all I can say is I sure hope it is not a reflection Emily… dealing with people, emotions, money, homes and houses brings with it an element of drama and chaos… Of course if rot like this goes on from time to time, zero tolerance and action must be taken; either police and/or application to tribunals for termination under objectionable behaviour provisions.

This is so horrible. We may have our share of dramas but never to this degree (touch wood it never happens to us).

Totally agree Stacey that zero tolerance and action is the answer should it happen.

Margaret www.dmrealty.com.au

That kind of behaviour screams out “I have done the wrong thing and going to blame soemeone else because of it” 

I have one tenant here who has written complaint after complaint about me, and at the end of the day, if they did the right thing, you would never hear from me.

Kylie

I would be horrified if anything of that sort happened in our office, or even in Tamworth! we generally have a few disgruntled tenants, but i have never been abused, threatened etc. If i feel a client is speaking in a way in which they should not, i stop them very quickly and let them know that its not acceptable. most people respond well to this.

There is no question that the ability of a property manager to development good relationships with clients has reduced in recent times. Property Managers just dont prioritise this anymore because they have no time too, they are just under too much pressure.

To increase our relationships, offices need  more staff to reduce the workloads, which costs more money and while this is easier said than done, I think the key is fee’s. When there is more money in the pot, there is more to spend on resources and tools to build relationships. If we continue to underplay our value in the marketplace by reducing fees, not charging for services, or worst still, not recover our business outlays such as advertising etc, we inevitably dig our own hole.

Sadly, these cases mentioned are not isolated and I hear them over and over, but I think it is important to put it into perspective and consider that generally a very high majority of tenants are great, but we always remember the bad ones. I still tell the story in my training sessions of the time a tenant punched me in the face, but I always flip that over and talk about what I learnt from it. My lesson now is ‘DUCK’ haha.

I think the pressure will be on Property Managers as long as we have PM’s that let tenants get away with this behaviour.  I remember when I was a little girl, mum made us sugarsoap and scrup the walls down after we left a house and it was shining from top to toe.  Now tenants just go – “Take it out of the bond” and walk away after not paying the rent for the last month.  We are breeding a very lazy society and its only going to get worse.  The government is not helping the situation as they  make it harder and harder for PM’s to take the bad tenants to court.  Why should the landlord pay to recoup monies from tenants that are bad?  I just dont get it.

I had a situation recently, where I took on a property that had a tenant 5 months in arrears.  The owner had issued a termination notice, (i knew straight away it was not executed propertly..) but anyways off to court I went for him.  The owner had made a promise that some work was to be done to the property, but had not done it as the tenant had not paid rent.  The member then ajourned the matter so the tenant could put in an application for abatement of rent.  (All for the tenant hey?)  The matter was then heard 7 weeks later and the termination notice was then deemed invalid, so we cant kick this nonpayer out… and then the landlord was given 21 days to fix the problems (not bad ones…) and THEN the landlord had to take $400 off what was owing to him from the tenant.  Where the F….. is the justice in that?  The system is telling renters, “do what you like and you get away with it”  I asked the member if I can give the tenant notice to leave without grounds and he said that if we did that and the tenant took it to the CTTT then it would not be looked upon in a favourable light.  So my landlord is stuck with a tenant he does not want there.  He cant kick her out to do the rennovations that he had planned to do.  I can’t put the rent up to match what the neighbours are paying.  The landlord is screwed every which way.

What annoyed me the most, was in the meantime, my office issued a termination for nonpayment of rent correctly, and the member said no it is not valid, cant kick her out, end of story.

Next headline is going to be  PROPERTY MANAGER THREATENS CTTT!!!

Kylie

the world has become very sad and dangerous at times , i have been in pm for 25 years and had more than my share of people with knives, guns had my office robbed at knife point , been assulted etc and the law seems to protect the wrong people , we have had property managers murdered and think it is about time the focus came back to our saftey

i have given many presentations on PMs security and i am amazed how wide spread the attacks on PM s are

Kylie, I agree with what you have said about our society becoming lazy with their obligations.  Every tenant should leave their house spick & span when vacating, yet so many don’t & I do agree that it will get worse. Tenants break lease agreements & don’t continue to pay the rent knowing full well their responsibilities etc etc.

There are definately some scary property management stories out there.  One of my friends is also a property manager & she recently had a creepy man show up to every single open home that she did, regardless of location, price etc.  He would call the office to speak with her everyday & would even follow her after she left the properties.  She has since stopped advertising open for inspection times & has ensured that reception confirm the details of every person who will attend.  She has also had another PM accompany her to more remote properties/properties in new estates etc. Pretty scary stuff!

I had a classic one the other week.

A security company signed out keys to a property – then claimed they actually did not take the keys.

We produced the sign out book and the photocopy of the ID.

They still denied.

They ended up screaming down the phone at one of my property managers, and called her the C word.

I then called back to take control of the situation – the guy flipped out, and said, “You’re a dead man. So is your wife and kids. I know where you work, and I’ll be there in 30 minutes”

Needless to say the police were called, and the guy didn’t turn up.

But yes, some people are clearly unhinged.

What disturbed me the most about the story was the part where she says she was yelled at for OVER AN HOUR in her office.

Where was the manager? Why didn’t someone diffuse the situation, or throw the agressive person out of the office.

The second someone raises their voice, or is threatening to my staff, I throw them out.