reconnection of an existing service facility. There's no reason for the landlord to pay this component of the fee.
About the Author
For more property investment information contact Kevin Young. Kevin Young is CEO of the Investors Club.
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