Annoyed with the rental agency

**MySydney** · 10-05-2012, 01:12 AM

I have seen that kind of attitude as well, where an agent had accused the tenant of having "damaged the property" because they had made a slight mark on a wall... Agent's attitude and language can be abusive, unfortunately as long as the rental market is that way we'll have to deal with this kind of behavior. However don't be discouraged: it always pays to be a model tenant so you don't give agents or landlords ANY reason to make your life difficult! And, to end on a good note: they're not all like that... Some are actually quite pleasant and helpful.

**Love Shoes** · 10-05-2012, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by MySydney

I have seen that kind of attitude as well, where an agent had accused the tenant of having "damaged the property" because they had made a slight mark on a wall... Agent's attitude and language can be abusive, unfortunately as long as the rental market is that way we'll have to deal with this kind of behavior. However don't be discouraged: it always pays to be a model tenant so you don't give agents or landlords ANY reason to make your life difficult! And, to end on a good note: they're not all like that... Some are actually quite pleasant and helpful.

So far I have to say that our agent / management company seem to be very helpful and they are most certainly very pleasant. I pop into see them usually once a fortnight just to say Hi, or like today to drop off some junk mail for the previous tenant.
But saying this I am in no doubt that things may change as the tenancy progresses, I am hoping that we can extend after our initial 6 month´s a) we like the house b) it is handy for the amenities / work and c) we don´t want to have to go through the hassle & expense of moving ...... it has taken me ages to get the place how I want it, plus we have bought furniture specifically for this house, hopefully this won´t be coming back to bight me on the bottom.

Our rent is paid via a third party, we are using a salary sacrifice, the monies are deducted from OH salary and then paid to the rental agent, last week was the first cycle of this, so we checked with the agent to see if they had had it, they sent a text to say they had, so all good so far.

I am hoping that they continue to be this way, I had a very dim view of rental agents before I found this company and this house, and to some extents they have helped to alleviate my fears, I know I contradict what I said in a previous post, but yes I do believe that with agents one has to be on one´s best behaviour and to a certain extent walk on egg shells, not pissing them off in anyway, but on the other hand if they do something that we are not happy with we know our rights and if need be we would exercise them, hopefully we won´t need to do that.
For example we have not yet had any notification that our bond has been placed with the government, we are going to give this another month and if we receive nothing, we will ask the agent what is happening.

Good luck Vicky.

**MySydney** · 10-05-2012, 04:21 AM

Hi, the agent always has to check with the Landlord. In a lot of cases they will simply put an additional clause in the contract making you responsible for whatever damage your pet may have done. Remain polite as it is in your best interest to do so, but always encourage the agent to check with the landlord, while showing your intentions of being a responsible tenant/pet owner.

**VickyMel** · 17-05-2012, 06:14 AM

Well just to update you guys on our lease issue where the agent was saying we must do another 12 month lease and I managed to grudgingly agree to 6 months and suggesting I should be grateful the rent had not gone up...

Thanks to you guys (and especially some tips on the side from PP - big thanks PP) we are now on a month to month lease and they will review the rent in 6 months.

I'm really grateful - I came in here to vent and had expected to be signing the 6 month lease the following day.

It really is a weight off our backs as we are both up in the air a bit re work at the time the lease was to end so it is good to know we can look anywhere for work rather than be limited to being close to this flat.

Plus now we have the rolling lease I feel less trapped.

**supa** · 17-05-2012, 08:24 AM

Really pleased you are sorted VM - what a relief.

As an aside, when we once moved into a rental, we took video footage of every square bit of the property on our video (which was "date stamped" by the camera). We were able to prove that a window frame was chipped and some wallpaper peeled off behind a curtain when they tried to get us to pay out. They couldn't argue when we came up with the proof.

**Toodolou** · 17-05-2012, 09:26 AM

could anyone tell me if it is hard to rent a place in oz if you are from the UK and have never rented before therefore i wont have a landlords reference as have only ever owned a mortgaged property myself?

**realitynotincluded** · 17-05-2012, 10:51 AM

I think you will find that most of your troubles come from your accent .... in the trade they say that most poms have little or no idea of the rules about renting and the agents find it easier to manipulate...appear to have it wrapped tighter than a xmas present because they know poms are looking to settle down somewhere quickly... usually have the dough....you have to dig deep and let them know with a series of questions that u know the score... just hope .. especially in perth that there aren't a few more vunerable poms in the crowd that they would rather take on lol

**calNgary** · 17-05-2012, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Toodolou

could anyone tell me if it is hard to rent a place in oz if you are from the UK and have never rented before therefore i wont have a landlords reference as have only ever owned a mortgaged property myself?

You will be fine, there are a few threads on here explaining what paperwork to bring but the lack of a landlords reference wont really matter.

Cal x

**Toodolou** · 17-05-2012, 11:35 AM

thanks cal will ake a look , renting looks so expensive out there x

**VickyMel** · 17-05-2012, 11:52 PM

If you don't have a reference from a previous landlord - are you paying a mortgage. Have you got a statement showing regular payments on that.

None of our refencences were checked out.

Agree with Supa - our place was pretty bad when we arrived but only one thing was mentioned on the list of things wrong.
I took photos of loads of things and wrote loads on the check-in form. I felt awful handing it and felt I was very much going over the top.
Now I realise I still probably did not go far enough.