Bad Tenant Register
Hi All,
The subject of setting up a bad tenant register keeps getting rejected by people saying it is against the law, however, I fail to see the difference between this and what the credit reference agencies do. Basically any tenant paying rent monthly is in a very similar position to anyone buying something on credit - failure to keep up the payments results in civil action.
I am no lawyer but I have looked into the Data Protection Act and I cannot see the problem. One paragraph will need to be added to new tenancy agreements to let the tenant know that their details will be recorded on the register and they will sign the agreement to consent to this (the same way a credit buyer consents on a credit agreement). The other requirements of the DPA are quite easy to satisfy, ie that the data is secure, that tenants have the right to challenge and change their information etc.
There is also another issue whereby publicly revealing specific information about a bad tenant might be considered defamation of character. This could be overcome by giving a tenant a rating (like a credit rating) of 1-100 where 100 is the perfect tenant and 1 is a ‘don’t touch them’. So when a tenant applies for a let the landlord will search the register and will not hear any details about the tenant’s history, he will just be given a number and then it is up to him to decide whether to proceed or not.
It could work both ways with landlords also having their information held in the same way giving tenants the ability to know whether or not their prospective landlord is any good.
The eventual outcome of all this would surely be to raise standards on both sides by giving both landlords and tenants an incentive to behave well.
I would welcome comments from people with legal training about this. The number of posts on this forum from landlords who have suffered huge losses at the hands of bad tenants clearly shows that something like this needs to be done.
Cheers
Paul Harman
Talk soon,
Joe Beaven
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floral_grafiti Says:
How long does your name stay on the problem tenant register in Queensland?
Hi. If my name appears on the preoblem tenant register in Queensland (or Australia wide…i'm not sure how it works) how long does that last?
Posted on December 30th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
oceangirl78 Says:
I have heard of people having their name on there for over 5 years.The problem is that it is very easy to get your name on the list but very hard do have your name taken off.It also depends on why you were put on the list for.For example destroying a rental property as opposed to not paying rent is different.
Another problem is that these days real estate agents check the list before they let anyone into their propeties.So technically if you are on the list it makes it harder to rent.
However,check out this website for further information:
http://www.rta.qld.gov.au/index.cfm
References :
Posted on December 31st, 2008 at 4:06 am
Brad Says:
This organisation is known as the Tenancies Information Centre of Australia or TICA. The owner of the property either off thier own bat or through an agent may choose to list you with TICA. Proof of default, damage etc is not required and you have no right of reply and in fact will not be advised that you have been placed on the register. The only way to get off the list is if the owner of the property in question agrees to take you off, you may decide to make good any damage or pay any outstanding debts to achieve this but even then they are under no obligation to take you off. A bad TICA reference will never be removed until this happens and it is a national organsiation.
References :
Posted on December 31st, 2008 at 4:08 am