Kingseat

Or was the agent being a nippy bitch...again?

Got the form through from our 6 monthly inspection on Friday. It said that I needed to hoover the valance in the livingroom and dining room, dust in the laundry and clean the kitchen floor!

They've chased me up today asking for me to sign and return the form saying that I have attended to these items!

Standard or not? Trying really hard not to write back telling her to wind her neck in and that it is a family living here who work etc!

renth

Sounds about right, did they inspect behind the extractor fan cover for gunk? if they didn't do that, you got off light.

Kingseat

Doubt it unless she brought stepladders with her. Mind you, she'd be able to fly up there on her broom!

Thanks Renth.

Will probably just bite my tongue and sign.

HelenTD

Yes, she was. I was told to dust the blinds during one inspection visit and they took pictures around the house. I think that the old-fashioned view of renters (losers who can't even afford to buy their own home) persists in the tiny, ignorant minds of some locals.

floss in dubai

Umm, in defense of the owners of the properties: We have two rental properties and honestly, we dont care if your kitchen floor is dirty or if your laundry is dusty BUT we have no control over what the real estate agents pick on, either. We have never had a rent inspection report stating such stupid, nit picky things. Maybe your agent is just on some sort of power trip? As far as we're concerned, our house is our tenant's home and as long as obvious things are taken care of (no smashed windows/lawn kept alive/no holes in walls), they can carry on as they please. Perhaps we're too nice. We even allow pets!!

Kim67

They shouldn't pick on you to clean things, unless it's something like carpet that can permanently be damaged by a bit of dirt. Property Managers are not known for their brains or tact unfortunately. We had a change of property managers after renting a place for six years, we could tell he was trouble the minute he walked his short little ar*e in our door - it was great, my husband went out two days later and bought a house.

(By the way Floss in Dubai, are you Floss in Dubai originally from Bunbury that I've spoken to on another forum.)

billabongbunyip

The first time we ever had an inspection we spent hours cleaning. The build up started a week before, we steam cleaned carpets, washed windows, scrubbed, dusted, buffed, polished, and we even took a day off work to make sure the house and garden was completely spick & span.

I use to work in housekeeping in top international hotels, so I certainly know how to clean to the point of white glove inspection standards BUT the ruddy real estate agent STILL managed to find wrong. And it was something really picky too.

We were both irritated and angry and thought she was a raving bitch. And I had to be physically restrained from writing a letter to her. Every inspection after that was exactly the same.

So sounds like your experience is pretty standard. Just grit your teeth and let it go, it will do you no good to write a letter. Don’t burn your bridges because if you ever move and the new real estate agents contact the old one for a reference, letters of this sort will mark you down as a troublemaker. Unfair yes, but true.

billabongbunyip

He He He - they got me on that one once.

Other “pathetic” reasons over the years have been:

Grass too long in garden
Dust in cupboards under sink
Dusty lampshade (it was our lampshade, not the landlords)
One single weed growing out of the guttering (yes, she must have flown up there on her broomstick)

One year we cleaned so much that (as hard as she tried) she could find absolutely nothing wrong......except I had left a beach towel hanging over the balcony to dry and she sent a long pompous letter telling me that this was not allowed in rental properties because it made the house look untidy and it was against our rental agreement. I don’t remember reading that bit!

That was over ten years ago, but out of principle, I will never ever rent or buy a house through Paul Jones Real Estate.

iolande

hahahaha I've had some really sniping agents in the past. I think they don't have much to do in their job so they go over the top.

My all time favourite one was in a house that wasn't cleaned before we moved in. After 2 days solid cleaning my last rental (it was a private lease and the landlady phoned especially to say how happy she was with the cleaning), we spent the next 2 days solid cleaning the new place. The agent wouldn't send anyone to help and we had to write a complaint letter.

There was a cupboard in the garage that the landlord had stored stuff in for years that came with a nice thick layer of dust. We never opened it in 3 years or used it.

When it came to the final inspection the agent was over the top picky, probably because the landlord was there, and told us we had to clean the accumulated dust in that cupboard. So I said: "what, do you want me to clean the layer of dust that has accumulated over the last 3 years, leaving the layer of dust that was there originally when we moved in?"

emelems

Both my rentals were pretty filthy when I moved in so if they pick up stuff like that on my inspection then I shall send them a photo gallery of the marks and crap I had to clean off the walls/floors when THEY were in charge..

If it were me, I'd just sign it and say "yes luv, course I will" and then carry on doing exactly as I want to anyway.. mind you, I am not great at being told what to do by people who don't actually care about me or my life.

Em x

Kingseat

Thanks guys. It still bugging the hell out of me this morning but I will keep my trap shut. Blimey, if all I had to worry about in life was a grubby kitchen floor!

spalen

it is one of the great humiliations of renting that you have these people come and tell you how to live. We rented for 3 years here before our house was built and every inspection was a pain in the ass. Wait till you go for the bond release (!).

The only thing to do is write to them about every little bit of damage that is there when you move in , take photos, and keep onto them about maintenance issues like leaking taps/etc otherwise they'll cop you for it. The letting agents are dufus in the main, its nothing to do with the owners.

emelems

when people like that piss me off I usually just try and remember that each to their own and that people's view point on my life is just an opinion.. and I don't have to do anything about their opinions, that is all up to them..

Em x

Pomster

In our first rental, we were pressed to complete the condition report while the agent was there....not realising you had 3 days to do this.

We noted 'small black circular marks" on the bedroom carpet against the report. On close inspection (when we properly moved in) we saw these were cigarette burns.

On moving out, they tried to get us to pay for a new carpet as we did not specify fag burns....there were no other black circular marks on the carpets, except the fag burns! Most agents are all out to be nit -picky types.

Lord_Farquar

Tell them that poor building maintenance is their problem not yours.