I'm fuming - stupid landlords....

[Dragoness]

no, you do not have to get the place sprayed for pests if you never had an animal. Does it say in the contract ANYWHERE that you have to have the place spray regardless of pet status? If not, then they have to PROVE you had a pet there before a court will make you pay. As for the curtains, if they persist, tell them that you will clean them again, as long as they tell you what to use, and they are there to witness the cleaning. it is definately beyond a joke and they are just trying to get money out of you, dont give them that satisfaction. As for the rent money, you have to pay up until the day you told them you were moving out, beyond that if they stuff around with inspections, that is their problem, not yours. As long as you were out and the place clean on your set date, thats all you needed to do!

Cheers

 

[Fester]

I have two investment properties in QLD, mine with tenant vacating have to have carpets professionally cleaned, but only pest sprayed if they have had animals inside the property.

 

[tempest]

Slim6y, you will most likely find that you are obligated to pay rent up until the date you return the keys, that was definitely something in all of our tenancy agreements and fair enough, there's nothing to say that someone hasn't been staying there up until the point that the keys are returned. You will probably find that the RTT would rule with the landlord on that one.

As for the verbal agreement about the pest control, yes a verbal agreement is legally binding. The problem would only arise if it was otherwise written in the lease... if it states "if tenants have pets" or something to that effect you should be fine. However I think it would be something you could definitely contest if you didn't have pets and on the grounds of the verbal agreement.

Anything written on the inbound inspection - such as the curtains - is how you are entitled to leave the property. Stand your ground on that one and things like replacing the door valve, unless you deliberately broke it, it's wear and tear and certainly something that they can't make you pay for.

Let us know how you go.

 

[raptor]

Upon a second inspection of the curtains, they have been found to have:
- gecko droppings still stuck on the backs of the curtains
Did they have the droppings analyazed by a lab? or do the they specilize in "droppings"

 

[elapid68]

Damn, I must be one of the lucky ones. All my tenants have been really good, apart from one bloke who stole the TV ariel.
Apart from the ariel, the houses have always been kept clean and the only "damage" has be due to fair wear and tear.

 

[Robbo]

sounds like you got a bad deal from the real estate agent
the real estate agent i first used for my rental property thought it was acceptable for the tenant to leave the house with food smeared down a most of the walls ,food scraps lying on the floor , brand new carpets that where all stained rubbish left all through the house when they left
there excuse was she was a single mother

so it looks like some real estate agents take it to far and others dont care as long as they get your money

 

[slim6y]

Hey people... Elapid... i am a good tenant... it's the landlords that are poor landlords.

Raptor I don't believe they specialise in droppings, they specialise in talking droppings

The update as follows:

The missing manhole found, the door return valve thing for the security screen, not an issue, all other issues solved... Except...

1: The curtains went off to get cleaned, and they're going to try and fork me the bill, I have said, under no certian terms will I pay for it - however, I did mention I would go halvsies - if a reasonable price was met. If not, good luck to them.

2: Pest control - They're going to ascertain if I had a pet or not, if not, the lease just stated I 'could' have a pet - and a 'Cat' was what I was allowed. The lease does NOT state pest control must be done, so I am easily going to win that one. they won't be able to prove I had a pet, so therefore I won't be paying for pest control.

3: Finally, I paid up until the keys were handed back, they owe me $137 for overpaid rent. I was dissapointed by this, but conceded that I didn't return the keys quickly enough.

I also mentioned to Mr Gay that Karma is rather powerful... i am in all my rights to go to court to get 11 months of reimbursement for their failure to comply with issues of the house. And I left it at that...

Now all i have to do is wait - I can guarantee I will not pay more than $30 for the curtains.

I will not pay for pest control that they did without my permission.

And that's all there is to it!

hehe... See - I'm the tenant who leaves the house in exactly the same condition as when I went in to it!

That's all a landlord can ask for really - oh, other than pay rent on time, which i did!

 

[junglecarpet]

I have a reasonably similar problem at the moment…

We moved into a brand new townhouse complex 4 1/2 months ago now

The day we moved in, the handle on the storage space downstairs broke off
The following day, bulb blew on the balcony and the towel rack fell off the ensuite wall
Then the drain in the backyard was blocked and sewerage was leaking out of it and there was toilet paper and stuff all over the backyard!

It takes them about a week to fix that…
Then we didn’t even know it had been fixed, no one had informed us!?

About a month into it, the wiring in the bathroom must have disconnected or something and the light wont turn on
Carpet came loose from the bottom stair and nails were sticking out
They told us to kick it back in
I told them I did that
They told me to try again

The landlord got fired and a new lady was appointed
I told her about the situation, she seemed like she really wanted to help out (We handed in yet another repair request form)
She got the carpet fixed on the bottom step and we thought yay finally someone who will actually help
That’s all that got done

(She is no longer landlord anymore and there is new lady now)

Now 3 more months down the track, the pool is like a ducks pond, I had a weed in the backyard up to my waist (and we pay $11 a week for them to maintain the lawn!) the air con doesn’t work (we tried it for the FIRST time a month ago and its not cold at all) and the other things STILL arent fixed!

So we handed in a Remedy Breach form and gave them a fortnight to fix everything
Now its been 3 1/2 weeks and nothing has been fixed

Handed in an URGENT resolution dispute request form to the RTA on Monday, got a letter in the mail saying they have received it, but no phone call

We are stuck

If we hand in a Notice of Intention to Leave, the onsite Body Corporate can take us to court for the remaining money etc and take our bond

What do we do???

