Canberra landlords say ACT rental laws are unfairly balanced after tenants left their Harrison property uninhabitable

Vesna and Ivan Strika run a residential construction company and own several rental properties throughout Canberra.

For years they've self-managed their properties, including a townhouse in Harrison which they began leasing to tenants in 2015.

Ms Strika said while the tenants were slow with rental payments, there were no real issues.

Last year, the Strikas say they issued the tenants notices to vacate on two separate occasions. One was in January due to upcoming building rectification works and the other in October after they decided to put the property up for sale.

The pair say the tenants refused to leave during that time, citing inability to secure a new rental and the impact of COVID-19, until they eventually vacated the property in early April.

The Strikas arrived at the home to find it had been left in an uninhabitable state, they say. Dog faeces were strewn over the bathroom and garage floors, the carpets were ruined, a door had been destroyed and architraves appeared to have been gnawed at by dogs.

They said they've also been left in arrears of several weeks' rent and bills.

"We're absolutely devastated by it," Ms Strika said.

"We've got pride in our properties. We maintain them to a standard where we would find it acceptable to come and rent, and to have this done to a relatively new property, it's disgusting."

The couple estimated the cost of repair to be tens of thousands of dollars, plus months of lost income while the property is vacant.

Ms Strika said recent changes in the ACT's rental legislation unfairly favour tenants and have major financial impacts on private investors.

In 2019, the ACT government passed legislation to give renters more freedoms, such as the ability to keep pets on the premises with the landlord's permission and make minor modifications to a home.

Ms Strika understands her tenants may have kept up to five dogs on the premises without permission and said the relaxed rules are to blame.

According to Legal Aid ACT, a lessor is permitted to make "a reasonable condition about the number of animals that may be kept on the property or the cleaning or maintenance of the property" without ACAT approval.

Joel Dignam, executive director of tenant advocacy group Better Renting, said the legislation doesn't condone what happened in this case.

"I think what we see in general in these situations where tenants might leave a property in a bad condition, and it's pretty tough for the owner, is that what's been done is against the law and there are options for legal recourse," he said.

"So it's not that the pet laws have changed, it's just that this tenant is behaving in a way that would be contrary to the laws, before or after [the change]."

Mr Dignam said, overall, the change has created a "fairer framework" for renters and landlords in the ACT.

Jan Baker, principal lawyer at JR Baker Law in Canberra, said investors who manage their properties privately must be aware of their legal obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

In the case of pets on the premises, she said there are clear legal avenues for situations where a tenant breaches an agreement.

"The tenant has a responsibility for any damage or any repairs that need to be done as a result of having the animal on the premises," she said.

"Of course sometimes the animal can become a problem and that gives the landlord license to start the process of dealing with that animal.

"There were a couple of points early on in this lessor's nightmare where some of the problems could have been resolved."

Ms Baker said regular six-month inspections of properties are important in mitigating risks for landlords, while taking the matter to ACAT may have resulted in a better outcome.

"It's an emotional and time-consuming process to try and deal with recalcitrant tenants, there's no doubt about that, but the law does support a lessor in these situations," she said.

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The Strikas said they are not considering taking the matter to ACAT, as they don't believe it will be worth the time or money.

"I've been to ACAT on other more minor issues," Ms Strika said.

"There was one other case with dues in rent and ACAT found in our favour, but there's no way of getting the person to pay - she left and went somewhere else, there's no forwarding address or anything. So what are you going to do?"

Ultimately, the landlords are left to clean up the mess and pay the bills.

"The ACT Legislative Assembly needs to ... ensure that there's a much better balance for private investors, the mums and dads who have one or two rental properties. That needs to be taken more into consideration because currently, it all weighs in favour of the tenant," she said.

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