Coogee Rocks

I am sure these apply in lots of places around the world but just a warning for those look for somewhere to rent.

We just moved into a new place without going back to look at it a second time after writing it off first look and changing our minds.. big mistake!

The agent wanted us to sign for 12 months we said 6 and that we would need to see it again for 12.. so we got 6.. hmmmm.

We have a very small 50 liter hot water tank which lasts roughly 5 minutes!!
Wich is a real shame as the bathroom and kitchen are virtualy brand new and very nice.
We have been told you can turn them right up to max and get maybe 10-15 minutes from them but thats not easy to live with!.. anyone got any ideas?....

The TV Ariel plug is actually a satellite dish which will not pick up a normal signal.. and a set top Ariel even with a booster will not pick up a good picture.

Its smaller then we though therefore the furniture wont fit in!

The house next door is shell and the guy if renovating it on his own.. early weekend mornings, has his radio on really hi etc (at least i got my sound system set up so we can out volume him now!)... Is there a law over here about times for building work?

Its freeeeeeezing..but I think most houses are freezing in Sydney in winter though, our flat was much warmer.. It reminds me of 25 years ago as a kid when we had a house with a fire place we couldn't use and no central heating or insulation or double glazing.

We were considering breaking the lease and finding somewhere else..but maybe we will just last the 6 months as we can't face moving again.
Anyone no if there is a backout cooling off period in renting contracts?

Bix da Boss

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Good morning - or is it

Very valid points you have made.
Water tank only 50litres? Thats something we have not considered asking about for our second rental! The house we are in now has a huge tank that copes with anything! Just checked - water capacity 259litres! That explains it then eh?

Thats something we are finding hard - size of rooms to enable us to fit in all that we now have in this lovely BIG house! Builders up here are 'cutting corners', smaller plots, smaller rooms, very little aircon, if there is any 'room rattlers' not 'split systems', cheap hobs/cookers/dishwashers etc. This is what we are experiencing at the mo anyway -have looked at loads of new builds, even ones that are $400+ per week rent are on 'minute' plots no walking space around the house. If we go out of 'town' a few k's we can get a hell of a lot more for our money - but really want to stay this side for work and sons college etc.

Not sure where you stand contract wise - have you looked at the information pack they give you? We had a pack from the agents working with the owners of this house, it clearly states what you can and cannot do.
You could phone any Real Estate Agent that deals with rentals and ask them your questions as if just finding out or something? I did do this about something myself.

Tv ariel - thats just not on! How ridiculous! These are questions we will have to ask now as well as many others!

As for 'builders' We looked at a house last week which is in the middle of a area in continious development so put us off to be honest. Asked our neighbour about their start time etc. She did say they are not allowed to begin before 7am - but usually do their own thing! As for the radio - think its a matter of saying - 'hey m8 -bla bla bla' he probably doesn't listen to any of it anyway - some just likes to have that background noise all bloody day long!

Will consider all the above points - hard isn't it - just don't know whats ahead of you when renting or buying a new property, neighbours etc - minefield! Just have to keep your fingers crossed I guess

Good luck you guys!

Take care
Gill
x

So anyone in the same position - BEWARE !

Ceri

Not quite sure if this is the norm for a 50 litre tank, but that seems a very small tank to me . If it only literally lasts 5 minutes, and you are left with cold water that's a bit "off" to my mind.
I wouldn't mess with the thermometer etc on the water tanks if I were you without checking out the laws down there first on this issue especially if it's gas.

is it electric or gas? phone the NSW electric company up and ask them about it first, if gas - phone the appropriate body on that too .

I would think it's the landlords responsibility for his/her property to be in a livable condition - cold water is not livable to my mind. I'd
ask for advice from the appropriate body on this:

Office of Fair Trading
Tenancy Information
Tel. 9377 9100 Toll free 1800 451 301
TTY 9377 9099

as for the other points, too small , furniture won't fit etc etc, that's not the landlords fault it's your fault for choosing a property that doesn't suit you.
Noise from neighbours, if they are within the law, I doubt
there's bog all you can do about it except asking them politely if they wouldn't mind keeping it down in the mornings.

from the NSW fair trading site:

"Breaking an agreement early
If a tenant wants to end their agreement early they should give as much notice as possible, preferably in writing (keep a copy of the letter). It is a good idea to state the exact date you intend to leave and that you want the landlord (or agent) to find a new tenant. Any assistance in finding a replacement tenant (such as making the property readily available for inspection) may help to reduce the costs involved.

