Swerv-o

Hi all,

Anybody know anything about tenants rights in NSW?

I (we) are living in the same house as the landlord on a shared basis, but he is now moving out. Up until now, we have been on a rolling 2 weeks tenancy agreement, and we were all very happy.

Now that he is moving out however, he has told us that he wants us to leave the house if we arn't willing to sign a 12 month lease agreement. I have said that I am willing to sign a 6 month contract, with a view to renewing again in another 6 months, but he is not having any of it. Am I the only person that thinks this is a little harsh? We have 5 weeks in which to decide...

Does anybody have ideas as to where we stand, or where I could find any information...

S

gedge

i guess the office of fair trading is the most likely place to start
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/re...s/tenants.html
i'd try giving them a call and asking for some advice on it

walla

Try this list:

http://www.naclc.org.au/directory/qld.html

Swerv-o

Cheers for that guys - I've just spoken to fair trading, and it appears that he will have to give us 60 days written notice of termination, otherwise we can claim compensation back from him.

I got through on the phone first time, no waiting in a queue, and the lady was extremely helpful, and has Emailed me the fact sheets and links to the relevant legal pages...

I dread to think of what how long that would have taken with Leicester City council...

S

gedge

they are good aren't they, that's why they came to mind first up

Swerv-o

To be fiar, I often find that with govenrment services here - they do seem to have a much stronger 'customer satisfaction' ethic than the uk.

I think I've had positive call handling experiences with the ATO, Medicare, the RTA...

S

gedge

i felt similar with legal assist or whatever they're called after my bike accident, they couldn't have been more helpful

chels

I think you've been lucky mate! We get quite a few complaints about Fair Trading's call centre...

It's most likely a case of who you get - most people will get someone decent, some people will get someone exceptional, and an unlucky few will get an @rsewipe.

Eg the other day I went to return something to Myer, the assistant was a right cow. In fact, that's the 2nd unhelpful assistant I've been served by in Myers recently.

My medicare experiences - the woman who refused to believe we were entitled to medicare; the woman who put the wrong date on our documentation. My RTA experiences - 30 to 40 minute waits to be seen.

But besides all that, sorry to hear re your renting issues. What about issuing him an ultimatium - a six month lease or he can go through the hassle of finding a new tenant... (though would it be that hard at the moment )

Swerv-o

I think the ultimatum will be a 6 month lease, or he can go through the hastle of finding tenants after our 60 day notice period has expired, when he should be in the US!

S

chels

btw shouldn't it be Tenants' or Tenants rights?

Vash the Stampede

Tenants' rights, yes.

gedge

this isn't about special brew?

chels

It's mean of me to take pleasure from pointing out a former teacher's spelling mistakes