Hi everyone, I'd like to share my nightmarish experience with our ex rental property.
Apologies for my rusty English.
My partner and I rented a 3 bedroom house at the bottom floor in a 3 floors building in Brighton Le Sands in front of the beach 1 week before our beautiful baby was born. House was nice but terribly kept, so between our 2 families and our limited efforts (with a brand new baby) tried to fix it, by painting it, grouting the tiles, scrubbing it etc. etc.
The kitchen was old and filthy, so we agreed with the landlord and real estate agent to do a renovation ourselves and get a 1000$ budget from landlord. We felt like being in the show :The Renovators” where we had pull a kitchen out at almost no budget whatsoever.
We bought a decent 2nd hand kitchen on Ebay . So we had to take the filthy tiles off, cement the wall, painting it (no budget for new tiles don’t forget) etc. and start putting the cabinets up. We managed to get ¾ of the kitchen only the stove was missing as the big drama was about to happen…
New owners from the above apartment during (perhaps a badly done renovation) discovered the concrete had “cancer” starting from the balconies all the way to the whole house area. Results: the whole building was in risk of collapse. Us and the family above us ,also with kids ,were asked to evacuate immediately after an inspection from Strata engineers.
We were homeless in less than an half hour.
The real estate found us an emergency accommodation for the upcoming night in one nice serviced apartment near the airport. They said….go ahead and anticipate the money that insurance will refund your expenses… of course that never happened and 10 days later and 2000$ shorter we understood no one was going to refund us or help us at all….how brave is it to have a young family with a 2 months old baby on the street and nobody giving a sh..t about it…??
We had to leave this hotel as we couldn’t afford 200$ a night and so by not having nowhere to go, we had to go to the housing commission for help. They gave us a dodgy motel for few weeks.
In all this time (approx. 1.5 month as homeless) we were living out of a suitcase and lots of fake promises of help from real estate. We were never given an official document from engineers about the status of the house (we asked for it every day but never got back). And then we were asked and forced to end the lease from real estate
We found a new house 1.5 months later, and asked legal advice to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) and went for an audience to the tribunal with an expenses compensation request, (just what we had to pay in 1.5 month in accommodations and overall expenses) .
In the tribunal, the real estate agent (on behalf of the landlord) counter claimed us at 10000$for damaging the property as the kitchen was unfinished???? Yes you read it right, we got evacuated from our house while in the middle of the renovation (how could have we finished it???) and then accused to have left it unfinished and have damaged it ….btw there is one stove to complete, that’s it, while the landlord wants 10000$ and a brand new kitchen….greedy bastar..s !!!
First audience in the tribunal got postponed to another audience in 3 weeks’ time since both parties were in opposite claims .
What you guys think? Is anyone who can advise us what to do? It seems unreal that we get kicked out like refugees, going through hell with a 2 months old baby involved and still asked to pay for it, where this world has gone too??
No money for lawyers advices, anyone can help?
Thanks in advance
Apologies for my rusty English.
My partner and I rented a 3 bedroom house at the bottom floor in a 3 floors building in Brighton Le Sands in front of the beach 1 week before our beautiful baby was born. House was nice but terribly kept, so between our 2 families and our limited efforts (with a brand new baby) tried to fix it, by painting it, grouting the tiles, scrubbing it etc. etc.
The kitchen was old and filthy, so we agreed with the landlord and real estate agent to do a renovation ourselves and get a 1000$ budget from landlord. We felt like being in the show :The Renovators” where we had pull a kitchen out at almost no budget whatsoever.
We bought a decent 2nd hand kitchen on Ebay . So we had to take the filthy tiles off, cement the wall, painting it (no budget for new tiles don’t forget) etc. and start putting the cabinets up. We managed to get ¾ of the kitchen only the stove was missing as the big drama was about to happen…
New owners from the above apartment during (perhaps a badly done renovation) discovered the concrete had “cancer” starting from the balconies all the way to the whole house area. Results: the whole building was in risk of collapse. Us and the family above us ,also with kids ,were asked to evacuate immediately after an inspection from Strata engineers.
We were homeless in less than an half hour.
The real estate found us an emergency accommodation for the upcoming night in one nice serviced apartment near the airport. They said….go ahead and anticipate the money that insurance will refund your expenses… of course that never happened and 10 days later and 2000$ shorter we understood no one was going to refund us or help us at all….how brave is it to have a young family with a 2 months old baby on the street and nobody giving a sh..t about it…??
We had to leave this hotel as we couldn’t afford 200$ a night and so by not having nowhere to go, we had to go to the housing commission for help. They gave us a dodgy motel for few weeks.
In all this time (approx. 1.5 month as homeless) we were living out of a suitcase and lots of fake promises of help from real estate. We were never given an official document from engineers about the status of the house (we asked for it every day but never got back). And then we were asked and forced to end the lease from real estate
We found a new house 1.5 months later, and asked legal advice to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) and went for an audience to the tribunal with an expenses compensation request, (just what we had to pay in 1.5 month in accommodations and overall expenses) .
In the tribunal, the real estate agent (on behalf of the landlord) counter claimed us at 10000$for damaging the property as the kitchen was unfinished???? Yes you read it right, we got evacuated from our house while in the middle of the renovation (how could have we finished it???) and then accused to have left it unfinished and have damaged it ….btw there is one stove to complete, that’s it, while the landlord wants 10000$ and a brand new kitchen….greedy bastar..s !!!
First audience in the tribunal got postponed to another audience in 3 weeks’ time since both parties were in opposite claims .
What you guys think? Is anyone who can advise us what to do? It seems unreal that we get kicked out like refugees, going through hell with a 2 months old baby involved and still asked to pay for it, where this world has gone too??
No money for lawyers advices, anyone can help?
Thanks in advance