What do I do??????????

[Bill Gaheer]

Hi Guys,

Just moved in Artarmon from Perth, got into a rental house with a direct agreement with landlord (no agent involved). We were told house is professionally cleaned and the inspection was dont at 10.00 PM in the night. next day the owner disapper to US for holidays

Now we are in the property and cleaning is shit. nothing has been professionally cleaned, I found mold, toothpaste, misquito mesh which is filled with dirt. curtains have mold deposits on the inside. House is in f****d up state and the bloody owner is arrogant bitch.

She has bluntly refused to do anything about this. Do I have any rights?
or I fork out the money for getting this cleaned.

Cheers,
Bill

[1300hayabusa]

Hi Guys,

Just moved in Artarmon from Perth, got into a rental house with a direct agreement with landlord (no agent involved). We were told house is professionally cleaned and the inspection was dont at 10.00 PM in the night. next day the owner disapper to US for holidays

Now we are in the property and cleaning is shit. nothing has been professionally cleaned, I found mold, toothpaste, misquito mesh which is filled with dirt. curtains have mold deposits on the inside. House is in f****d up state and the bloody owner is arrogant bitch.

She has bluntly refused to do anything about this. Do I have any rights?
or I fork out the money for getting this cleaned.

Cheers,
Bill

Bill you should take photos of the dirt mentioned,contact the RTA and please note that she should have given you an RTA book with your lease or receipt of rent paid.This book has all the rights that a tenant comes under when renting. You might want to get a professional cleaner to go through the house now,pay for the service,keep the receipt and when its time for you to vacate present the reciept as proof on how filthy the place was when you moved in.She wont have a leg to stand on but most probably she will pass it on the next victim like she did with you.Bill did you inspect the property before????

[BLACKZOOK]

+1 to Ruben's comments however I assume that as you are dealing directly with the owner that said owner is probably not declaring the rental income to the tax office, so I would photograph the mess and pay a contract cleaner to clean the house then deduct that amount from your first weeks rental. With your firsts weeks rental payment include a copy of the cleaners receipt as proof of moneys expended.

Send an email to the owner including a copy of the photos of the filth telling them what you are doing before you go ahead.

They wont argue or you can raise a ruckus.

[Ward P]

The last 2 posts are spot on. Photograph and document everything !!!

We once had a similar issue with a house we rented in Chatswood.

Place was a mess when we moved in. Private rental and they didn't lodge it with the rental Board. 2 years later and it was a shitfight to get it back. It should also have had interest added to it, but we were just happy to get it back in the end.
They even accused us of stealing the phone when we left! - We took the one we purchased because they wouldn't supply one.

[Heidi1]

I'm agreeing with everyone, but adding another element (we are going to have a DAMN FINE plan by the end of this thread). Photograph everything and get contract cleaners in. Rather than deduct it from the first week's rent, hang on to it until it is bond time on your way out. If this landlady is that dodgy, you aren't going to see it anyway. This is a problem if the bond is considerable though, as (from her perspective) it is a clearly antagonistic act.

[MrBusa]

Hey All

I have rented in QLD and VIC but not NSW so not sure of the laws there but def speak with the RTA for NSW, each state has diff criteria to meet for disagreements..

In VIC you have to pay the rent every week irrespective of problems, what you can do is pay your rent to the RTA with a lodgement of complaint and they will resolve the dispute with the landlord, this is good because your protected by RTA the landlord gets no payment till the matter is resolved, so if take weeks your covered under the act, the landlord gets screwed because he cant pay his bills and does not get the rent to him until the matter is resolved.

I would speak to the RTA about your rights though before getting a cleaner in. you may have to put up with a messy house for a bit but you also may save yourself some cash and you get to stick it to the BIATCH.

Good luck.

[Leviathan]

Hi Bill,

From my experience, if you have signed a property condition report saying it was clean / damage free when you did your inspection the landlord will not reimburse cleaning costs. In fact, it will work against you when you get your bond back.

Follow the advice above, take lots of photos & if you can get a third party involved to sign a statutory declaration as to the properties condition. Contact the landlord ASAP.

In WA, REIWA (dept of consumer employment & protection) are the mob to contact. Not sure who deals with it in NSW.

Cheers
Troy

[Camel]

Bill, use the camcorder and invest in proper legal advice.

[Heidi1]

I've had a thought, my advice is crap, ignore it. THinking about how high Sydney rents are at the moment, the last thing you want to do is jepardise your bond (I can only imagine it is substantial and you'll need it for your next place). Go with everone else's advice, mine sucks.

H

[ROD]

We just moved back to Melbourne from Brisbane and came accross a lot of homes to look at one real estate we went through for a house had about a dozzen people going for the property . So they offered us a brand new home same design etc so we went and had a look at outside looked good erea so said we would take it without looking in side Well it was brand new .
We picked up keys 3 days latter on the friday and could not belive the state of house toilets used with no water hole in the wall and that much dirt and mud through house from tradies .
When we signed contract we was told no need to feel out inspection report as house is new Yeh right
we took photos and if have any problem when we decide to moove out we have pics to prove .
But to save the headach we just cleaned the house our self

[steventh]

Hi Bill,

What the owner said is irrelevant if you do not have proof.

You may be able to get her on a technicality if she did not provide you with the correct documentation - get in touch with Consumer Affairs to check this out.

If you signed a condition report saying the unit was in good condition etc etc then you are stuck with it.

Professional legal advice is expensive - for what $200 worth of cleaning? Weather she is a nice women or an arrogant bitch is irrelevant. Save your self the hassle and clean the place yourself and next time get it in writing.

However, if you want to break your lease - again see Consumer Affairs - or read our contract for dispute resolution procedures.

Cheers

Steven

[Bill Gaheer]

We are getting the house clean and paying out of pocket. We are taking pics and videos of condition. Yes we did sign the condition report, but the inspection happened at 10.00 Pm and that too because owner said she is leaving for US and we needed a place to live :(, We have paid good amount of money as bond and I am writing to her about all the issues. We did tell her that this dosent look clean she said it's been cleaned twice - we found mold deposits in the curtains and bathroom just the very next day.

Tough luck :) - in Perth the house we were moving out got sold so just to insure that the new owner don't get any bad impression we painted the whole house. A house only becomes home when you take care of it.
Cheers
Bill

[daaef]

That sux.. I've been on the other end of the situation and from experience if it goes to the courts, the tenant usually wins regardless of right and wrong. Photos etc will always help. Just whether you can be bothered chasing it up.

Its like when you hire a car and you have to sign the condition report before seeing the car. WTF?!

[steventh]

Hi Bill,

Welcome back to Sydney - pity its not under better circumstances.

I understand how this must stick in your craw but if the landlord doesn't want to assist, get advice from Consumer Affairs as i suggested and then be prepared to let it go.

Best of luck

Steventh

[horone1]

To cut along story short I had a customer who wanted me to sign off on a modification to a machine as a legal thing to say we would approve it!
I must admit I didnt really want to know about it anyway he emailed me then faxes acopy to me and sent me a letter via regist mail this guy wanted to cover his arse! So now when the shoe is on the other foot thats just what I do at least they cant say they didnt get it!