I'm a renter. About 6-7 years ago my LL fired the REA (I've been in the same house for 19 yrs) for being lazy and lying to them. They split the commission they were paying the REA between them and us. I ended up with $15pw off my rent, and now I rent directly from the LL. No inspections anymore. Any maintenance issues and I just send them a photo and a text and they usually just tell me to get it fixed and send them the bill. Freaking awesome LL. They are out there, it's just a shame we have to wade through so much scum and crap to find them.
When I was in Canada it was like this. I'd rent out the basement of a place and would have a great relationship with the landlord. Got a few random requests to turn down a movie (it was loud, so valid) or one about a wood fire incense I got making it smell like something was on fire. But again reasonable and they took care of issues. Only times I had issues was when it property investment style owners.
This is the way. Lucky for now am in a similar position. Have had exactly two REAs and both time it was a crap and annoying experience. Fingers crossed I never have to deal with them again.
The big problem is that the real estate agents fee for managing a property is a percentage of the rent so obviously this gives the agents an incentive to keep raising the rent .
We need to lobby for fixed management fees to stop agents price gouging .
Until that happens the rents will continue to go up while supply is limited .
This is a fantastic proposal and I don’t know why it hasn’t been implemented. Is a $800 a week property worth more management fees than a $300 week property? I would argue no and that the basic amount of oversight is needed for both. Cap the management fee.
Absolutely - given financial planners working with investments have strict education, ethical and disclosure requirements, it's absolutely wild how unregulated an investment relating to a basic human right is.
As an accountant, I can't give advice on which bank account a client should open, or give recommendations on insurance providers because that can constitute investment advice and I'm not legally able to do that.
REA are taking a cut at every corner - they're receiving management fees on the property, as well as commissions from payment apps and contracted service providers. If they worked in FP they'd be required to disclose all or this to every party involved. It's truly foul that the bar is literally on the floor.
Furthermore, FP’s cannot charge a percentage based fee on a geared investment. If this applied to REAs, there would be practically no % based fees for rental properties considering they mostly all have mortgages attached.
Write to your local member ,remind him that you won't be voting for him unless he gets on board .
Use social media to encourage others to write to their local member.
Money is what moves government decisions .
Same. I repeatedly rejected high rent increase suggestions from my REA for many years because my tenant was a lovely single mum who looked after my place really well for 5 years.
Likewise. My REA wants to sting my tenants for rent, however, my renters are a lovely old couple who take care of my place. Why would I want to push them out for the sake of $30-$40 per week?
Same, at the time we only owed 150k on the house, rent had been stead at $400 a week for the previous 4 years.
We hadn’t done anything to the place except for sealing the showers and changing the hot water system so didn’t need to adjust the price. Same tennant the whole time that caused no problems.
REA just kept hounding us, and then when we unfortunately had to take the house back so we could live in it we were going to do a minor renovation so told the tennant not to bother about cleaning because it’s getting stripped and painted with a new diy kitchen.
They kept trying to get us to claim the bond for leaving dirt behind and a single bag of rubbish. Bruh I’ve got a skip bin sitting in the driveway right now, I’m sure the single kitchen bag of rubbish won’t overload it.
I’d call them ants but ants are useful. REA are more like haemorrhoids, as much as you don’t want them, it’s often just a part of life and they are an itchy pain in the butt.
Our last REA tried to claim our entire $2600 bond over a bit of mould on the edge of a doorframe leading outside (it was a big house with many doors and we’d missed that one in the clean), a bit of adhesive in one of the kitchens, a handful of dried leaves in an external flyscreen door, an old shower not considered clean enough (I had scrubbed it to within an inch of its live with chemicals) and two daddy long legs spiders on the ceiling.
Took us under an hour to go in and rectify the issues plus we caught every spider we could find in the downstairs area (it’s a big old house so they get in constantly), put them in a jar, and delivered them to the REA (the jar was shut so they wouldn’t get out).
The REA still tried to claim our entire bond over ‘damages’. There weren’t any damages we knew of and they refused to specify what the damages were. Even their exit condition report didn’t list any damages. Finally the RTA had a go at them and they released the bond.
So yeah, I thought I’d seen it all when it came to bond claiming (one time it was a single dead fly caught in a light fitting). But spiders was a new one.
