rld1177

Does anyone have any good sources re landlord vs tenant rights?

My landlord seems to want to inspect the property monthly. I have lived in my apartment 9 months, and have had one electrical problem with the lights and one (current) issue with the dishwasher and bed. I pay 3000 a month and the apartment is fully furnished.

During the electrical issue, he came with his wife, spent 5 hours mucking around and his wife spent time 'teaching' my partner how to clean the bathroom with her preferred Singaporean cleaning product. (The bathroom was spotless, and we have maid service twice a month)

For the dishwasher issue, he once again wants to come personally to 'try to fix it' - we also just discovered our bed mattress is 6.5 years old, it is not the type that can be flipped and we have asked it is also replaced since it sags in the middle, he also wants to 'inspect this' and 'try laying on it'.

Given we are paying a decent amount of rent, I would think basic expecations like getting a dishwasher repaired by a specialist and / or having an old mattress replaced is reasonable. Has anyone had similar issues, and is there a baseline I can point to re inspection times / hanging about my apartment digging around in my things?

Thanks

Beoz

I pay about this for an unfurnished place .... you're on a winner.

Sounds like you're dealing with the chinese right? My landlord too. He spent all day at my digs once, building a new back door because he was too tight to have someone install it.

If you are in NSW, phone the Office of Fair Trading.

Bermudashorts

Sorry can't actually help, but thought I would share a story. Our front door is electonic, controlled through a little keypad. After we had lived in teh house for a few weeks, I came home to find that it had opened itself during the day and then this happened again and one time sprung open when we were in the house.

Well we had several visits from the estate agent, didn't seem to want to believe us, quite why we would make this up is a mystery. Then the landlord (who lives overseas) wanted to check it personally next time she was in the country. End result, we locked and bolted the front door permanently and come in through the patio doors (which are right next to it). Been doing that for last two years. It would be nice to have a front door though.

We have just had our second inspection since we moved in in August 2010 and they have fixed everything else, just not the door.

bingobob777

Get it fixed yourself and bill them

rld1177

Singapore Chinese actually. The cleaning lessons were the hardest on my partner, given she keeps amazing house, being told to use a special Singapore cleaning kit for the bathroom wasn't easy. I was at work at the time and she happened to be available. Hate to stereotype, but I've heard similar stories from others, do they just leverage up too much when they buy and can't budget minor repairs?

rld1177

Pretty shocking - they are lucky you were not robbed as you'd have had a great claim against them. It sounds like this is more typical then I realised - in the UK I never had these problems on similar rents for 9 years, can't recall once a landlord wanting to play amateur repairman when they could get someone in to fix the issue. I had only one issue of them trying to charge me for something in the UK, I mentioned I was a lawyer and made a couple comments and they dropped the idea in 5 minutes. I'll go that route if I have to but by law degree is British and I am not very familiar with landlord / tenant rights here, might have to start doing a bit of research.

pumpkin blossom

Your lease should say how often inspections are. They have to give you at least a weeks notice.
That is a lot of rent in my eyes.

Beoz

My landlord is Chinese and is really nice and if anything needs repairing he's round in a jiffy, but, the fella is as tight as a nuns nasty. He'll do everything himself even if he needs to spend all weekend on it just to save a few pennies. Bless him.

Pollyana

Yep, it should be clear in the lease. The tenants agency (RTA or whoever) for your particular State should also be able to help with what is acceptable for inspection access etc.

roaringmouse

It will be in the lease, however the thing to properly check is the Residential Tenancies Act (or equivalent) in the relevant State. The Act would overrule the tenancy agreement if there is anything wrong in the tenancy agreement, and should specify when inspections can happen.

For example, in Victoria there has to be at least 6 months between inspections. One time the estate agent wrote to us informing of an inspection which was 4 months after the last one, so I wrote back quoting the Act and they dropped the inspection. The Act should also indicate how long notice they need to give, and possibly between what times an inspection can take place.

As far as them fixing things rather than getting someone else in, then that's up to them, however regard should be given to "quiet enjoyment" of the property by the tenant.

rld1177

Agreed - similar to the UK law in this respect. That is sort of what I am getting at - when a specialist could fix something in 5 minutes, and you have a landlord mucking around for 3 or 4 hours (while you are there, waiting) it is a hassle. Tomorrow should be interesting, good feedback I'll have a look at the act.

Cheetah7

I would be tempted to pour the special Singapore cleaning kit over the landlords head. Surely they cant tell you what cleaning stuff to use? Tell them you are allergic to anything from Singapore and will only use the finest of English/Australian/American etc but if your wife touches anything from Singapore, she turns blue and starts to itch.

Bloody cheek of it, seriously that is shocking.

RedDragon2008

Only able to have access twice in a 12 months period.

They need to give you 48 hours written notice (in English)

Claiming "Special Singaporean" is a racist comment as it defers to other countries as being inferior.

Zen10

We are subjected to three-monthly inspections as well which are degrading as we have lived here for years and have greatly improved the property (I even put in a new lawn for our own pleasure of course) - they show a lack of trust. We are still insulted with advice on how to clean despite the fact the place is spotless.

If you rent you're no better than a serf in the 11th century. You have no more rights and are given the same level of respect. Nothing has changed in 1000 years in this fundamental regard. People are fooled into thinking there has been progress because there are iPhones, but give an 11th century serf an iPhone and we're identical. There is nothing anyone can do about it unless they fancy buying a house at peak and spending the rest of their lives in negative equity.

So it's be serf or a debt-slave and we picked serf.

Don't you just love neoliberal economics?

Pomster

as a landlord I know everything is claimable against tax which would be beneficial unless they are negatively geared.

Saying that we were overseas and our rubbish managing agent organised for a socket to be re-screwed to the wall (no wiring- just a screw) which cost us $95!

It would have taken 5 mins and 10 if you stopped for a cuppa.