/end rant

 

[Isis]

We leased a farm house from this guy years ago. The septic tank needed emptying and was causing all sorts of yukky things like the sewage bubbling up through all the sinks and spitting back at you from the loo. We had 3 kids under 4 with youngest being a newborn. Our wonderful landlord fixed the problem his way and came up with a fire pump and promtly pumped the entire contents of the septic tank all over the backyard, the back wall of the house and through our veggie patch. We ended up with about 6inches of sewage just sitting there as there was not enough drainage or natural fall for it to go anywhere. This all happened in the midst of a nth east vic summer with temps around the 40-45 deg mark. And just before christmas which was at our place that year. Unfortunately even after going to all avenues residential tenancies, health dept, epa the lot we got nowhere.
The landlord was a member of the force so we got stuck in the **** literally. Its not easy to move at short notice when you need small acreage.Needless to say we never ate from our wonderful vggie patch again.

 

[MoreliaMatt]

I hve been on both ends of the stick.... dodgy real estate agents and dodgy tennants..... if you ask me, i will only every rent out privately to someone i know.....

 

[slim6y]

Well man.. sometimes I think I had it easy too! I don't know where I'm at at the moment in my dispute - but I can say, quite comfortably it's not as bad as some of these stories!!!

I will keep you posted with what i owe and what i get back!

 

[slim6y]

Here's the latest -

I got all my bond back... well, sort of. As per an agreement to save money exhanging hands they deducted around $8 from the bond as per this Email:

Hello Paul,

Your refund of rental bond form is ready to be picked up from our office. A breakdown of the final account relating to 9 Carbine close is detailed below:

Rent till 4/12/06 (over paid to 7/12/06) - $131.42 refund
Less Carpet cleaning - $120.00
Less half curtain cleaning costs - $20.00

total owing by tenant = $8.58

This amount has been deducted from your bond and a refund of $911.42 is available.

If you have any queries please contact our office.

Regards
Michael & Robyn

So i think you will agree, the bond was in fact refunded in full - minus an agreement we made.

So I got all back, and I moved happily on. Now I am looking for a new place to live, so I went and saw a house, thought it was great, looked at it, signed up for it. Filled out all the forms etc. But... Oh... It came back 'not recommended'.

I did ask why??? What had I done? Have I been black listed for some strange reason? Well, naturally no...

The service that did reference checking on me called O'Connor and Gaye (THE WORST REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN THE WORLD) and they answered a few questions:

Was the bond paid back in full - their answer "No"

Technically correct - but not accurate... As above, the bond was paid back in full, minu $8 to save money changing hands and as per agreement.

They also stated I was messy - Is that any of their business? The house I stayed at was very short of storage, so a lot of stuff was stored in the garage. The garage was open to the house, but not the street. There was some junk, regrettably, in the garage. But certainly the house was tidy, I would say spotless! The lawns were always trimmed and proper. And any damage I did I promptly fixed - that included an accidental smashed window (my ex did that) and a kicked in front door - my ex also did that

But it was fixed without argument. And yes, I am probably responsible for it no matter what.

So why would they need to add I'm messy? I certainly don't think I was messy. Dished were always done (I have a dishwasher hehe), the rooms were clean and tidy. I don't get it??? They're making stuff up!!! I hope they have proof!

Finally, if they would recommend me as a tenant - well - "NO" they said!

I'm not sure of the exact reasons, but I guess it has to do with me sticking up for my rights.

So - firstly I have called the RTA - they're not too interested in this as a case. So I called up the Office of Fair Trading - and I have made a formal complaint in regards to code of conduct. As it is in a real estate's code of conduct that they must help people get accomodated.

Not to mention they lied about me being messy...

Well, if I can just ask one thing of anyone on this site... Never ever never ever purchase or rent through O'Connor and Gaye...

Is there a way I can start publically humilating them legally??? The way I feel right now

They don't recommend me as a tenant - so i don't recommend them as a real estate agent - or am I meant to just roll over and take it???

Well - all suggestions and comments are helpful. As previous comments have also been.

Thanks all

Paul

 

[Earthling]

The ol picket out the front door always works a treat. As customers come tell them how this company sucks big time and why. Short, fast and LOUD is the key.
Otherwise give the next mob your second last landlords details if their all good, instead of the horrible ones and say youve been staying at your mums or something since then.

 

[slim6y]

Yes, I am going to choose not to list O'Connor and Gaye as my last landlords.... and pickets are good... Now all I need is the paint and pickets...

Maybe I should phone them up and get them to meet me at various houses they have for sale... time is money... and they wasted my time... so I can waste their money

 

[GSXR_Boy]

Perhaps go to today tonight or a current affair?
Or at least tell the real estate you are going there to report there shoddy practices!!

 

[Oxyuranus microlepid]

let the thread die!!

wat a lame name, o'connor and Gay lol!

 

[slim6y]

Perhaps go to today tonight or a current affair?
Or at least tell the real estate you are going there to report there shoddy practices!!

Did that - told them what i was going to do - and requested they retract their statements as they were untrue... or not the full story told.

Of course my language wasn't as polite as you read today.

I don't know if the office of fair trading will do anything. But I hope they do - I seriously hope they see it as a breach of the code of conduct. I know it will only be a warning for them... But that's a good start.

I wished I could find more people with similar complaints tho!