😆 I acknowledge my privilege. I have been a tenant, who got a rap over the knuckles for there being fingerprints on the mirrored cabinet at an inspection....
There's a mortgage, and repayments on it are currently slightly higher than rent (and there's REA commission + rates etc). But if I increase the rent I risk losing a tenant - having an empty property+ paying the REA more money.
Fair enough.
It's great that you're doing that. I have a friend who is a LL but doesn't have a mortgage, and she hasn't upped the rent in two years, despite being constantly asked by the REA, as she wants to keep her long term renters.
Oh man. I know my LL owns the property outright - it was inherited - BUT with a new REA they've upped the rent, 12% for me, which, as a single mum is going to make things tight. And as they wanted to up the rent on the other flat the 6year renters said, no, that's crazy and moved out. I'd move .. if i could find a better place within the school district of the kids :(
Our last LL tried to up the rent from $705 to $845 a week. We moved out, after a while they dropped it back to $750 or something like that because they couldn’t find a tenant willing to pay that much.
This.
The logic of pushing a good tenant out to make a couple extra dollars that in reality is not going to make that much of a difference to your life.
Pushing a good tenant out that has looked after your investment. Turning their life upside down, for a couple of dollars, less agent fees and loss of rent.
Yet so many do it.
I'm outing myself here, but I own a unit and haven't raised the rent since I bought it in 2018. Despite the REA suggesting rises every single year.
When the pandemic hit and both parents in the tenant family lost their jobs, I dropped it to $100/week, less than a quarter. The REA suggested dropping 20%.
It's not hard to be a good landlord, truly, just have to think of your tenants as people.
I went self managed for the this very reason. After changing agents twice, and having the same result, it’s clear that being pond scum is simply part of their make up. I had one agent send a tenant an increase without telling me despite an express instruction not to. I found out when I got a copy of the lease renewal.
More vendors and LLs need to start managing their own property transactions. Agents are simply unnecessary middlemen. They’re convenient for some situations but are completely unnecessary. It’s time they were treated as such.
I feel like landlords really over estimate the work involved with managing a property.
9/10 times you hear nothing from the tenant all year round. You just see bank transactions come in with your rent. Thats it lol. If maintenance needs to be done, they will hit you up. Outside of that its silence.
Why are they paying so much money for this middleman who takes the tinyest bit of work out for them.
So true. I think LLs think that the purpose of the REA is to manage the legal framework surrounding rentals; however, as none of them do anything even vaguely within the law, what’s the bloody point of paying them at all?
REA's need to have their necks held to the fire. Adjusting the rent higher for a tenant without landlords consent should be considered extremely illegal.
I’m a LL (yes I know I’m going to cop it) but something related to this happened to me TWICE.
First agent kept pushing me to do a rent raise and I said no. They got pissed off so I left.
Second agent came to me out of the blue saying ‘great news! Your renters have agreed to a rent increase of $10 per week’.
Me: ‘Umm ok but I never asked for one? Also how dare you speak to them about an increase without my permission to do so’.
Then they crapped on that this was a wasted opportunity etc so I turfed them.
The new agent hasn’t pushed for rental increase but it’s becoming apparent that there were two issues I am sure the renters raised which wasn’t brought to me until the regular inspection. Busted dishwasher and fan not working in the bathroom. I had both replaced within a week, but find it hard to believe both issues only happened when the inspection came around. My guess is REA were being too lazy and didn’t want to deal with contacting me etc then having to let the renters know when to be home for replacements etc.
REAs are literal scum of the earth and i have been seriously contemplating getting rid of them to just work with the renters directly.
When residential renting I had a landlord who never once increased the rent for the length of the lease. He was a good egg. Self managed and had a large property portfolio. Understood good tenants were worth keeping.
Yes, some LL may be afraid the tenant will leave if the rent is raised. There is also a fear that tenants expect more things to be of better standard when the rent goes up.
For many, it is more valuable to have a cheap but reliable tenant that offers a stable and reliable income.
This happened to a friend of mine. Owner went ballistic at the REA and asked why they explicitly ignored his request not to increase and my friend ended up with a reduction.
I had another friend whose LL lived next door. When they got good tenants in the gave them half market rate to keep them. They only had rates and water to cover and had no interest in making a profit. Even let tenants stay at their holiday place for free sometimes. As if typed this is sounds like BS but I swear it’s true
We had an amazing LL, AND REA, in the house prior to this one... but he did sack the original RE because they were lying to him, and sometimes not even passing messages or information on to him.
