Question for real-estate agents and landlords, or any renters experiences after a long term lease.
What would your expectations be when it's time for the end of lease inspection after the tenant has occupied the property for 20 years.
What is general wear and tear after 20 years?
Yep, depreciation schedule would agree that pretty much everything has reached it’s expected useful life
20 years; kitchen and bathroom would need a major upgrade as well.
20 years.. probably time for a full on gut and re-fit really… especially if there is carpet.
My question is why would a property not had any maintenance or upgrades in 20 years?
A good landlord actually maintains their investment and coincidentally keeps good tenants.
A good landlord
There are some bad / tightarse landlords ?
There are some bad / tightarse landlords ?
Looking at some of the comments in this thread there's a few of them on OzBargain.
wouldnt be ozbargain without tightarses
Yeah, but many seem to conflate being a tightarse with taking advantage of others.
Have they been doing regular inspections? If so, they shouldn't be surprised to see the current condition.
I’d say at a minimum, owner would probably be up for new carpet, paint and curtains to make the place look nice for a new tenant. So with that in mind, any stains or damage to carpet from rubbing, or marks on the wall should be considered normal wear and tear, and personally, I’d probably consider even a few holes in the wall as well to be fair after 20 years - accidents do happen after all. Even things like air-conditioning and built-in appliances are probably at end of life.
Obviously the tenant is well trusted after 20 years of inspections so it’s not like the owner should be surprised after they move out as to what it looks like.
In this market it's not like you won't get a tennant. Wouldn't say you need a full upgrade.
This is the messed up attitude.
Treat tenants like shit, get shit tenants
♫ it's the circle of life ♫
Depends on the maintenance the landlord provided over the 20 years.
Landlord: profuse sweating
Landlord: Depends on the what?
After 20 years the house should be bulldozed and replaced with a 60-storey high rise with a supermarket on the first floor, 25-metre lap pool on the second floor, and a forest on the roof.
And then when it actually gets built there's no pool, no forest and only studio's
Plus the supermarket is one of those dodgey places selling illegal disposable vapes.
And the foundation is dodgy so the building could collapse any minute.
Why depreciate an asset when you can write it off instantly?
About the same as year 19.
If it wasn’t newly renovated before the tenant moved in, knockdown rebuild.
I had tenants for almost that long for one of my properties.
I was very grateful for long term tenants - no vacancies, re-letting fees, repainting/changing carpets costs, etc.
After the lease, I changed carpets and blinds, carried out repairs, repainted.
Nothing came out of the tenant's bond.
I try to create an environment so that all my tenants can be long term ones.
Note: apart from the building structure, everything would have been depreciated (accounting wise), unless there were interim updates.
I had tenants for almost that long for one of my properties.
I was very grateful for long term tenants - no vacancies, re-letting fees, repainting/changing carpets costs, etc.
After the lease, I changed carpets and blinds, carried out repairs, repainted.
If you were that grateful why did you not bother looking after them by repainting, repairing, changing carpets and blinds when it was needed?
Much easier to do while the place is vacant, I'd imagine
Much easier to do while the place is vacant, I'd imagine
You are saying that no homeowner would do any of that work either as it's not convenient?
My tenants have never had a problem with any work being done that maintains or improves their home.
I look after their home for them and they look after my investment for me.
@Grunntt: Wow lots of judgement here. OP made no mention of not doing repairs. Just mentioned rather invasive maintaince cost such as painting and carpet. If there is mutual respect between both parties I would imagine OP had done the relevant maintenance. The last time I wholesale repainted and did flooring in my own home was because of a significant water leak. The impact on our living arrangements was considerable over many weeks.
Why would you unnecessarily do that to tenants if a) it wasn't necessary and the house was of a sound standard. b) if the tenants weren't raising concerns about the carpet/painting. It's not as if age alone defines the standard of flooring and painting. Furthermore, given the appreciation shown towards the tenants it sounds like they were good at maintaining their part of the contract.
I wouldn't paint or carpet my own home randomly due to the impact. So why would I do it to tenants? I can imagine how appreciative I would have been when I was renting if I had have got the call "Hey in a couple of weeks we're pulling up all the floorboards and carpet, mind if you live inside a work site for a few weeks?…. Oh and you'll love the delays… All good though, you'll have nice new grey carpet instead of the current ash color."
The OP has shown good intent, a clear positive appreciation for the tenants and you try and hook into them? Poor form.
@jhaley3180: You seem to read quite a bit into something not written and interpret what is written to suit your own opinions…
OP made no mention of not doing repairs. Just mentioned rather invasive maintaince cost such as painting and carpet.
After the lease, I changed carpets and blinds, carried out repairs, repainted.
You quite happily read that as carpets, blinds and painting not done at all until end of lease but somehow you know repairs were all carried out as needed.
You seem to need to be judgemental yourself (as you accuse me) based on what you would or would not do rather than what was actually written.
Feel better now that you've vented on behalf of them?
Obviously repairs as needed. Other repairs they never mentioned until I found out after it was vacant.
I let them paint a couple of feature walls in their choice of dark colour which was more costly to paint over after.
There were many months when they fell behind in rent, but we worked out a manageable payment plan to let them get back on track when they could.
Told them not to bother steam cleaning the carpets.
The tenant has most likely paid for the property for which I would be very grateful & would accept all wear & tear & grant full bond refund.
Depends on your intention after they move-out; if you want Tenant immediately, and the property is in a presentable condition, advertise now!
But if you intend to do Reno, big or small, just adjust your expectation accordingly.
Might help if you can post photos or give brief description of the condition., or if you have specific concerns.
What are you asking for? If the house looks clean and tidy and doesn’t have any major damage it’s all good.
Then it’s up to the landlord to determine wether it’s worthwhile upgrading to get extra ent or not.
What are you asking for?
Probs money.
Are you the tenant or landlord?
Are you the tenant or landlord?
This is the only person here asking the correct first question.
If I was the landlord, I would only be considering deliberate or major damage that somehow hadn't been picked up in the regular inspections.
Other than that, I would thank the tenant for looking after my property for 20 years (all whilst paying most of it off for me) and wish them well - with all of their bond in their pocket.
Is the correct answer
I would just check they have taken all their gear they may have collected of the time.
Place should be left clean and tidy, garden and lawns done.
Carpets should be steamed cleaned in some states.
Give them a bottle of wine to wish them well and being great tenants for 20 years.
I moved out of an old art deco flat in Coogee Sydney after ten years. They had no expectations for me to clean carpets or anything like that. And renovated bathroom and kitchen and repainted and recarpeted.
I've been in the same house for twenty four years and a few months. Little maintenance has been done besides replace hot water system once in that time, new range hood because someone noticed light cover was missing (never been there) recently re-grouted shower ( poor job done) and the odd light or power switch. Hot water system required a complete new fuse box and rewire with RCDs etc. Threatened to kick me out a few months ago if I did not sign a new lease.
20 years.. probably time for a full on gut and re-fit really… especially if there is carpet.