Rental Agency Warning for Non Rental Payment

oliman on 04/09/2017 - 10:26

Posting on behalf of a friend.

My friend is living in a rental house for last 16 months. Always paid the rent on time, but this time around he is having financial hardship and his rent is overdue by 7 days. He requested the agency to give him time extension of further 45 days and he will clear his outstanding balance in the rent. The agency did not accepted and responded back with following.

"If you cannot afford to pay the rent we have to serve you 14 days’ notice to vacate later and that will severely influence your personal credit and rental history in future"

Can this action by the agency hurt his credit history, although he has already explained his financial hardship and requested for time extension?

From what i have heard, your outstanding bill amounts appear on your credit report after 180 days of non-payment.

Financial

Comments

  • newjerseydamo on 04/09/2017 - 10:49
    +4

    Your 'friend' can request anything they like, doesn't mean it will be accepted.

    If they fall behind in rent, the Real Estate Agent can follow through with the legal options available.

    I would suggest contacting the State's Rental Tenancy Board for tenant's rights.

    • oliman on 04/09/2017 - 11:02

      Thanks for the reply. My main question is about agency's ability of hurting the credit score..

      • tomsco on 04/09/2017 - 11:19

        Does it say anything in their lease about reporting to credit agencies?

        • oliman on 04/09/2017 - 11:28

          will ask him to check this.

      • newjerseydamo on 04/09/2017 - 11:29
        +7

        Think of normal debt recovery processes and you have your answer.
        Legal option may lead to bad credit due to debt recovery agencies if you don't pay.

        Also, if it is only overdue by 7 days, and it requires almost 7 weeks to pay off, that doesn't look good. There are bigger issues.

        • tomsco on 04/09/2017 - 11:37
          +2

          This 100%.

          And what's to say this windfall in 7 weeks doesn't fall through.

          REA mitigating the landlords risk.

  • CLoSeR on 04/09/2017 - 11:18
    +8

    45 days is not reasonable, Agency is doing exactly as they are paid to do and protecting the landlord from further loss. Once 14 days behind in the rent the tenant can be served a termination notice with 14 days to vacate. The agent is following the law to the book.

    Tenant may end up on a blacklist if evicted for failure to pay rent which will affect ability to secure another lease in the future.

  • spackbace on 04/09/2017 - 11:19

    45 days is a long time to not pay, no wonder the REA has denied it

  • Baysew on 04/09/2017 - 11:24
    +2

    Being in " financial hardship" means that there is a swag of unpaid bills, not just being short a few dollars for a smashed avocado. Sooner or later these will hurt the credit standing of your friend, not just the rental.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/09/2017 - 11:27
    -3

    Rental agents are heartless, good luck getting them to give two shits.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/09/2017 - 11:29
      +7

      I know. They should be lettin us hard werkin welfare cobbas live in houses for free!!!

      time for UBI!

      • [Deactivated] on 04/09/2017 - 11:29

        Damn right!

  • [Deactivated] on 04/09/2017 - 12:51
    +2

    I hope the owner doesn't rely on the rent to pay their mortgage, waiting 45 days for payment might have the bank giving the owner a bad credit rating too. There's no guarantee they will pay in 45 days either might drag out for months, I don't blame the estate agent for knocking it back. Feel sorry for the renters hardship but think of the consequences of others too.

    • oliman on 04/09/2017 - 13:01

      The renter is happy to pay VIA credit card, but not sure if it possible without excessive charges.

      • danb on 04/09/2017 - 13:25
        +2

        Could use Deft, it allows you to pay with a credit card but i think it has a fee of 1.5% of the total
        Not sure if the real estate is set up for this or not, but ive used it to pay rent before.

        https://www.deft.com.au/

      • mysterytal on 04/09/2017 - 13:33
        +1

        Tell your friend they have 2 options. Pay the rent by taking a cash advance on the credit card and repay the credit card in 45 days or don't pay the rent and be evicted in about 45 days. The 14 day notice is just the beginning the landlord will need to go to court to get possession of the property this should give your friend about 45 days to find somewhere else to live. Your friend will be liable for all costs the landlord incurs in regaining possession of the property. If your friend really has no money then that doesn't really matter. Your friend will have a court judgement which will prevent your friend from getting credit for years. Once the credit card company does another credit check the credit card your friend has will be cancelled.

        My advice….pay the rent using whatever means your friend has available to them. Take a cash advance if necessary and work it out later.

        • oliman on 04/09/2017 - 13:59

          Why not pay the rent VIA credit card with something like https://www.deft.com.au/ with just a fee of 1.5% ?

        • iamw0man on 05/09/2017 - 09:25

          @oliman: Yep, this is the cheapest option as far as fees. Better to do this and pay off with whatever he thinks is coming in in 45 days.

  • JetLi on 04/09/2017 - 15:26
    +1

    it's not going to happen, put yourself in the landlord's shoes, if for whatever reason, your friend doesn't pay in 45 days time, then he would be close to 52 days (almost 2 months) behind in his rent, if the agent then serves the vacate notice, the tenant has another 14 days thereafter to respond, if he doesn't, the landlord could be out of pocket up to 3-4 months rent before finally evicting the tenant (worse case scenario I know, but no landlord would be that generous or stupid).

    • Aussie Smurfette on 05/09/2017 - 08:59

      I read it as the one week not paid will be caught up in 35 days

      • JetLi on 05/09/2017 - 09:20

        not sure, OP does state the rent is currently 7 days overdue and wants a time extension of a further 45 days, either way, same logic applies.

  • JimB on 04/09/2017 - 16:17

    I doubt it will affect your credit history if you're late but not evicted.

    The reason why the agent should issue a late payment notice is to protect the landlord.

    If the landlord has landlord insurance, the insurance company will only cover loss of rent once the appropriate documents have been served, i.e. notice to vacate.

  • TheBilly on 04/09/2017 - 18:52

    Pay it via personal loan or credit card - don't not pay it or ask for extensions. Lucky to have been in a situation which isnt as bad, but I can assure you, having black marks are harder than his current hardship.

    Can he not sell some vanity posessions or give up habits to atleast buy himself another week or two and get back on track?

    I.e. Iphone or something? Sell it and get a woolworth $40 jobbie. Car? Downgrade? Watches? Expensive habit like smoking?

    If he has a car and lives in CBD, can he not just do a delivery job to get on hia feet again?

  • iforgotmysocks on 05/09/2017 - 08:23

    It will more than likely hinder his ability to secure another rental property but I wouldn't think it would affect his credit score.

  • Aussie Smurfette on 05/09/2017 - 09:02
    +1

    Yes, it will affect his credit rating as well as his ability to be accepted for housing again. We can all have a hard time financially but housing always needs to be paid.

    • ceeto on 05/09/2017 - 14:15

      As Aussie Smurfette said, it can have an effect on credit rating, and housing should always be paid.

      My understanding is that once you are over 14 days past due a "late payment" record can be put against your credit record - it is up to the owner and agent I assume. Once 60-days past it can be a "payment default" record.

      Your rating is a combination of all the rating records - good and bad (yes, you can get positive ratings from paying out loans etc).

  • Candour on 05/09/2017 - 19:43

    contact the tenants union in your state and seek their advice.

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