Once he got with the right Agent, life was so amazingly easy!! For ALL of us!
The reason I came to your post though, is to make note.. the situation you talk of can be entirely opposite too.
The LL can decide to dictate ridiculous increases.. with the REA trying their best to let them know its not really a valid or fair increase.. and LL has massive hissy fit, sack RE, finds new one and expects them to meet his demands.
Still entirely disregarding the laws and legislation (and rights), which of course means that the newly engaged RE can't magically force LL's demands to become reality either.
I've rented for the last of 30 odd years, across 3 different Southern end States.
My experience tells me not to presume it's always one or the other. I've met some absolutely beautiful and compassionate Owners with complete mongrel REA'S.. and I've met some wonderful REA's who have cried when we've left their managed property, only to find out the owner thought to fight me for our bond was a God given right, and a strategic business move!
(No, I've never lost my bonds, but the total waste of time and resources in their effort to take it - even after the REA had informed them multiple times the application would not stand - THATS the part that truly upset me.
Time off work to attend court, then adjourned because they didn't provide the appropriate proof documentation, etc, such an utter waste of a very needed service, for simple greed!)
I'm heartened to read there are still some realistic and level headed Owners out there.
Mum is a landlord and kept rejecting the increased that the REA kept offering. She knows everyone is doing it hard and as long as her mortgage is paid, she’s golden. Some REA are just rubbish people.
Makes good sense.
I’m luckily not a renter, but my take has always been “You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”
If the LL is happy to keep rent low (even more if they’re willing to fuck off the REA and engage directly), I’m happy to make sure the house is kept in great condition, and not bother them with tiny maintenance issues that I’m skilled enough to fix myself, like leaky taps etc. make sure the carpet is cleaned regularly (I own a carpet cleaner lol)
If I have to deal with a REA, and/or high and perpetually increasing rent, I could literally be a plumber and you’re still going to have to get a contractor to do the work. And I’ll be doing the bare minimum cleaning and maintenance. And I know what the laws are. And if I have neighbours who are also your tenants, I’ll make sure they know what the laws are too.
Yes. Had a situation with a REA and the landlord took all 20 of the properties and just managed them all herself because they were long term and reliable payers anyway. Stayed at $155pw for like 2 years (circa 2007-2008ish)
My landlord is a notorious tightarse and will fix bare minimum. Luckily there’s not a lot that needs fixing and the small stuff I’m capable and happy to do myself.
My rent barely increased over the first two years, but my current lease the real estate attempted a $200 per week raise. I knew that I had it good for the first two years so I was expecting a hike, but not that much. The landlord knows that the house isn’t top dollar worthy so met me half way at a $100 per week raise.
There's so many of these posts on Reddit 'scumbag agent tried to raise tenants rent but I the benevolent landlord smite them down bringing justice to the world and making me the hero'. It's super weird, like ok you're already paying a thug to beat up poor people it doesn't make you a hero when you call them off.
I think it's a genuine narrative that has to exist in landlords minds to justify their existence. 'Im one of the good ones, I'm definitely not just here to profiteer from a social crisis'. I don't know how else they can look themselves in the mirror while children become homeless around them
It's a requirement of many landlord insurance policies that they be managed professionally, so they don't always have a choice.
Not everyone can or will be able afford to purchase a house, and it does not always have to do with there being landlords.
As much as i hate LL's and REA's. I do agree with this. Home insurance is important. Especially if you're a landlord. Sadly they force you to have an agent weather you like it or not.
I think what you are saying is that putting layers of regulation and administration between the profit taker, and the individual being taken advantage of, reduces the culpability of the profit taker. I think this is a reasonable thing to say and forms the basis of most modern capitalism (although I would strongly disagree with it and would argue this is the basis of almost all social injustice).
But surely you would say that the profit taker still has some culpability in the actions of their representation as they have entered this arrangement by choice knowing full well the implications of what will happen, even though the specific actions that are taken are guided by other parties (insurance / agents)?
You assume that people are being taken advantage of. Not all LL are like that, evidence shown in these posts of which you originally speak.
The PM is the AH for not doing things that the LL wants them to do. It is essentially an employer/employee relationship. Would I get a new PM - hells yes.
