The Joys of Being an Overseas Landlord
Real fun stuff, I have to say. — I guess it could be so much worse (as in apartment trashed and tenants becoming violent), but it’s still annoying as hell.
My condo in Austria has been rented out since February 2006. The first year, during which it was rented to a middle-aged married couple, things went pretty well. The tenant tended to pay rent approximately a week late every month. Due to long weekends and holidays this sometimes lead to me not getting the rent till the 11th or 12th of the month. Getting it around the 6th was “normal”. Not something you could get away with for very long in Canada, but laws are different in Austria. They are much more protective of the tenant, not the landlord, since the former is considered the “poorer” of the two while the latter is the “richer”. It’s stressing the social aspect of society. — Makes sense, I guess, in some ways, since people are not renting out the basements of their homes there to recover part of the mortgage cost, like they do here. So, somebody renting out is usually someone who can afford to own two places (one to live in, one to rent out) or is a commercial landlord. Plus it’s all about consumer protection and the tenant is, in this case, the “consumer equivalent” while the landlord is the “business owner”.
I was a little annoyed by his always paying late, but given the law and the fact that I am almost 9,000 km away, I just sucked it up.
Then that couple got divorced, in May 2007 or so. And the husband couldn’t afford the rent anymore on his own. Of course, he didn’t contact my mom ahead of time, letting her know what was going on. In June, he just stopped paying rent altogether without saying anything. Not good. My mom had to phone him up and find to what the hell was going on.
In the end, with the help of the realtor lady who had helped us find the renter, it was agreed that he would be moving out after two months and that the rent for these two months would come from his security deposit. The law requires three months of security deposit (not half a month as it is here). So, we kept two months of the deposit (as rent for June and July) and returned the third month to the tenant when he moved out.
The good parts about this story: the condo was in very good condition, not trashed in the least (it’s fully furnished), the guy was nice and understanding and didn’t try to put up a stink — which I am sure he could have to some extent, had he tried.
He was out by July 31, 2007, and our trusty realtor lady had already found a new tenant by that point. A young German business man who travels lots and was sick of staying in hotels. The furnished apartment was perfect for him.
He moved in the middle of August. So far, so good. There were a few hiccups getting the three months worth of security deposit from him (he obviously hadn’t done his research and didn’t know he’d need that much money up front), but in the end it worked out. It delayed his move into the condo by about two weeks, though.
However, it now looks like the fun hadn’t even started till that point yet. As unbelievable as it may sound, he has never paid his rent on time since moving in. Yes, NEVER. Not only did he not pay on time, it took several phone calls from my mom and meeting him in person each time to receive the rent — in cash. Afterwards, my mom had to go to the bank herself to deposit it.
He keeps promising that he’ll set up an Austrian bank account and create an automatic monthly transfer to take care of the rent, but this has not happened to date. How hard is it again to open a bank account? Not very. It took me about three weeks (if that) after coming to Canada to open a chequings and a savings account. Besides, the European Monetary Union ensures that it is possible to transfer funds within the EU free of charge, meaning he could even pay the rent from his German account just fine.
He seems to be a nice, friendly, reliable guy, and he has always been very respectful and forthcoming when my mom phoned him (and met him in person), which I appreciate — but come on. I know you are lying to her, dude. If you really wanted to set up an automatic bank transfer, like you claim, you had plenty of time to do so by now. Since the middle of August, to be precise. It’s not that hard. Yes, you are traveling lots, but still. And there’s always web-banking.
I have now invoked the help of our trusty realtor lady. She seems pretty confident that she can talk some sense into him. I hope she’s right, but she has never let us down. If she can’t do it, then nobody can and my current tenant is a real stupid MOFO (for not listening to her) and I’d like to have him out of the condo today rather than tomorrow.
Oh, and did I mention that he hasn’t paid his rent for November yet? Well, I guess, that didn’t really come as a surprise now, did it.
