Cheetah7

We had to pay for our own telephone line and our aerial as well.

And when we move next month we have to pay another broadband/phone fee as well.

katsmajic

The tv aerial is considered a fixture and if not present it is not required that a landlord fit one.
The telephone is not a legal requirement, but a moral one according to the OCBA...just imagine if something happened to your tenants child and the tenant couldnt call an ambulance.
Obviously no phone line means no internet - and the prepaid wireless dongles did not work in that area - they tried that.
The cooker is a legal requirement.

The tenants were not informed of the aerial or lack of it nor of the phone line not being connected before they signed up for the house, they discovered it once they were in the house - it genuinely is one of those things you expect to be in place - they knew they had to pay the $50 fee to connect the phone in their names etc...just not about the $300 installation/connection fee.

The area the rental is in does not receive a signal with an internal aerial - they tried that.

The tenant assumed when mentioning these issues with the landlord and thought that offering to get them installed (at the landlords cost) as doing them a favour as the owners would be moving into that house themselves in January.

All in all the lease was broken because a dream house became available - the rent is still paid until the beginning of Oct, giving the tenants plenty of time to try to get new tenants in to take over the lease - however despite finding 2 potential new tenants it is almost impossible to rent out a house without these items, and with the demands/requests the landlord has put in place - I.E. all rent to be paid upfront.
My friend has morals and could not not tell these interested parties about the lack of tv/phone/cooker....both parties want the phone and cooker to be sorted before their arrival and before they part with any monies.

Like i said emigrating is hard work, its an emotional rollercoaster, a basic item as a phone means so much - just so you are connected to the outside world etc, can chase jobs, call family etc...
The tenant was only able to access the internet in the last 2 weeks through work (can not get onto email using work pc - but can facebook) or before if she sat in the libraries...which virtually all of us have done when weve first arrived, just not for 6 weeks....


Having no communications with the outside world is one of the reasons this all went belly up for our friends and their landlord - but it wasnt thier fault they had no means of communication.

And i agree with JoJo, the owner should possibly have watched initially to see where the thread was going and to see if anyone posted the legal side of things.
Ive just discovered the house is advertised on here - so by responding tickle has identified her house. and hasnt declared the non working cooker/no phone/no tv.

perthexpat

Kats, maybe there is a moral argument for the phone but it is not an obligation. I have now rented 2 places and in each, as they were new properties, the landlord had not connected the phone line. I wanted internet, I paid for connection. It's a choice!
As for your friend not knowing until moving in then that, unfortunately, is their fault. With the advent of cheap mobile plans now more and more people are using them as a form of communication. As for internet, that is a luxury, not a necessity.

katsmajic

As i said, the issues were not the actual reason for breaking the lease - they just made life really difficult and were the reason for the breakdown in communications with the landlord. They broke the lease to take up a beautiful house on a longterm lease in the same area as their childrens school and where they wanted to live.
They want to pay an agents fees to get the house re let - the owner didnt want to use an agent and the agents have said they cant take on the house without the owners permission and without a working cooker as a minimum.
Also the owners have said regardless to the house being re let they want another 7 weeks rent to be paid by my friend, simply as a penalty for breaking the lease.

Leases get broken all the time, the tenant is then liable for the costs in re letting the property, and if the property is let immediately the landlord has to refund any rents owing to the original tenant...not charge them more and make double the money on the property!

I personally think both parties should call it quits - my friend broke the lease but is prepared to make it right, the owner has unrealistic and illegal expectations...if they walk away from it now it would save hassle and heartache on both sides..and possible court action as a tribrunal is possibly going to be the only way of resolving this.

The house would re let tommorrow - its a lovely house...but no one wants it without a cooker. And when readvertising the house the owner should declare there is no phone/tv.

pumpkin blossom

You obviously haven't looked around many houses in Adelaide. We looked at loads, and none of them had arials, and we had to ASK. And agent will certainly not declare it. Our agent didn't even declare that the heater didn't work, until we went to sign the paperwork, and they had listed the TV arial as in working order, but there isn't one at all!!
TV is a CHOICE. Some people don't even have it. The same with a telephone. We didn't have a land line for 3 years in the UK in a rental because we didn't want to pay to put one in. We had mobiles instead. And had one of us had an accident we would have used the mobiles to call for help, we were certainly never in any danger because WE decided not to get a phone line put in.

Tickle may not even want any of these things when he/she moves in. Personally I want Foxtel when I move in to an owned house, so I wouldn't want to waste money on an arial. And of course there is satalite internet (not the silly dongle thingies, the type which works in the outback), and mobile phones. Just because something is one persons priority, doesn't mean it is everyone elses.

And considering it was not one of the reasons for the lease being broken it is being mentioned rather a lot.

KMKM4

Look Kat

Initially there was no mention of them paying anything other than what they had asked to pay in advanced. They seemed genuienly shocked that they would have to continue with the rent and maybe pay re-leting fee's.

I tried to advertise it on here and PIA to find someone quickly so no other cost would be occured to us or them with agents.

There are no demands for extra cash. We are happy to go with an agent and will call one tonight.

The cooker situation we thought was resolved. Kat informed me via direct emails to me that its not we didnt know that. We will have no access until the keys arrive by recorded delivery and have an email saying these were been sent Friday. My friend who is waiting on them is still waiting on them.

Only Thursday email advised we maybe should contact an agent its only Sunday now. Its true this saga feels like an eternity and we all want it to end. We want house house rented, like I said we will give like we did to our tennents a free week to cover the phone. When we get access to our home we will fix the cooker its only the bloody element from what they have described.

Either way we will be out of pocket within their agreement carpets were to be cleaned when they exited ( it was not offered at all I was told they were clean) The Lawn should be kept tidy ( apparently its knee high with the unfortunete rains Adelaide has had.) All Utilities to be paid. The water bill came to me still in my name the other day (they have siad they will pay it) . I ll not mention the other 2.

Look lets all just get through this they can get on with their lives and us with ours. I don't actually blame the family at all, I think there is too many cooks working here and everyone else needs to take a step back and let it be resolved.

PS We dont want 7 weeks regardless, we want a tennant, by using an agent we know we will get rent paid. You cant demand money off people we know that we have no contact with the 2 potential tennants at all (ghost tennants maybe). Please remember we wouldnt be asking these people for a bond and they wouldnt be jumping thru agents hoops with credit checks and references is we had found them ourselves. We are happy that they pay until at tennant s found this has always been the case. They asked us about paying a settlement to walk away. We agreed with them that the meet us in the middle we thought again it was over till Kats post, and we find they are not happy with this. This wasnt a demand the they offered it. I guess we fell into a trap we thought the offer was too good to be true and it was.

KMKM4

Hi JO

I know I should of just watched the preceedings even I felt sorry for them and angry at the landlord with Kats facts. That why I stepped in. I felt sick reading what everyone was saying not knowing the actual facts. Statements had been taken out of contents to cast a dark light on us. Its really a horrible feeling that this is happening in the place we hope to call home. What Tennant would to rent the place if he knew the goings on.

I will check more into the grant. Hey its a bonus if we get. Im sure someone would be happy if we didnt.

moneypenny20

I think this thread has probably run it's course and is going nowhere. Hope it all gets sorted to the satisfaction of all.