Are some tenants too much hard work?

You may have seen my page on Tenancy Laws in Australia. It summarises the various rules relating to residential tenancy. It has become a very popular page on the Rental Agreements DIY Australia website.

Both landlords and tenants use the page for reference and occasionally ring or email me with some kind of query relating to their rental situation. We are not legal advisors so I refer them to the relevant state or territory authority. Some want to tell me their story anyway, just to vent about their problems.

I got my first abusive email in a year last night. The complaint was about me saying "Sometimes you just want the current tenant out because they are too much hard work." The person, a tenant with some landlord repair issues, let me have it. He suggested I was immoral for putting that text on my webpage. He said it impacted him because landlords can kick tenants out for complaining. He certainly took what I said personally.

The offending quote is from our Ending a Residential Tenancy page. It gives some information about ending Australian tenancies and there is a little bit of practical advice for landlords about the process.

He must be a fine judge of character as all the descriptive terms he used for me I have heard often before. In fact, if he needs some support I can give him a list of people who will agree with him. For the record my parents were married.

Had a chat with my darling wife to tell her I had been abused. She gave me a hug and a pat on the head to make me feel better.

We then started to reminisce about some of the more memorable tenants we have had over the years. It did not take us long to reinforce the statement that some tenants ARE definitely too much hard work. Read our "Killer Door Death Squadron" article for one example of too much hard work. Thankfully there were not too many stories like this. Most of our tenants have been great.

We have a few pages to help landlords have a fruitful relationship with tenants.
Finding the right tenant
Beginning a tenancy
Settling tenancy disputes
Ending a tenancy

The Sydney Morning Herald reviewed our website and said about these pages - "Here's something for the first time property investor; a sometimes funny guide to the legalities of becoming a landlord and other issues associated with renting out properties."

We also have a free tenancy application form in word and pdf format. Download it now for free.