Having said this, breaking an agreement can be costly. A landlord can claim compensation for any loss they suffer as a result of a tenant ending the agreement early. The costs a tenant could be liable for include:

rent until new tenants move in or the existing agreement runs out (whichever happens first);
a reletting fee (usually one weeks rent) when the property is let by an agent who charges the landlord a fee for finding new tenants; and
advertising costs.
For a landlord to successfully claim, they must be able to show that their loss was caused by the tenant breaking the agreement early, not by other factors. For example, if a tenant breaks the agreement just prior to the expiry date, the full amount of reletting and advertising charges may not be able to be passed on since the landlord would have incurred these expenses shortly anyway. The landlord also has a duty to keep their loss to a minimum. This means that the landlord must make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant, otherwise any claim they later make may be reduced by the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal"


http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/re...databases.html

I'd phone the real estate agents first/landlord etc to see if there is anything they can do about the water running cold.

If they are not very helpful and you get no joy from them, I'd then give the office of fair trading "tenancy advice line " a phone and ask them for advice if I were you, especially on this hot water issue, as I would think it's the landlords responsibility to make sure the property is livable - cold water is not good livable condition to my mind.There may be something you can do on that one if the laws cover it down there.
Otherwise you'll just have to live with it, or break the agreement early with costs if the landlord decides to charge you for any expenses he/she faces


Good luck

P.S .- I actually broke an agreement early in NSW, and the landlord did not charge us for re advertisng costs (we were movng up to QLD at the time) - think by memory we had another two or three months left on our contract. It was either the landlord was being a nice person and didn't charge us, or perhaps there is something there regarding "unforeseen circumstances beyond our control".

Give the advice line a phone.

cheers

ABCDiamond

Our electricity provider quotes the following guidance for hot water tanks:

50 litre - Not suitable
80 litre - Not suitable
125 litre - 2 - 4 people
160 litre - 3 - 5 people
250 litre - 4 - 6 people
315 litre - 6 - 8 people
400 litre - 8 - 10 people

JAJ

Doing a good due diligence on a (rental) property takes time and practise. There are probably books on it available in the library or bookshop but it includes:

- take a look at the map to see what's in a 0.5-1km radius. If you live right beside shops, beach, train station etc it's not necessarily good for a quiet life. 5 minutes walk away from facilities is usually much better.
- check the parking. If a parking space is provided, is it easy to get into and out of (some are not)
- pay a visit late at night, preferably Friday/Saturday. Is it quiet?
- what's the general state of repair of surrounding buildings and units?
- check the little things (eg turn on the taps to see if there's good water pressure)

And if it doesn't 'feel' right then it's probably not right. The reverse of this however is not necessarily true, especially when you are purchasing.

Have you asked the landlord if he will get a bigger water tank and sort out the TV aerial problem?

It's not in the landlord's interest to have issues that will mean you leave after 6 months, and probably the next tenant too.



Talk to the council. It is a general point of warning to anyone buying or renting a house - if the property next door is clapped-out, it's likely to become a building site sooner or later.

Again - from the landlord's point of view a little investment in insulation might go a long way to improving the long term return from the property. Insulation can also keep it cooler in the summer.

Not as far as I'm aware - http://www.tenants.org.au is another resource you may want to use.

It may be best to see if you can get the problems fixed, and if not, make the decision to use the next few months to find somewhere you *really* like.

Jeremy

jad n rich

Your water heater sounds faulty because usually the only 50 L ones are continuous supply, so should just keep flowing. The system here usually is a 250L one which is hooked up to off peak elec and stores the hot water all day. Put a complaint into the rental agent, give them 3 days by then you should see if you have a landlord who fixes things or not, if its not dealt with fax it thorough in writing, there will be action. I dont know about NSW but hot water systems in qld now require a temp regualtor and turning them up is illegal if over the stated temp, its because so many kids have been scalded. Check for NSW regs ,if they dont fix it mention it got too hot and someone will be covering themselves real quick.

Building noise is regulated by most councils, up here its nothing before 7am, (all this aussies start early to avoid heat is BS) ring your council and complain if thats the case there too. You can work on saturdays but no noise on public hols or sundays. Interesting a lot of this applies to lawn mowers too, but everyone ignores that bit, builders get fined tho.

Ceri

we've got a 200 and something tank ( 250? maybe, can't remember the exact size, but it's a 200 and something tank ) - it runs out of hot water if we use the washing machine say for 5 loads, one spa, a few bucket of hot water to wash the floors, dishes and a shower - shower is usually hubby ( which usually runs cold as I've just run the the spa lol) .
I wish we'd gone for the 300 and odd tank now ( which we were advised against by a family of 8 who reckons their 200 and odd tank provides them with enough hot water - bull sh*te! they can't wash much) . I'm currently looking into the heating plan we are on ( which is night rate)
we don't use a lot of water ( that above sounds a lot, but it's not). Take for instance , last sat it ran cold, just a few loads of washing in the machine ( 4 or 5 loads)and a few dishes, time night came and hubby and I were covered in muck ( landscaping) and wanted a shower t he water was stone cold. It should have not run out - odd it ran out, usually I get a spa out of it too.

