No card payment fees? Sure! Surely businesses circumventing the card charge fee like this is straight up illegal. What a bunch of bs.
App is called OurTenant, feel free to destroy it on the app store.
So went outside yesterday morning, to turn the outdoor tv on and and breakfast, I noticed no power. So I checked the power boards and the point. Noticed smoke, so went into action, turned the power off to the house, called the agent & landlord, sent photos and video to both.
Both were great. Landlord spoke with agent and a sparky was booked.
About 2 hours later I noticed there was still smoke even though the power was still off.
I spoke with my wife who just happened to be with a CFA worker. His advice was call triple 0 just to be on the safe side.
They came, opened the roof and found no heat, but backed up me calling.
I informed both the agent and the landlord, the landlord was great, said I did the right thing.
The agent sent these messages..
Update: Spoke with the landlord(s). They've said they've noticed a few things over the past 18 months that are worrying and are looking at options. They both confirmed I did the right thing and are planing on getting the leak which caused this fix as well as replacing and moving the power point.
Hello, just a little vent.
Electrician is here today installing a fan in the water damaged bathroom. It is to be run from a light fitting that is so old it was left naked when I moved in, because the LL obvs realised they couldn’t get the glass back on over a standard LED globe.
Despite multiple conversations with REA about the issues with the fittings & the electrician before he came, the owner was still too cheap to pay to have the light fitting replaced while the electrician was there literally running a fan to the same fitting. I was told they would be checked - that apparently meant look at them and take no action.
Instead I was sent an electrician to preach the REA & LL’s agenda. I got a lecture about how land tax is causing LL’s to sell, that I should just take the glass off and have bare bulbs (all the other renters do that apparently, even if you are paying over $400 a week rent), how renters have too many rights now blah blah. I got sick of arguing and saying we have to agree to disagree so I hid in the car.
Here’s a before and after with my new exhaust fan but significantly dimmer lighting 🙄
Hey guys im moving into a granny flat that was built 3 years ago, and no one has paid the $300 new connection fee for nbn. Anyone living here has had no internet. Just wondering how normal this is and how to circumnavigate.
Im wondering if this is the new norm for renters, pay more for less rights.
EDIT - thanks everyone for the advice, my options are starlink or pay the one time connection fee to nbn myself.
5g broadband is unavailable. Starlink only has a $69 up front cost.
I signed the lease only three weeks ago. I called up today because someone spray painted over my car park number with their own number (okay) and they informed me that they don’t look after this property anymore. I asked if they could pass on the new real estate agency details and they said they didnt have it, and I should have already been contacted.
I don’t want to piss anyone off cos its kinda a rough area but now my car is parked in the next street until I can contact someone :/
Its okay for now, but what am I supposed to do when this happens? I’m concerned something urgent will come up and I cant contact the real estate lol.
I don’t even know where to pay my rent to 😂
Hi Everyone, thought id share an update on a recent post i made.
First off just want to thank everyone for their help, advice and pointing me in the right direction of departments i could contact. i wouldnt have gotten through this without this group.
In the end after a few back and forth emails and the REA arguing that because it was "sent" its good to go, and Consumer Affairs and Tenants Victoria telling me otherwise i told them my final position was wed not be back paying any $ but we did offer to start paying the increase from the next rental payment due date (2 weeks away) they then said theyd contact Consumer Affairs and Tenants Victoria and Australia Post, not long later they were told by those who they spoke to they could take this futher with VCAT if they wish, which they didnt want to. I thanked them for that and still offered to commence the amount from the next due date.
Well theyve come back and said theyd be sending a new increase out to us, this time they included it in an email as well as registered post, this now has a 90 day notice period and theyve increased the rent by $70 from the original $50 a week theyd tried to send.
All in all my wife and i are happy with the result
Thanks again everyone!
Annoyingly we were issued with a notice of intention to sell
Our lease is up on the 17th of this month
We've been looking at other rentals and applied for two
Tentatively accepted pending our current agent providing a reference etc
Problem is - the current agent is ignoring the requests
I've phoned and emailed asking them to respond to the requests. The real estate we've applied with have also, with no response
They haven't issued a notice to vacate just the intention to sell
Any ideas, feedback thoughts? It's stressful enough but my partner is having major surgery on 30th October so if we have to move it needs to be before then
It absolutely shits me as much as you’d think it would 😀
Half the height, half the access, and no other space to store food
Landlord (direct rented not thru real estate) sends email on labour day to say that rent will increase from next week. What is the best negotiation strategy? NSW requires 60 days of notice. [Edited]
So over a month ago we notified the agent of our severely leaking toilet- as in we were soaking 3 towels a day. Also in the same week our hard wired battery smoke alarm started to beep even when we replaced the batteries, thus needing a repair or replacement (this is our only smoke alarm in Property and is ok according to the agents smoke alarm servicer).
