Help! Tree Trimming Powerline Tenant Property Problem

Lsumok3n on 03/12/2014 - 00:47
Last edited 03/12/2014 - 01:36

Hi,

If I could get some advice on this situation this would be great.

So I am the home owner of a house, currently tenanted and being managed by a real estate agent/property manager (PM).
- Tenant received a notice from western power to trim 1 tree near powerline
- Tenant leaves message to PM
- PM and Tenant do not communicate effectly.
- 1 week later, Tenant gets scared as he has to leave on holiday so he went and gets the tree trimmed himself.
- He trimmed more than 1 tree, prob like 8 or so and the total bill is $400.
- Tenant finally gets in contact with PM, It is only now that the PM notifies me about the whole situation.
- PM requests that I reimburse the tenant the full $400. So it is like a cost that suddenly appeared that I should have dealed with.
- I refuse saying that the tenant should have not cut the tree and it was not his responsibility.
- After some back and forth, investigation etc, I found out that the tree that required trimming was actually the responsibility of the council, western power sent the property the notice wrongly and should have sent it to the council.
- I contacted the council to try and see if I could get anything back, no luck, damage is done.

My stance:
- PM should have notified me and tried harder to get in contact with the tenant, I could have arranged with the council and western power to get the tree cut, was not tenants responsibility to go and cut the tree.
- I did offer a small partial reimbursement however PM said this was unacceptable.
- I don't want to pay in full for the bill that was unnecessary and was the mistake of the tenant, western power and poor communication between the PM & tenant. The tenant trimmed more trees than needed trimming too!

PM stance:
-Requests that I reimburse tenant for full $400, says the tenants actions were out of good will, does not want to damange relationship with tenant.

Current situation.
- PM requested to terminate the management of my property. Lease to tenant still good for at least half a year.
- I want to arrange a meeting with the tenant so I can talk it out with him and arrange a mutual understanding/agreement, perhaps.
- I need to find a new PM in the Perth region within the next two weeks. Can anyone make any suggestions and offer advice?

Thoughts? Advice? I don't have much experience in real estate and feel like i'm getting taken advantage of.
Thanks in advance for reading.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • mshanann on 03/12/2014 - 01:07
    +2

    How much is rent per week?

    If the tenant moves out, how long until you get a replacement tenant?

    Personally, I think if the tenant acted in good faith, you should not be penalising them - that is if you want to keep them.

    The owner<>renter relationship is an interesting thing. Keep the tenant happy, and they may stay indefinitely and go to the trouble of looking after your place as if it were their own.

    Punish the tenant and they will resent you and probably look for other options.

    Case in point, we are moving out of a place in Brisbane having paid $600 per week rent (30000+ per year). The reason, the owner after praising us for looking after their place issues us by way of the property manager with a water bill for $100. We looked after the place, restored all the gardens, planted small plants, repaired the grass, removed blocks from gutters, and re-balanced the pool, removed rubbish etc.

    The owner also decided they wanted a new full year lease signed.

    Consequently, we decided to move out, purchase our own property. After 8 weeks of open houses, they were not able to find a tenant willing to pay that level of rent. House is unoccupied, and the pool and yards are returning to ####.

    • sumok3n on 03/12/2014 - 01:32

      Thanks for the reply!

      Rent is $420 per week.

      I'm not sure how long it'll take to get a replacement. Maybe 2-3 weeks?

      I was considering splitting the cost with the tenant, like $200 each, but only contact atm is through the PM

      That is an interesting point indeed. Thanks for that. So far, the tenant atm is good, house is clean, rent is paid on time, no issues so far except for some upcoming repairs and this tree conflict.

      • Geewhizz on 03/12/2014 - 07:33
        +2

        So far, the tenant atm is good, house is clean, rent is paid on time, no issues so far except for some upcoming repairs and this tree conflict.

        Really? You have a tennant who looks after your property and always pays their rent on time. They acted in good faith, having tried to contact you through the agent without success. I'm assuming the 'upcoming repairs' are just general maintenance and not a result of their negligence or malicious act on their part?

        • I want to arrange a meeting with the tenant so I can talk it out with him and arrange a mutual understanding/agreement, perhaps.

        By all means, get together with them and clarify with them what action they should take in the future if your next agent does not fulfil their responsibility.

        If you know what is good for you, you will suck up the $400 (it's less than a week's rent) and probably buy them a bottle of wine as an apology for the inconvenience. (and no, I'm not your tenant lol.)