We are always within our water allowance with our rates ( ie we actually don't use the allocated amount of water , so don't use a lot of water whether it is hot or cold)

Anyway I'm gutted we never went for the 300 and odd tank when we were building, which we were going to buy before friend said nah 200 and odd is ok ( and there is only two of us)

cheers

Coogee Rocks

Thanks for the advice guys.

The heater is an electric one. It doesn't stop flowing it just gets cold real soon!

Ok agent has advised us to call his plumber but it would be expensive and difficult to change the hot water and then said the previous tenants didn't complain ...( which I don't really care about!)

Yet to ask him about the TV Aeriel.

Un-Co

Did you have to complete an inventory? When we rented our new place we went through everything with a fine tooth comb with the managing agent guy and detailed everything that was even slightly wrong a) so we don't get the blame for chipped tiles etc when we move out and b) so the things we weren't happy with got fixed. I think we've been lucky - both our landlords have been willing to fix anything thats not right. It's in the landlords interest to keep tenants while spending as little money as possible. So they won't go out of their way but generally if you put your foot down they'll act.

brisnick

in brisbane the noise rules for building works are:

Noise allowed 6.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday
No noise allowed Sunday or public holiday

i know, i've been put out by this every day for the last 8 months, including 4 months of rock hammering that was so loud in the house that the council couldn't hear me when i called to complain!! in fact, if they'd got a noise meter out and it had been a work place they'd have made me wear ear protectors!!

ABCDiamond

Good info for this noise question for the whole of QLD is at:
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/publicatio...ding_works.pdf
It's a pdf file though.


Residents must adhere to:
The general use of power tools (including lawn mowers) must comply with the following requirements:
No audible noise permitted between:
• 7pm and 7am — Monday to Saturday.
• 7pm and 8am — Sunday and public holidays.

Builders must adhere to:
No audible noise permitted:
• 6.30pm to 6.30am — Monday to Saturday.
• Sundays and public holidays.

Coogee Rocks

To update on this.

Sliped a note to next door asking for them to not start building at 6.30 in the morning and we havnt heard a thing since.

Came home from work last friday and the hot water heater had broken! (excellent) filing the house with steam ( was warm for once!) And has now been replaced with abigger one 80 liters now.. which with a water saving shower head should just about do..btw it was 11 years old!

Just bought a front loading washine machine that only pulgs in to the cold water so this should help.

S

Coogee Rocks

Now we have incredibly bad rising damp problem... some of gf's clothes have been ruined and they where on a clothes rack not even against the wall....
Apparently lots of the terrace houses in the inner west have this problem..

Now I look at it, it looks as if the bottom half of all the walls have been re-plastered, probably to cover this damp problem.

smidgemum2

I know exactly how you feel. We moved into this rented place in Vaucluse about 6 weeks ago. I only looked at it once - without my husband and with my 2 yr old in tow. There was an English family in the house who were just about to move out (also renting). I ended up chatting to them, plus the real estate agent has a son at my son's school so I ended up chatting to everyone....Result was I saw the place through very cloudy glasses...I knew it was a bit run down, but it was $100 cheaper a week than our old place and it has the most amazing views....however....

...the house is almost at the point of falling down...I think the owner bought it a couple of years ago and is planning on pulling the whole thing down in the new year after our 6-month lease expires.

We have the oldest kitchen in the world, plus an old pink bathroom. Everywhere was bloody freezing until it warmed up lately. There are rotting window frames upstairs and there are gaps in the doors and in the sliding windows so much that the blinds were blowing in the draught. There are bits of the drainpipes laying hidden in the flower beds.

Upshot is the place is a wreck but has a lot of character. We thought we could live with crappy kitchen and bathroom but will be glad when the lease is up. However it is going to be just great when the evenings warm up a little - I can sit on our veranda and look out at the harbour view (while the house topples down beside me! ). Next time, hubby is coming to do the second look and no way will I decide on something without looking twice. Oh well you live and learn as my mum would say!! Yours is probably a palace in comparison!!

Angela

Coogee Rocks

Only if its the worlds smallest palace!

But ive been in NZ for 2 weeks so forgot about our woes for awhile and finally got superduper fast broadband and phone deal so I can talk to the outside world.