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Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:16 am
by Media Park
Hello All,
Where I am living now, the owner of the house lives behind us, and there is a gate that connects her home to mine.
Today she's decided to go through that gate, open my front gate, and do some gardening and pottering around...
We go through a land agent, and it's only a coincidence that I know who she is, otherwise she would have got a bollicking...
Just wondering, what right she has to just enter the property (through any entrance) without any consent?
Cheers.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:19 am
by dedja
short answer ... no.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:25 pm
by Media Park
Cheers Dedja!
I've shot off an e-mail complaint to the property manager.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:50 pm
by overloaded
I can see why you sent an email, she should ahve had the courtesy to at least check first and ask you.
PM me who it is MP
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:04 pm
by fish
There should be something in your rental agreement abou visits by the landlord.
But I reckon dedja is right. They need to check with you first at the very least.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:29 pm
by Media Park
My understanding is the landlord is the property manager, not the actual owner...
That's my issue!
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:31 pm
by fish
Media Park wrote:My understanding is the landlord is the property manager, not the actual owner...
That's my issue!
Either way I still reckon they need to contact you first. Have you checked your rental agreement?
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:40 pm
by heater31
fish wrote:Media Park wrote:My understanding is the landlord is the property manager, not the actual owner...
That's my issue!
Either way I still reckon they need to contact you first. Have you checked your rental agreement?
http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/assets/files/fact_5.pdfUnder General Maintenance - Landlord required to give 48 hours notice in writing of entry into premises to carry out such tasks unless tenant give prior approval for access.
under the Residential Tenancy Act 1995 :
landlord means—
(a) the person who grants the right of occupancy under a residential tenancy
agreement; or
(b) a successor in title to the tenanted premises whose title is subject to the
tenant's interest,
I think the Property Manager is the Agent for the property owner therefore both must provide the correct notice for entry to the premises.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:19 pm
by Media Park
I mean, we get a letter from the agent when they're doing an inspection (at least two weeks beforehand), and they've called me before various workers have come into the property...
So I'm peeved!
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:26 pm
by Brucetiki
We had the same problem with the owner of a house we used to rent. He was trying to sell it (at way above market value, so we didn't even have to try and sabotage the sale - the place was on the market for 12 months) and would come around unannounced for various reasons. I kept telling Dad to call the real estate agent to complain but he never bothered.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:31 pm
by Bully
I live in a group of Townhouses where the neighbours are pretty close. On one side is an older woman and i dont hear boo from her, but on the other side its a group of mid 20 year old single guys. They play computer games all day and night and scream and giggling/laughing at the top of there lungs when someone loses or gets killed in a game. this goes on until 1030pm every night...i have complained to the managment as its managed onsite. This has been done 3 times over the space of a few months now. I find bottle tops and smoke butts over my fence every few days from them. They bang on the walls and slam doors all night and it echos through my unit.
I pay my rent and i deserved to be heard by managment for some reasonable hours for them to quiet down yet nothing happens, but they pay their rent and have rights to do what they want. I am considering moving away from here as i cant take it anymore. I work long hours and dont want to keep coming home to this every night.
I am in a pickle here and dont know what to do? Should i take it further then just the onsite management or leave it at that?
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:49 pm
by Media Park
All rental agreements Bulldog say something about the tenant needing to be peaceful and respect the rights of others etc etc etc, so their noise levels causing you a greiveance is in breach of that...
fry ém
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:17 am
by Sojourner
A Doberman/Ridgeback/Rottweiler will soon solve your problem mate!
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:35 am
by Drop Bear
Media Park wrote:All rental agreements Bulldog say something about the tenant needing to be peaceful and respect the rights of others etc etc etc, so their noise levels causing you a greiveance is in breach of that...
fry ém
Spot on mate. I live in a group of units as well, but I've been lucky as my neighbours are pretty respectful. They (the 21 year olds) are violating their rental agreement. Even talk to the old duck next door and get her to complain to the management. The more people on your side the quicker it will be resolved. Don't put up with their **** any longer!! Hang in there mate!
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:53 am
by Booney
Brucetiki wrote:We had the same problem with the owner of a house we used to rent. He was trying to sell it (at way above market value, so we didn't even have to try and sabotage the sale - the place was on the market for 12 months) and would come around unannounced for various reasons. I kept telling Dad to call the real estate agent to complain but he never bothered.
Some years ago ( many in fact ) whilst sitting on my back porch on a Friday night after work having a frothie in my jocks (as the rental property had no cooling and I was toasting) I hear my side gate go. My 60kg Rottweiler, well, she heard it first.....she was sitting next to me a I grabbed her collar only to be dragged along for a meter or two until I gained control.
Around comes the landlord, surprised to see me as much as I was him. He figured I wasnt home, didnt know about our dog ( whoops - she was only visiting for the night