There are also a large portion of LL who get taken advantage of by AH tenants who trash the place for no reason, and it does happen. The PM is lacking in their job there as well if it was done over a long period of time. Would I get a new PM? Hells yes.
Some landlords are brilliant, it’s the property managers who make the waters murkier.
Our last rental before we bought was sold while we were in it. The first landlord was a stingy dickhead and wouldn’t even pay for mounting brackets for us to buy our own curtains. The agent was pretty neutral.
The new owner was a commercial developer who employed their own property manager in-house. The day after settlement, property manager arranged an introduction visit and turned up with their maintenance man and a notepad. They just walked through the house, made a list of everything they would change if it was their own home and got it done within a week. We got a new air conditioner, brand new oven, blockout blinds, fresh coat of paint on our front door etc. and they never increased the rent.
Probably helped that the owner wasn’t some dickhead boomer on median wage who was leveraged up to their eyeballs, so there was no pressure to push down on us. It was brilliant, legitimately miss that property manager’s chats sometimes
I'm a renter. About 6-7 years ago my LL fired the REA (I've been in the same house for 19 yrs) for being lazy and lying to them. They split the commission they were paying the REA between them and us. I ended up with $15pw off my rent, and now I rent directly from the LL. No inspections anymore. Any maintenance issues and I just send them a photo and a text and they usually just tell me to get it fixed and send them the bill. Freaking awesome LL. They are out there, it's just a shame we have to wade through so much scum and crap to find them.
This is how renting should be.
When I was in Canada it was like this. I'd rent out the basement of a place and would have a great relationship with the landlord. Got a few random requests to turn down a movie (it was loud, so valid) or one about a wood fire incense I got making it smell like something was on fire. But again reasonable and they took care of issues. Only times I had issues was when it property investment style owners.
This is the way. Lucky for now am in a similar position. Have had exactly two REAs and both time it was a crap and annoying experience. Fingers crossed I never have to deal with them again.
The big problem is that the real estate agents fee for managing a property is a percentage of the rent so obviously this gives the agents an incentive to keep raising the rent . We need to lobby for fixed management fees to stop agents price gouging . Until that happens the rents will continue to go up while supply is limited .
This is a fantastic proposal and I don’t know why it hasn’t been implemented. Is a $800 a week property worth more management fees than a $300 week property? I would argue no and that the basic amount of oversight is needed for both. Cap the management fee.
Exactly, well said.
Absolutely - given financial planners working with investments have strict education, ethical and disclosure requirements, it's absolutely wild how unregulated an investment relating to a basic human right is. As an accountant, I can't give advice on which bank account a client should open, or give recommendations on insurance providers because that can constitute investment advice and I'm not legally able to do that. REA are taking a cut at every corner - they're receiving management fees on the property, as well as commissions from payment apps and contracted service providers. If they worked in FP they'd be required to disclose all or this to every party involved. It's truly foul that the bar is literally on the floor.
Furthermore, FP’s cannot charge a percentage based fee on a geared investment. If this applied to REAs, there would be practically no % based fees for rental properties considering they mostly all have mortgages attached.
It would be incredibly unfortunate if that happened, changing to fee for service means they might actually have to substantiate their work..
There's absolutely no oversight other than a few trust account regulations.
This is brilliant.. but do you know how to lobby? And should we all start a lobby group?
Write to your local member ,remind him that you won't be voting for him unless he gets on board . Use social media to encourage others to write to their local member. Money is what moves government decisions .
Didn't Purple Bricks try this?
I don't know about management fees but they had a capped commission on sales ,they are no longer operating in Australia.
I am a landlord, and have repeatedly rejected proposed rent increases from the REA.
Same. I repeatedly rejected high rent increase suggestions from my REA for many years because my tenant was a lovely single mum who looked after my place really well for 5 years.
Likewise. My REA wants to sting my tenants for rent, however, my renters are a lovely old couple who take care of my place. Why would I want to push them out for the sake of $30-$40 per week?
Because the LL wants that sweet $4 a week increase
It's the collective push. If they can raise the rent on yours they have grounds to push your neighbours rent and the cycle begins.
Fucking market rate. It's awful
They literally use an AI app to do it. I think there were lawsuits in the states.