It took us 3 weeks to get the toilet repaired - agent ended up organising their trades but owner then refused and took another 1.5 weeks for their trade to come out. Plumber said he doesn’t deal with mould and will let the owners know which I am not sure he did or not.
3 weeks later and we are still awaiting the smoke alarm- again the owner Said his own trades will attend to save money I am assumjng.
We also now have a mould issue in the ensuite where the toilet was leaking- very strong smell of damp with evidence of a subfloor leak and roof staining. I am still awaiting any correspondence to this. I have a newborn too who sleeps in our room and I am worried about the exposure to the damp smell. I asked the agent about it and he said that he wasn’t aware of the mould even though the plumber and owner should have mentioned it.
Is this leaking an urgent repair? It seems that the owner has no interest in repairing anything.
Can I apply for vcat? Is it worth it?
Also we are paying a pretty decent rent for the owners for where we live- I know it doesn’t make a difference but makes me even more angry.
Hi everyone, looking for advice about a break lease in Victoria.
We moved out of a rental about 2.5 weeks ago, with around 4 months remaining on our fixed-term lease (which had been renewed a couple of times), and returned the keys.
Before we broke the lease, someone we know was willing to take over the property. However, according to the real estate agent, the landlord wanted to go through the “proper channel”, so they refused to accept his application and proceeded with their own advertising/application process.
After we returned the keys, I emailed the property manager and she said she would inspect the property the following day. However, I only heard from her again 14 days later, saying she hadn’t been able to inspect it because her car broke down and would do so that day.
Since we moved out, there has only been one inspection, and another inspection scheduled for today has now been cancelled. The property is still advertised.
We also lodged our bond claim with the RTBA when we returned the keys. The 14-day response period has now expired without a dispute being lodged, so the bond has been finalised/returned. We have also cancelled the direct debit for rent, as we’ve returned the keys and no longer have possession of the property but we have paid rent until 27th October.
We understand we may still owe reasonable compensation for lost rent/re-letting costs and are prepared to pay what is genuinely owed.
My main question is: based on all of this, does it sound like the rental provider/agent is actively taking reasonable steps to re-let the property and minimise loss? Could the delayed inspection, limited number of inspections, cancelled inspection and refusal of a potential replacement tenant be relevant if they later seek compensation for ongoing lost rent?
Can they still pursue compensation after the bond has been returned, and what evidence would they need to show they’ve made reasonable efforts to re-let?
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone familiar with Victorian tenancy law or who has dealt with something similar.
Owner wants to remove hedge, which gave us privacy and though not security possibly things less opportunistic. Is there any precedent to stop this?
Hello!!
Long time thread reader of the mold community, but first time poster! Eager for feedback about if I am being dramatic about pre-existing mould in my new Sydney rental or is this a major red flag?
My partner & I looked for six months, and the strain was starting to ruin our relationship. We finally cracked and opted to sign a lease on a place despite it missing a few of our key requirements (eg south facing instead of north or east even though I know those apartments can still be mouldy af!)
During the initial rental inspection, I noticed mould and explicitly asked if they could clean it before we moved in. The agent said they would have owners or strata do it and I can see they’ve made a crack at the balcony brick walls but it is still visible.
I’ve been burned badly by the Sydney rental market before so am extra cynical. I have an autoimmune condition and both my partner and I are highly sensitive to mould (like most, it triggers severe brain fog and fatigue for us). So I’m pretty prone to an anxious spiral the second I see a speck of it.
Details about the apartment:
- Built in the 1980s, top floor but the building is in and right next to wetlands/bushland.
- South-facing living room and kitchen. The bedrooms face north but get heavily shaded by tree cover.
- No windows in the laundry or bathroom, but the ventilation seems good and it has non-slip tiles. No visible mould in there yet, but have been amazed what a paint job can cover previously
- owners assured they’d never had any issues when I pressed rental agent to confirm.
My concern is the visible mould covering the entire underside of the balcony gutter, as well as on the internal walls and around the windows (including on the ends of the inside window sills). + a patch up job on the cupboard.
I am seriously considering paying myself to get a professional remediation team to clean it just for my own peace of mind, but I don't know if I'm being dramatic?
TLDR: should I hassle the agent to fix mostly external visible mould or just cop the cost myself so I can sleep at night? Is it to be expected in wetlands and an old apartment / how severe do you think it is?