Abandoned Premises-The Process Involved

Its hard renting out a premises, its even harder when you have tenants that don’t follow the rules of the agreement. The problem with renting out a house or unit is that the tenants may not look after the premises, or may be disturbing the peace and tranquillity of other neighbours. The biggest problem is having your premises abandoned and losing out on rental income during the time it can take for the process to be resolved. You can recoup these losses but if you have a mortgage, then it can put a real drain on the finances especially if the rental loss cannot be claimed on insurance.

There are of course signs to look for to tell if the premises has been abandoned, signs such as unpaid rent, build up of mail or newspapers in the box, observations of neighbours, no household goods present and the electricity, phone and gas has been switched off. These are all signs of an abandoned premises. If this is the case, then your property managers Brisbane can advise you on what needs to be done, they can handle the process for you. If you have rented out the premises privately, then you can apply to the Tribunal to have it declared an abandoned premises. Once you have applied to the Tribunal then notice can be handed to the tenant or attached to the door of the premises. The tenants then have seven days in which to have the notice set aside by applying to the Tribunal otherwise the tenancy will be ended seven days after the notice was issued. If the tenant is not happy with the decision they can apply to the Tribunal within twenty-eight days to have the decision reviewed. If they then find the premises was not abandoned then an order for compensation can be made by the tenant to recoup any expenses that have occurred.

Tenants should always let their real estate Brisbane agent know if they are going to be away for any extended periods of time to avoid the mistaken belief that the premises has been abandoned. If you have family or friends that live close by, get them to collect your mail for you or put in a redirection order to Australia Post, that way your mail won’t sit in your box and give the impression of and abandoned premises. Hire someone to take care of the mowing so the yard does not get overgrown, this is another thing that could lead to the belief of abandoned premises. If you take the time to do these things before you go away then you won’t have problems to come home to.