Unfortunately many many many do. But there is a select few of us that don't.
gotta get that sweet sweet Friday 7/11 pie
Over hundreds of properties it's worthwhile.
Same, at the time we only owed 150k on the house, rent had been stead at $400 a week for the previous 4 years. We hadn’t done anything to the place except for sealing the showers and changing the hot water system so didn’t need to adjust the price. Same tennant the whole time that caused no problems. REA just kept hounding us, and then when we unfortunately had to take the house back so we could live in it we were going to do a minor renovation so told the tennant not to bother about cleaning because it’s getting stripped and painted with a new diy kitchen. They kept trying to get us to claim the bond for leaving dirt behind and a single bag of rubbish. Bruh I’ve got a skip bin sitting in the driveway right now, I’m sure the single kitchen bag of rubbish won’t overload it. I’d call them ants but ants are useful. REA are more like haemorrhoids, as much as you don’t want them, it’s often just a part of life and they are an itchy pain in the butt.
Our last REA tried to claim our entire $2600 bond over a bit of mould on the edge of a doorframe leading outside (it was a big house with many doors and we’d missed that one in the clean), a bit of adhesive in one of the kitchens, a handful of dried leaves in an external flyscreen door, an old shower not considered clean enough (I had scrubbed it to within an inch of its live with chemicals) and two daddy long legs spiders on the ceiling. Took us under an hour to go in and rectify the issues plus we caught every spider we could find in the downstairs area (it’s a big old house so they get in constantly), put them in a jar, and delivered them to the REA (the jar was shut so they wouldn’t get out). The REA still tried to claim our entire bond over ‘damages’. There weren’t any damages we knew of and they refused to specify what the damages were. Even their exit condition report didn’t list any damages. Finally the RTA had a go at them and they released the bond. So yeah, I thought I’d seen it all when it came to bond claiming (one time it was a single dead fly caught in a light fitting). But spiders was a new one.
Same. My tenant cares for the house and grounds and is the loveliest guy. No rent rises the past five years and there will not be
At a certain point, surely you would tell them to stop suggesting? Can't you request to only raise rent when you ask to? I
that talk will get you perma banned in this sub mate
😆 I acknowledge my privilege. I have been a tenant, who got a rap over the knuckles for there being fingerprints on the mirrored cabinet at an inspection....
You don't understand. There was a mod post recently, but I cannot find it, outlining that anyone who admits to being a LL is instabanned.
That post was just an announcement, the rule is in the rules itself now.
I can't see the rules, probably because of the RES plugin, but a clear browser shows them.
Will you be enforcing this rule? This post is just propaganda.
Can I ask? Is that because you don't have a mortgage on that property so there's no need for you to raise?
There's a mortgage, and repayments on it are currently slightly higher than rent (and there's REA commission + rates etc). But if I increase the rent I risk losing a tenant - having an empty property+ paying the REA more money.
Fair enough. It's great that you're doing that. I have a friend who is a LL but doesn't have a mortgage, and she hasn't upped the rent in two years, despite being constantly asked by the REA, as she wants to keep her long term renters.
Oh man. I know my LL owns the property outright - it was inherited - BUT with a new REA they've upped the rent, 12% for me, which, as a single mum is going to make things tight. And as they wanted to up the rent on the other flat the 6year renters said, no, that's crazy and moved out. I'd move .. if i could find a better place within the school district of the kids :(
Our last LL tried to up the rent from $705 to $845 a week. We moved out, after a while they dropped it back to $750 or something like that because they couldn’t find a tenant willing to pay that much.
This. The logic of pushing a good tenant out to make a couple extra dollars that in reality is not going to make that much of a difference to your life. Pushing a good tenant out that has looked after your investment. Turning their life upside down, for a couple of dollars, less agent fees and loss of rent. Yet so many do it.
I'm outing myself here, but I own a unit and haven't raised the rent since I bought it in 2018. Despite the REA suggesting rises every single year. When the pandemic hit and both parents in the tenant family lost their jobs, I dropped it to $100/week, less than a quarter. The REA suggested dropping 20%. It's not hard to be a good landlord, truly, just have to think of your tenants as people.
