Has Your Property Manager Stolen Your Rent?
So, you’ve just advised your property manager that you’re moving out. You have given your 2 week’s notice and your property manager is telling you that there’s still more rent to pay. What happened to your 2 weeks rent in advance that you paid in the beginning? Today we unveil the truth about where your money really went.
Like most property managers, I would love to be paid $1 every time I hear one of these common catch phrases.
“It’s cleaner now than what it was when I moved in.”
“I paid my rent last week, the bank/Centrelink must have stuffed up.”
“It’s not my dog, I’m just looking after it for a friend.”
And the most common of all when vacating, “Just use my 2 weeks rent in advance to pay for that.”
Time and time again property managers all over Australia are faced with the very difficult task of explaining to tenants that there is no mysterious 2 weeks in advance at the end of a tenancy.
At Welcome Home Rentals we always provide a tenant ledger to our tenants when they vacate which is the easiest way for tenants to see the full list of every payment they have ever made and where they are paid up to. Below is an explanation:
When first moving into a property, you usually have to pay your first 2 weeks rent and your bond. That 2 weeks rent buys you 14 nights of credit which starts being used the moment your lease begins. By midnight on the 13th day of you leasing the property, your credit has run out. For eg, if we had a tenant moving into a property today – Monday the 4th of April 2016, the rent would start today and our tenant would need to pay rent again by no later than midnight on Sunday the 17th of April 2016.
Just like a motel, you pay upfront and then you stay for the number of nights you have paid for. When the amount you have paid runs out, you need to pay more again before you stay for your next 2 weeks.
This means that when a tenant gives notice, they will still generally owe anywhere up to 2 weeks rent unless they have been paying early or extra.
So there you have it. Your property manager isn’t thieving your money. There’s just no such thing as a magical 2 weeks rent in advance. Click on the link below to see an example.
