Bad tenants down-under.
As the epidemic of habitually bad tenants reaches Australia, a “tough love” scheme is being considered by Newman Government, Queensland.
Queensland Housing Minister Bruce Flegg (Liberal National Party) is pushing for time-limited leases so that public housing tenants can be regularly reviewed for eligibility; ending the so-called “tenancy for life”.
The leases – likely to be one, three or five years in duration, depending on people’s circumstances – would also be tied to good behaviour and on-time rent payments; giving the Government more power to act against bad tenants who repeatedly fail to pay rent or destroy their properties.
The new system is hoped to be brought in from July, as Dr Flegg attempts to address Queensland’s mounting social housing crisis; which he claims is losing $1 million every fortnight.
“It’s reasonable to expect (tenants) to look after the property,” he said.
At Landlord Referencing we absolutely agree that it is a reasonable request to expect tenants to look after a property, whether it is social housing or private housing; but unfortunately in reality, this is just not the case.
Our unique Tenant Alerts speak for themselves; Tenant Alert Running Total 2012.
Not only do we believe that we have the ultimate tool for landlords, letting agents AND tenants but our tight-knit community of thousands of LL’s & LA’s right across the country can also vouch for us : Testimonials for Landlord Referencing Services.
We also understand that no matter how nice our new home is, if we have a dreadful neighbour it can spoil everything we strive for in trying to achieve a comfortable and quiet life for ourselves and our family.
Therefore, all that we ask in return is for landlords, agents and tenants to carry on spreading the word ~ which in turn will continue to keep ALL THIS free.
We will see this happening in England before much longer, Government are already making moves in this direction because of their concerns that some tenants earn enough to buy but hang on to social housing while those who are in need cannot be offered subisides rents.
In my opinion ALL local authorities need to join LRS and provide information about their defaulting tenants – landlords may be more willing to help them to provide homes to those on their lists if they KNEW that we would not be getting unfit tenants who have been evicted from Social Housing. The day will come because all local authorities need the PRS to fill the hole that is created by further Right to Buy on one hand and the need to discharge their obligations to those who are homeless on the other
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