        If they leave at the end of their lease as a result of you pushing this issue and leaving them out of pocket through no fault of their own, you have no idea of what you will end up with as a replacement. My understanding is that the letting fee is equivalent to one week's rent? It's going to cost you the $400 you're quibbling over and more for that alone, along with any time the house is vacant between tenants.

        • Davros on 03/12/2014 - 07:40

          "You have a tennant who looks after your property and always pays their rent on time."

          Nothing special about that, its what they are supposed to do as a bare minimum so I see no brownie points awarded for it.

        • Geewhizz on 03/12/2014 - 07:45
          +2

          It IS what they're supposed to do, but not all do it. My point was that if they leave because of this, their replacement may not do so.

        • ukmark on 03/12/2014 - 10:11
          +2

          @Davros:

          How many rental properties do you have Davros?

          While I admit, most of my tenants have been good - there are those odd ones out there that treat the place like garbage. They are hard to evict as well, at least in NSW.

          A good tenant is worth their weight in gold.

        • Davros on 03/12/2014 - 18:04

          @ukmark:
          More than fingers on my hands, why?

  • slow on 03/12/2014 - 08:41
    +1

    Well you have to ask yourself what is more important, having a good tenant or following the letter of the law. If you change tenant you will end up a lot more than $400 out of pocket, and there is a good chance you will end up with a worse tenant who you will have other issues with. So you may have suck it up or negotiate something directly with the tenant
    I have found since I stopped using property managers on my properties and deal with tenants directly everything is so much easier. Half the problems I had with tenants was the PMs fault due to their poor communicaton (as you are experiencing here)

  • ukmark on 03/12/2014 - 10:21
    +1

    I would get the invoice off the tenant and pay them. Seriously, it is 1 weeks rent. I would then take it up with the PM (not Tony "Ears" Abbott), and explore ways of getting the money back off them.

    The tenant did the right thing really, contacted the PM - nothing was done. If a repair is deemed urgent and the landlord does not get it done in a timely fashion, the tenant can have it repaired themselves and pass the bill onto the landlord. I would say a potential fire risk for the home is urgent - which is what the tenant would have thought.

    I would go around there, knock on the front door and introduce yourself. Do not ask to enter the property (some tenants are funny about the landlord just rocking up unannounced), tell them what has happened and how it was the councils responsibility etc. But say, you don't want them to be out of pocket, so you want to take care of the bill for them. Seriously, I wouldn't want a tenant pissed off at me - living in my valuable house, over a $400 bill.

    Also, as a bonus, the tenant should think, what a nice landlord I have… and treat the house even better (well, we can but hope)

    • sumok3n on 03/12/2014 - 10:32

      It was a 40 day notice. I wouldn't say it's an urgent repair but yeah the PM didn't maintain communication. Tenant just got scared because he was going away on holiday. I do appreciate your advice.

  • sumok3n on 03/12/2014 - 10:29

    Thanks for the advice so far guys, I'm going to try and talk to the tenant directly and keep them happy.

    Going through the PM has been a headache.

  • isthisreally_me on 03/12/2014 - 11:20

    Pay the $400 yourself, keep a good tenant. THE PM seems to be at fault here really.
    Anyway for a weeks rent pay the bill. Tenant leaves and youre out of pocket more than that.

  • Glider on 03/12/2014 - 11:27
    +1

    The PM is the one you should be unhappy with, as this could have been prevented if they had done their job propery. However I don't think you have any chance of seeing money from them. Western Power should apologise and the council should compensate for the problem tree, but I don't think those things will happen either.

    The tenant did what any responsible person would do, given that Western Power was telling them it is dangerous and them receiving no help from the PM. We've had some big storms in Perth recently and it's not out of the realms of possibility that there would be another one to bring down that tree onto power lines while the tenant was away. For the tenant to take care of it was a reasonable action to take to safeguard their home (which also safeguards your investment) with the information they had available. They had more than the specific problem tree trimmed- you say the other trees were not needed, but this could be viewed as preventative maintenance and upkeep. It probably cost less to be done in one go with the problem tree than if you waited until it became a serious issue and needed another call out.

    I think that if they're good tenants otherwise, you should not try to punish them or recoup this cost from them due to Western Power's and the PM's mistakes, and their effort to look after your property while the PM ignored it.

    It's not something you wanted to spend money on, but now that it's done there are plenty of upsides to make you feel better about eating the cost.

  • mshanann on 03/12/2014 - 11:35

    Is there a small claims court you could take this to?

    Surely the court would find in your favour?

    I would contact energy ombudsman.

  • frysie on 03/12/2014 - 11:41
    +1

    dont reimburse. give them a weeks free rent (out of good faith)… will make the tenants feel loved

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