News & Events

When Metro Property Management Director Leah Calnan caught up with a friend she was shocked to hear of the challenges her friend was having with her tenant and property manager.

Her friend’s tenant stopped paying rent in August 2023 and the property manager had only told her six months later.

So how did this happen, why did this happen and who is at fault?

Some will say the property manager and some may say the owner – but what about the director of the business in this instance?

For a situation like this, there are many reasons it might happen including poor time management or inexperience. Sometimes property managers are busy focusing on other activities, not sure how to handle a situation like this or not comfortable with the conflict.

However, it can also be because of a lack of leadership or direction from managers.

Irrespective of a person’s age or experience, it’s important for anyone in property management to have regular training to keep up to date with legislation changes and how to handle situations. For example, with proper training, the property manager would have known she could arrange a payment plan at VCAT.

The owner is paying the agency each month (although on this occasion, no one is getting paid) to tell her what is happening and provide her guidance and direction as to what steps should be taken next.

The property manager has a duty to alert the owner when rent is not being paid and to start proceedings to rectify the situation.

For owners, distractions like work, family and general life can get in the way and sometimes people don’t notice that they haven’t been paid. However, it shouldn’t take the owner to realise they haven’t received rent for several months before being the one to raising the issue with the property manager.

Leah recommends that owners set a reminder to check their bank account every month or six weeks to ensure that nothing is missed.

For this owner, Metro Property Management took over the case. It turned out that a poor application process had contributed to the issues, along with a lack of knowledge about preparing VCAT paperwork.

The renter is now gone, and the case is now in the process of being settled through a landlord insurance claim as well as the courts for bond and compensation.

If you have issues with your investment property, call Metro Property Management to discuss how we can help.