If a property agent fails to inspect the property properly after a tenant leaves i.e. didnt check whether appliances are in working order, then new tenant moves in and they discovered these problems a bit too late to take anything out of the bond. Are they liable for this negligence in the cost of repair?
Are Property Managing Agents Liable if They Screw up?
Thenarrator on 26/02/2022 - 00:33
Comments
it doesnt say
depends on the screw up but you have insurance for a reason.
In your scenario: no
They are your appliances, this is no different if it broke while a tenant was still occupying the property. Even if they broke it, they will contact you about getting a repair/replacement.
Different scenario, previous tenant took the dishwasher with them when they moved out and the property manager failed to check it was still there. They are liable but good luck getting anything out of them, will be insurance time.
thanks for this.
I general I would guess they would have better lawyers than you do and better wherewithal in general, so the mistake would have to be a pretty costly and provable screwup for you to justify paying your own lawyer.
Also you should be angry at your property manager. Their cut of the rent may not add up to a whole lot per week, but it's enough to properly inspect a place between tenants. This reflects badly on you as the owner when the tenant finds a place run down when you would have been willing to pay for the repairs and such yourself if you had known about it.
Check your agreement, you probably indemnify them for any loss…
(Not legal advice)
Whoever negged should check their agreement..
it wasnt me. But in any case, the agreement doesnt say. Not everything is written in an agreement.
Agreements and contracts aren't necessarily enforceable.
Claim through your insurance, if the property manager is liable the insurance can deal with getting money out of them
You will find that the REA is all care no responsibility, until you take them to court and the court decides.
interesting phrase. What do you mean by "all care no responsibility".
So not an Ozzie, This means they take care of things, but if something goes wrong then they will take no responsibility for what went wrong.
Just talk to your insurance that's what you pay them for.
I'd prefer not to go through my insurance as excess doesnt justify the cost. Going through insurance is almost admitting its my fault, my loss. Why should i have to pay excess on somebody else's fault (if indeed it is somebody else's fault).
Did you ask your insurance if the excess is payable when you have evidence that the agent is at fault?
good point
Going through insurance is almost admitting its my fault
What? This is not how insurance ever worked.
Find a different agent. They will be just as bad. Most are just lazy and incompetent.
have you got any other stories to share and mitigation measures you learnt from it?
Not really. Have used two agents in our time. Both did the absolute bare minimum. Both did not do everything they should have.
Not liable.
Also we need more detail to know if the agent even messed up here at all.
well the agent let the previous tenant leave without any deduction to their bond. Says everything is in working order. Signed off the conditions report as AOK. Next tenent comes in and found a problem. The agent goes "i didnt know this. Im sending a guy to fix it and you'll have to pay for it landlord". What questions do you have specifically.
some real estate agents insist on a landlord paying for electrical certification for exactly these scenarios. The service involves someone coming through and checking everything electrical, lightubulbs, heaters, basically anything fixed or supplied with the unit.
With this report it gives a clean bill for those leaving, and one for those moving in.
If anything is broken in the interim then it can be taken that the person doing the testing didn't do it properly, or it was just general maintenance or wear/tear that was going to happen anyway
either way I haven't personally heard of a real estate agent wearing the costs. They are paid to manage as posted above, all care no responsibility. They are in charge of dealing with matters that are agreed upon in your contract but anything else they will defer to you. It requires that they are aware of it as well so if you can't prove they're aware then good luck getting anything at all.
"All care and no responsibility" might work as a defence if someone were providing a free service but in this case, the agent is being paid to conduct a service and there is implied care and responsibility. That service includes an entry and exit condition report. This report wasn't done correctly and as a result, the owner is potentially suffering damages in the form of repairs to items which should have been identified as part of a comprehensive exit report.
As a result, it's reasonable to assume that the agent has been negligent in their duty to exercise their contract and are therefore responsible to reimburse the owner for the cost to repair.
@gyrex: i think this sounds good on paper. got a feeling it doesnt happen in real world unfortunately. not that i'd like to admit.
@gyrex: Doesn't work like that sorry.
The owner is free to pursue the previous tenant for the costs - if the previous tenant is actual responsible for them at all. (Which sounds doubtful to me)
Would be nice if OP could explain what actually happened.
Like I said, it completely depends what it is that wasn't in working order.
and we still don't know.
I'm not a solicitor but I'd argue that they're liable. You're paying them for a service which they were negligent in providing. If I were you, I'd cancel their contract based on their poor performance and send a letter of demand for restitution; and if that's unsuccessful, I'd take them to your state's small claims tribunal.
I'm pretty sure you'd pay for it, but I would question them why it was missed in the beginning and state that is not the exit inspection thorough enough?
I dodged a bullet for this one though….
Property was purchased with an existing tenant. I was only able to view the property after it went unconditional.
Spoke to PM at length 2 weeks after settlement and was happy with existing tenant but they were mucking about and wasting my time with renewal. One week no, next week yes. etc. etc. Was also not happy with the PM as I knew and felt they were telling fibs and trying to cover up some things. Conversation felt strange…I canceled their services promptly, got the two PM companies to manage the handover
Once tenant left and the handover completed, I had a whole list of things to fix which the new PM left with old PM to address. There she said the tenant is a bit rough and has been living there for a while. Well…the fixes came to around $3000. Ex-tenant paid. I felt if I stayed with the old PM they would I would insist I pay due to supposed wear and tear.Right now, so far so good. Quite happy with the new one.
How would you know tenant is even liable for repair? Things do break down on their own, and paying for maintenance is a landlord's responsibility. You can't just take money out of the bond for every cost.
What does your contract say?