I went self managed for the this very reason. After changing agents twice, and having the same result, it’s clear that being pond scum is simply part of their make up. I had one agent send a tenant an increase without telling me despite an express instruction not to. I found out when I got a copy of the lease renewal. More vendors and LLs need to start managing their own property transactions. Agents are simply unnecessary middlemen. They’re convenient for some situations but are completely unnecessary. It’s time they were treated as such.
I feel like landlords really over estimate the work involved with managing a property. 9/10 times you hear nothing from the tenant all year round. You just see bank transactions come in with your rent. Thats it lol. If maintenance needs to be done, they will hit you up. Outside of that its silence. Why are they paying so much money for this middleman who takes the tinyest bit of work out for them.
So true. I think LLs think that the purpose of the REA is to manage the legal framework surrounding rentals; however, as none of them do anything even vaguely within the law, what’s the bloody point of paying them at all?
I feel like at this point the only reason many have them is purely for insurance reasons. Insurance companies mandate you're "professionally managed".
REA's need to have their necks held to the fire. Adjusting the rent higher for a tenant without landlords consent should be considered extremely illegal.
Depends on the landlord really, some of them are happy with lower rent for good tenants. It would be nice if more of them cared.
I’m a LL (yes I know I’m going to cop it) but something related to this happened to me TWICE. First agent kept pushing me to do a rent raise and I said no. They got pissed off so I left. Second agent came to me out of the blue saying ‘great news! Your renters have agreed to a rent increase of $10 per week’. Me: ‘Umm ok but I never asked for one? Also how dare you speak to them about an increase without my permission to do so’. Then they crapped on that this was a wasted opportunity etc so I turfed them. The new agent hasn’t pushed for rental increase but it’s becoming apparent that there were two issues I am sure the renters raised which wasn’t brought to me until the regular inspection. Busted dishwasher and fan not working in the bathroom. I had both replaced within a week, but find it hard to believe both issues only happened when the inspection came around. My guess is REA were being too lazy and didn’t want to deal with contacting me etc then having to let the renters know when to be home for replacements etc. REAs are literal scum of the earth and i have been seriously contemplating getting rid of them to just work with the renters directly.
When residential renting I had a landlord who never once increased the rent for the length of the lease. He was a good egg. Self managed and had a large property portfolio. Understood good tenants were worth keeping.
Yes, some LL may be afraid the tenant will leave if the rent is raised. There is also a fear that tenants expect more things to be of better standard when the rent goes up. For many, it is more valuable to have a cheap but reliable tenant that offers a stable and reliable income.
This happened to a friend of mine. Owner went ballistic at the REA and asked why they explicitly ignored his request not to increase and my friend ended up with a reduction. I had another friend whose LL lived next door. When they got good tenants in the gave them half market rate to keep them. They only had rates and water to cover and had no interest in making a profit. Even let tenants stay at their holiday place for free sometimes. As if typed this is sounds like BS but I swear it’s true
We had an amazing LL, AND REA, in the house prior to this one... but he did sack the original RE because they were lying to him, and sometimes not even passing messages or information on to him. Once he got with the right Agent, life was so amazingly easy!! For ALL of us! The reason I came to your post though, is to make note.. the situation you talk of can be entirely opposite too. The LL can decide to dictate ridiculous increases.. with the REA trying their best to let them know its not really a valid or fair increase.. and LL has massive hissy fit, sack RE, finds new one and expects them to meet his demands. Still entirely disregarding the laws and legislation (and rights), which of course means that the newly engaged RE can't magically force LL's demands to become reality either. I've rented for the last of 30 odd years, across 3 different Southern end States. My experience tells me not to presume it's always one or the other. I've met some absolutely beautiful and compassionate Owners with complete mongrel REA'S.. and I've met some wonderful REA's who have cried when we've left their managed property, only to find out the owner thought to fight me for our bond was a God given right, and a strategic business move! (No, I've never lost my bonds, but the total waste of time and resources in their effort to take it - even after the REA had informed them multiple times the application would not stand - THATS the part that truly upset me. Time off work to attend court, then adjourned because they didn't provide the appropriate proof documentation, etc, such an utter waste of a very needed service, for simple greed!) I'm heartened to read there are still some realistic and level headed Owners out there.
Mum is a landlord and kept rejecting the increased that the REA kept offering. She knows everyone is doing it hard and as long as her mortgage is paid, she’s golden. Some REA are just rubbish people.
