COVID-19
TENANT FINANCIAL HARDSHIP DUE TO COVID-19 VIRUS
To our valued tenants, if you have been financially affected by the COVID-19 virus, it is important to maintain your current rental payments as best you can during this time as any shortfall you are unable to pay when the rent becomes due will remain a debt to be repaid once you are in a position to do so. This is no different to how the banks will be dealing with landlords and their mortgages, with interest continuing to accrue and at this stage any landlord that applies for a delay will have this recorded as a hardship default on their credit report (this may change but as it is it has serious implications for landlords).
It is necessary for all tenants to understand that as an agent acting on behalf of the landlord we must continue to follow the processes as allowed by law, we must do this to ensure the landlord’s insurance policy is not invalidated by failure to act on arrears. So, whilst you are safe from eviction for 6 months and we sympathise with any tenant that finds themselves in difficulty during this period, we may be required to seek orders through VCAT to maintain the landlord’s insurance policy.
If you fall into difficulty and need to discuss a payment arrangement, please download the Tenant Financial Hardship Application for you to complete and provide to this office. Once received, we will then discuss your situation with your landlord.
At this stage, we believe to maintain the landlords insurance any request for a hardship arrangement will need to be confirmed by a VCAT ordered payment plan which you as a tenant may seek at a VCAT hearing as part of the rent arrears process.
During these difficulties it is important that we all, tenants, landlords and agents communicate and work together to ensure that we are all in a good position once life returns to normal.
You may also be aware that the government has already put significant financial support in place, and this will be added to over the coming days with a further support package to be announced. Centrelink can be accessed online for applications through your www.my.gov.au account, and you may be entitled to early access to some of your superannuation which you can apply for through the Taxation Office website www.ato.gov.au.
If you would like to contact our to discuss this matter, please do not hesitate to email both melissao@kpi.net.au and rentals@kpi.net.au. You will appreciate that this time is extremely hectic and we ask that you email rather than call us, our commitment to you is if we receive your email during business hours we will try to get back to you via phone or email within 24 hours, although not necessarily within business hours. Emails received out of normal business hours will be addressed within 48 hours.
In summary, KPI is committed to doing its best to assist all parties. We believe with the right advice we will work through this together.
With you and your loved ones, good health and strength in these challenging times.
Kind Regards,
Keyhole Property Investments
Melissa Opie
aka "'The Property Lady"
Managing Director, CEA (REIV)
Licensed Estate Agent
Click here to download Tenant Financial Hardship Application