katsmajic

Hi All,

Im asking for a friend, (we love our house so def not moving)

She rented the house from an english lady who had bought the house (newish build) off the internet, so owner had never seen the house etc...
She signed a fixed term contract for 6mths, and paid 3mths up front in the UK.
Once in the house she discovered that there was no TV aerial & no installed phone line. On calling the owner she was told to sort it out herself...

She didnt sort it as she not only didnt want that extra expense and didnt feel it was her duty to install things into a house that wasnt hers etc.
Then the oven died on her, she notified the owner and was told to get her husband to have a look at it...well the husbands not an electrician so didnt want to start messing with the cooker etc.

My friend had trawled real estate agents here asking to be notified of any houses coming available in a certain area for Dec/Jan time, and got a call that one was available - but now! and the house is to die for...

My friend informed the owner that she was going to be moving out early and that she would pay agents fees etc to advertise the house, and she still has 6 weeks paid up in advance anyway.

The owner has gone nuts, demanding the rest of the rental money upfront now! My friend has put forward 2 parties interested in the house (both of which want the oven and telephone sorted but are not too bothered about the tv) but the owner has demanded that they pay all the rent up front and if they cant afford to then their obviously not the sort of tenants she wants!!!
She is refusing to put the house through a real estate agent, says she wants it dealt with privately/in the UK.
Shes told my friend that regardless to renting the house she wants another 7 weeks rent from them paid upfront now as a fine for breaking the lease or she'll take them to a tribrunal and have them blacklisted!
All communications are in email so all written evidence.

My poor friend is beside herself with worry, Ive told her to get along to a solicitor...but who is in the right here??

Any advice please - before my freind packs up her family and goes back to the UK.

Katehn

What a nightmare, I don't know the answer but i would reccommend your friend gets legal advise. That doesn't sound right at all.
Best of luck to your friend.

Siren & Brian

Owner cant demand any more than 2 weeks in front.

I would be more likely in this situation to just up and leave. Any lost money put down to a bad experience.

struth

i think all states are different, we are in qld and broke our 6 month, fully paid up lease after only 2 and a half months, we had to pay for re-advertising and pay the rent till new tenants were found, after that our monies were refunded. there should be a tenants association which should be able to give them more info, there are forms to submit when the house is not up to scratch as reason for breaking the lease, in our case it was a broken air con system, not good mid summer in the tropical north qld!
check the internet for the tenants association. i wish them luck as it can be a stressful time.

ozzieclare2b

hi katsmajic, what a shit situation!! She should have had her bond put into a secure thingymajig (lol) too so its protected

read this hun might help phone number there too xx

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/accommoda...template=print basically it says landlord has broken terms of tenancy by not maintaining the property so she can terminate, theres a number near top get friend to ring them x

hope she gets it sorted some people just want to rip you off and i bet the aussies wouldnt put up with it and shes just trying it on!! Also coz she let the arial and oven thing go she might have thought blimey i wont get someone as green as this one again...tell her to go get stuffed (biatch!)

KMKM4

*?

stepbeanie

Did you not publicly post it first when you asked the very same question at the beginning of the month? katsmajic didn't post any names you did. sorry but there is always two sides to a story

KMKM4

We Just asked a question to what happens we didnt know . We asked what happens when you break a lease whats wrong with that ?

Kimberley

katsmajic

Ok, i recommended people x2 and was told they were not the tenants required if they cant pay up front...they dont want to pay up front for a house without a telephone/cooker/tv! The rent is paid up til oct - carpets are perfect but she offered to get them cleaned, just cant be done in 48 hours. No enemies have been made at all, everyone is trying to sort this asap so it doesnt get acrimonious....the house is lovely/clean/beautiful and i would and have recommended it - but only at a standard fit for newbie arrivals.


Legally only 6weeks rent up front can be taken, and all rentals in SA have to be registered with the government!
And email demanding additional monies is real and i have seen it.

pumpkin blossom

So do you even have a contract? If not Tickle then I think you are pretty stuffed. Normally it would be covered in the contact as to what happens if you want to break the lease early, and all about carpet cleaning. I certainly wouldn't pay for carpet cleaning if it wasn't in my contract (unless I had made them filthy).

Our rental doesn't have a TV ariel. We had a walk around the neighbourhood and hardly any houses here do. So we have an ariel on top of our tv and it works perfectly!
I certainly wouldn't think that was something to complain about if it was not stated in the contract as something that was at the house, same goes for the phone line.

Tickle as you are so far away I'm sure it would be worth the money to go through an agent. Rentals are going pretty quick so you should be able to charge that little bit more to cover their fees. I can't see you getting anyone unless they are desperate with you asking for the money up front, especially if they are being told you haven't fixed problems with the house. As a tennant I would not expect to be having to get quotes to have an oven fixed, I would expect something so essential to be reported and fixed ASAP.

I have a friend who took their landlord to the tribunal here in Adelaide because he had not fixed things far less important than an oven and he LOWERED their rent for them for the rest of their contract (it was on their second visit), and made the landlord fix it. Do you really want to go down that route Tickle? If I were you I would cut your losses, get an agent, get the oven fixed and take on a new tennant with realistic views on them paying their rent.

Good luck

katsmajic

There is a fixed term contract but it appears it has not been registered here with the rent tribrunal people and the monies were all done in the Uk so no OZ tax has been paid either.

Mikeyc

But in your original post 11 days ago you said YOU had the lease and YOU are living in SA.

Now, 11 days later you are the owner and living in the UK? Smells fishy to me.

Mikey

KMKM4

Hi there

I typed a whole essay and eleted it by mistake. There is contract with everything written in. We missed nothing. This is our worst nightmare. At this point I give up we fell its better o sell up and Adelaide doesnt seem so appealing. We feel everyone is against us, we are just trying to cover our mortgage. After this we are considering selling the bloody house. Hopefully not dream over but who knows. No body wanted it to get this far.

Kimberley

Geelong Gent

What so no bond has been registered?

Is the house actually insured? some policies are invalid without professional management services. I heard of one today in regard the Brooklyn Green fiasco - the insurance company have found out they were renting out short term ie week to week, just using an internet site for bookings and now they are not covered.

I wonder if tax is being declared or paid in either country?

KMKM4

I thought we would get jumped on as I knew Kat had lots of friends on here. Nothing fishy Just we asked the question as if we were the tennants and from my responses then spoke to the OCBA.

This is exactly what I thought would happen I give up.

Tax isnt due until April at the end of the Tax year. We would of been in the country then to sort it out. Now its personal so we will bow out.

Kimberley