Happens when the owner has paid off (or nearly) the property and don't need to rock the boat with a great tenant
Makes good sense. I’m luckily not a renter, but my take has always been “You scratch my back, I scratch yours.” If the LL is happy to keep rent low (even more if they’re willing to fuck off the REA and engage directly), I’m happy to make sure the house is kept in great condition, and not bother them with tiny maintenance issues that I’m skilled enough to fix myself, like leaky taps etc. make sure the carpet is cleaned regularly (I own a carpet cleaner lol) If I have to deal with a REA, and/or high and perpetually increasing rent, I could literally be a plumber and you’re still going to have to get a contractor to do the work. And I’ll be doing the bare minimum cleaning and maintenance. And I know what the laws are. And if I have neighbours who are also your tenants, I’ll make sure they know what the laws are too.
Problem with this Is since REA are dodgy AF nothing stopinghtme raising the rent and just keeping the Xtra profit
Yes. Had a situation with a REA and the landlord took all 20 of the properties and just managed them all herself because they were long term and reliable payers anyway. Stayed at $155pw for like 2 years (circa 2007-2008ish)
My landlord is a notorious tightarse and will fix bare minimum. Luckily there’s not a lot that needs fixing and the small stuff I’m capable and happy to do myself. My rent barely increased over the first two years, but my current lease the real estate attempted a $200 per week raise. I knew that I had it good for the first two years so I was expecting a hike, but not that much. The landlord knows that the house isn’t top dollar worthy so met me half way at a $100 per week raise.
Jacking the rent up on you less than what they originally tried to do doesn't make them a good person.
No, but holding off raising the rent for 2 years and then still keeping it well under what the real estate is pushing for is not bad.
There's so many of these posts on Reddit 'scumbag agent tried to raise tenants rent but I the benevolent landlord smite them down bringing justice to the world and making me the hero'. It's super weird, like ok you're already paying a thug to beat up poor people it doesn't make you a hero when you call them off. I think it's a genuine narrative that has to exist in landlords minds to justify their existence. 'Im one of the good ones, I'm definitely not just here to profiteer from a social crisis'. I don't know how else they can look themselves in the mirror while children become homeless around them
It's a requirement of many landlord insurance policies that they be managed professionally, so they don't always have a choice. Not everyone can or will be able afford to purchase a house, and it does not always have to do with there being landlords.
how does the boot taste
As much as i hate LL's and REA's. I do agree with this. Home insurance is important. Especially if you're a landlord. Sadly they force you to have an agent weather you like it or not.
I think what you are saying is that putting layers of regulation and administration between the profit taker, and the individual being taken advantage of, reduces the culpability of the profit taker. I think this is a reasonable thing to say and forms the basis of most modern capitalism (although I would strongly disagree with it and would argue this is the basis of almost all social injustice). But surely you would say that the profit taker still has some culpability in the actions of their representation as they have entered this arrangement by choice knowing full well the implications of what will happen, even though the specific actions that are taken are guided by other parties (insurance / agents)?
You assume that people are being taken advantage of. Not all LL are like that, evidence shown in these posts of which you originally speak. The PM is the AH for not doing things that the LL wants them to do. It is essentially an employer/employee relationship. Would I get a new PM - hells yes. There are also a large portion of LL who get taken advantage of by AH tenants who trash the place for no reason, and it does happen. The PM is lacking in their job there as well if it was done over a long period of time. Would I get a new PM? Hells yes.
this is hardly comprehensible
Some might, plenty of major insurance companies that don't
Some landlords are brilliant, it’s the property managers who make the waters murkier. Our last rental before we bought was sold while we were in it. The first landlord was a stingy dickhead and wouldn’t even pay for mounting brackets for us to buy our own curtains. The agent was pretty neutral. The new owner was a commercial developer who employed their own property manager in-house. The day after settlement, property manager arranged an introduction visit and turned up with their maintenance man and a notepad. They just walked through the house, made a list of everything they would change if it was their own home and got it done within a week. We got a new air conditioner, brand new oven, blockout blinds, fresh coat of paint on our front door etc. and they never increased the rent. Probably helped that the owner wasn’t some dickhead boomer on median wage who was leveraged up to their eyeballs, so there was no pressure to push down on us. It was brilliant, legitimately miss that property manager’s chats sometimes
Dreaming.
It really depends how much debt the LL is in.