Occasionally, unforeseen or difficult circumstances may result in rental payments being delayed or missed altogether, causing a property’s rental payment to fall into arrears. To ensure both the tenant and landlord are protected, Queensland law offers fair guidelines and recommendations managing rental arrears.
At an agency level, and in addition to formal legal procedures, it’s accepted as excellent practice for a Property Manager to run a rental arrears report every business day, to ensure any potential issues receive swift attention. Tenants will usually first receive notification of an arrears 2 days from the initial missed payment. This gives tenants a few days grace to correct the anomaly, which can often be as a simple as a banking error or processing problem during the transfer of funds.
If the payment remains outstanding by the eighth business day following the initial rental due date, a notice is issued to the tenants. Allowed by law, this notice is a formal document requesting the tenants remedy the outstanding amount owed. As a landlord, you will receive a copy of this notice for your own personal records and reference, in the unlikely event the arrears remains outstanding by the eighth day.
Most outstanding amounts would ordinarily be repaid at this stage. In the event of a rare occurrence where the problem remains unaddressed, a formal notice to leave will be issued to the tenants. A good agent will work closely with the landlord at this stage, ensuring they receive copies of the relevant legal paperwork and regular updates on any communication with the property’s occupants as to the financial resolution or progress on a pending eviction process.
In reality, most tenants will avoid defaulting on their rent to avoid creating problems further down the track with their rental history and future credit checks. However, if a situation does arise, adhering to and acknowledging the legal process and working closely with tenants will help ensure one of your biggest assets, your investment property, remains profitable.