End of Lease Dispute

[tbmabel]

Hi Everyone,

I recently rented a property in North Perth. The lease was a transfer from another person living there. What I didn't know was that he also gained the lease through a transfer, as did the person before him.

When i took over the lease I was a little worried due to the bond being over $3000 though the real estate agent assured me that the house was in reasonable condition and that no existing damage i.e marks on the walls would be my responsibility.

When i took over the property the gardens were a mess, there were oil stains in the garage and a few other things which during my time in the house I cleaned and maintained.

Now come to the end of the lease which was a month ago now and was only just able to get a copy of the property condition report last night, I have seen that the real estate company is charging me around $1500 for various things.


Now i would be happy to pay a reasonable amount for these things, the thing is the property condition report has no signatures on it and I'm not sure if its the official one or not.


My question here is, with the property condition report, does it have to be acknowledged and signed by both tenant and agent. The property condition report I was given has no signatures and for all i know could have been typed up during the 3 weeks it took for them to provide me with it.


Whats the law with PCR's do they have to be signed and if they aren't signed is it possibly invalid.


Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been trying to contact Riewa for the last few days with no answer.

Also please let it be known in no way am I trying to get away with providing the owners compensation to fix their place up after tenants living there.


Kind Regards,
tbmabel

 

[tj22]

I'm in the same boat, i transferred onto a lease where i'm living in melbourne. and there is already damage (bits and pieces) and i want to be covered.. / a new condition report

 

[Joe D]

My question here is, with the property condition report, does it have to be acknowledged and signed by both tenant and agent. The property condition report I was given has no signatures and for all i know could have been typed up during the 3 weeks it took for them to provide me with it.
l

From the DOCEP publication:

If the tenant does not return the property condition report, it is understood it has been accepted as an accurate record of the condition of the property.

nb: I can't believe you would hand over a $3000 bond without some documentation as to the property condition!

However, if you did not receive the "Information for Tenant's" form you may have a legit argument at the Tribunal.

 

[HD_ACE]

I see.

How long have you been in the property for?

What you should of done at the start of tenancy was to get a new condition report and have previous tenant repair or pay for previous damage etc.

Your best bet now is probably to try and fix all the problems yourself to save a bit of money or try and negotiate a favourable settlement.

Cheers

 

[thatbum]

Stop wasting your time trying to call reiwa and get some real advice from the Tenancy WA advice line.

 

[tbmabel]

I was in the property for 12 months, the lease ended 30 days ago.

When i took over the lease a new lease was written up and the bond transferred so I didn't think I would be liable for any existing damage. I was told I was unable to receive a property condition report unless we completely moved out and then we would have to apply for the house with no guarantee of being accepted. Basically a bullying tactic so as I would sign the lease without a new property condition report.

The property condition report dates back to Feb 2011 so there has been 3 new lease holders since then including me. So no signatures on the property condition report still makes it valid? Seems strange considering unless the tenant from 2011 kept the original property condition report from 2011, as I was unable to attain one unless completely moving out, then it will always come back to whatever the real estate has on file.

In the case of being unable to settle would a magistrate generally accept an unsigned PCR which could have been typed up an hour before the hearing?

 

[thatbum]

I was in the property for 12 months, the lease ended 30 days ago.

When i took over the lease a new lease was written up and the bond transferred so I didn't think I would be liable for any existing damage. I was told I was unable to receive a property condition report unless we completely moved out and then we would have to apply for the house with no guarantee of being accepted. Basically a bullying tactic so as I would sign the lease without a new property condition report.

The property condition report dates back to Feb 2011 so there has been 3 new lease holders since then including me. So no signatures on the property condition report still makes it valid? Seems strange considering unless the tenant from 2011 kept the original property condition report from 2011, as I was unable to attain one unless completely moving out, then it will always come back to whatever the real estate has on file.

In the case of being unable to settle would a magistrate generally accept an unsigned PCR which could have been typed up an hour before the hearing?

The PCR means a lot less than you think. Did you call Tenancy WA?

 

[tbmabel]

Thanks everyone for the replies and info.

Thatbum thanks for the tenancy wa info. Have been trying to call today though unable to get through to being busy, can't even go on hold or leave a message unfortunately but the advice line is open til 8 tonight so confident I'll be able to get through by then.
The information I recieved from reiwa was quite different to the information I've recieved on the forum so eager to see what the tenancy wa advice line has to say on the matter.

 

[spanna]

Been in the same position.... Good luck!
The PM wouldnt happen to be Urban WA RA would it lol?

 

[tbmabel]

Got a hold of tenancy WA they had a similar opinion of reiwa on that a property condition report unsigned dating back to 2011 has little credibility, especially unsigned. Few other things came out of it that the real estate has done wrong such as not providing a pcr within 14 days. These things not worried with though I'm not interested in attempting to get the real estate into any trouble.

Basically they have advised me to email the real estate and tell them I'm not paying for it and that they need to provide me a more recent pcr. Both people I spoke to from reiwa and tenancy wa advised that if it was them they would take it to court unless the real estate company offers a reasonable settlement.

The other issue which the agent hasn't brought up yet is the water bills. Our regular water bill for 60 days is around $80. We get a bill from the agency, all of a sudden one bill was $350 which I paid for thinking someone in the house was to blame. We tightened up water use and the next was $400, followed by another one for $400.
When the first $400 bill came in I advised the agency there was most likely a problem with the sprinklers/retic and she advised me to take a water reading. I did a water reading with the water off in the house and couldn't see an issue but I still firmly believe it is the retic because on the 4 year old pcr I have it mentions a problem with the retic which still hasn't been attented to.

Thoughts?

 

[thatbum]

Thoughts?

Did you tell tenancy wa about the water issue as well?

Otherwise I'd say follow the advice that tenancy wa gave you because its legally supervised advice. (Usually by me actually). None of the other phone advice services in WA are unfortunately.