) and was just having a nosey around the back. I told him he was very lucky I was there and holding the dog. Anyway, he left, I finished my Paley and we moved out 2 weeks later.Shifty prick.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:06 am
by A Mum
we once rented a house where the owner lived just around the corner - he would drive past every single day at 5kmph - his excuse "My daughter lived in the house for 10 years and I used to just check/make sure everything was okay and now it's habit"
Riiight
lol
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:27 am
by Mythical Creature
When I was at Uni I lived in a house with 3 other mates and the Landlord lived on the corner about 2 houses away. He used to come in and out of the house all the time, do the gardening, even done the dishes for us on quite a few occasions. We all thought it was the best thing going around. I guess its a matter of how everyone perceives things.

Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:35 am
by mick
A Mum wrote:we once rented a house where the owner lived just around the corner - he would drive past every single day at 5kmph - his excuse "My daughter lived in the house for 10 years and I used to just check/make sure everything was okay and now it's habit"
Riiight
lol
I drive past the rental I own at least 2 or three times a week, only because it is the best way for me to get to the shops, but I've caught tenants in the process of doing a moonlight flit once, but in general all the tenants I've had over the years have been decent people, even the moonlight flitter's wife was decent but unfortunately for her she was married to a philandering no-hoper. As a landlord the best way I know of getting rid of good tentants is to not give them enough privacy or continually raising the rent. A good tenant is worth a couple of years of no rises, unfortunately people who put their properties in the hands of agents, have no control of their greed as they they get a cut of the action.
Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:49 am
by A Mum
mick wrote:A Mum wrote:we once rented a house where the owner lived just around the corner - he would drive past every single day at 5kmph - his excuse "My daughter lived in the house for 10 years and I used to just check/make sure everything was okay and now it's habit"
Riiight
lol
I drive past the rental I own at least 2 or three times a week, only because it is the best way for me to get to the shops, but I've caught tenants in the process of doing a moonlight flit once, but in general all the tenants I've had over the years have been decent people, even the moonlight flitter's wife was decent but unfortunately for her she was married to a philandering no-hoper. As a landlord the best way I know of getting rid of good tentants is to not give them enough privacy or continually raising the rent. A good tenant is worth a couple of years of no rises, unfortunately people who put their properties in the hands of agents, have no control of their greed as they they get a cut of the action.
If I owned a rental property I would drive past it too
And I do see our current 'owner' drive past this place every now and then - but the guy I refer to above literally could have walked faster past the place
Our current landlord does 'pop' in every now and then - as my husband said to him "Call in any time" (Bless him

) even though our 'owner' goes through a real-estate agent - he comes by and just fixes things that need fixing etc.
You are right though - the landlords that look after their 'good' tennants keep them much longer.
And the landlords that look after their 'good tennants' get their house treated/looked after as if it was the tennants own also.
We have a friend who owns a rental property - his tennants are A1 - therefore he hasn't put the rent up in 5 years.
He says he's rather have the good tennants stay and look after the house than be concerned about raising the rent.

Re: Rental Rights

Posted:
Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:32 pm
by TEX07
A few years back we had a rental property in Gillberton that we rented out for a period of time to North Adelaide Football Club, we had this property managed locally and we only ever went into the place once when thier lease ran out. If you are renting a place out you need to have some small expectations that the tennants are never going to look after the place like you would. You sort of have to distance yourself from it otherwise it will do your nut in! We had deals that they had to maintain the garden and if they were not prepared to do this then the rent would be slightly more expensive and we would have the strata gardener do this for us, they said they would look after it, when the lease ran out the back lawn was a mess! We just took it out of the bond and had it cleaned up, no real big deal in the end. We sold this place in the end, really the money we made on the selling outweighed the money/tax benefits we were to gain from keeping it.
You will find that the worst landlords would be the ones that have some sort of attachment to the property, ie lived there for years. We sold our last house a year back now and considered keeping it and renting it out but we knew that we were too emotionally attached to the place because we had done so much work on it, it was both our childrens first home etc. Se it was a better option for us to sell up.