Has this ever happned to you? If so how did you handle it?

G

GeorgeMidnight

You are a good landlord, you have fixed any maintenane request ever advised to you, you are patient with late rent, your agent as far as you are aware has done everything they should have.

Then you turn on the TV and see a story televised that has left you $1000's of dollars out of pocket for something you knew nothing about.

(see tenant mould story)

http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/video#
 
I wonder what the real story is. But thats a teriffic piece of sensationalism.

I've had just that issue here.
Water unbeknonst to me was seeping from the shower into the hall way carpet. Must have soaked up all it could untill it was visible. It took me ages to guess what the devil was going on when I came home and discovered 'magic wet carpet'. I eventually twigged it must have been coming from under the shower recess wall into the hall.
I called the agent on the Monday (why do these things only happen on weekends?). She got a lovely handy man to come out the next day. In the interim I got up the gumption to pull back the carpet and I soaked up as much moisture as I could.
When the handy man came out, he said 'yup' definitely seeping from the shower. He put some new grout in, however he feels that as the tiles and grout are old they are now prolly highly porus.
So we did a 'level 1' solution to take care of. And I keep an eye on and continue to work with the agent and will advise her if her owner will need to take the next step and put in a guard or upgrade the shower, etc.
In the end life is about personal responsiblity and accountability. This is a great place and I take good care of. Treat people well and they will treat you well. This will be the 3rd agent for this property I have dealt with, and they are just teriffic.
The agency is R&W Lindfield, so any upper nth shore IP owners - they are great ;-)
 
You must be devastated - but then so is the tenant.

It sounds from the story as if she made a complaint and that you addressed that complaint, but only partially.

If it is true that you said that you would get something seen to, and then didn't follow up, all the subsequent problems stem from that lack of follow up.

When it's water which is leaking, it just doesn't stop on its own.

Sounds like you needed to have got it fixed by a professional and followed up through the PM to make sure there were no further problems.

However, that's is just my interpretation from the link - and that TV program is well known for giving just one side of a story to make it dramatic and understandable for people with the IQ of a grasshopper.
 
I watched the video.
There are responsibilities on both parties here.
We haven't been given a lot of information from either side.

Tenant:
Should have contents insurance, as it will cover replacing belongings and provide accommodation in these sorts of situations.
Tenant needs to provide in writing maintenance issues.
Tenant needs to keep on top of the issues, and keep providing written notices.You do not permit the situation to get to ths extent.
If you are not receiving any response, you have the option of tribunal.

PM:
Have the responsibility to act promptly when there is moisture, water or mold issues.
How many inspections were done?
It doesn't seem the PM was doing their job.
There should have been a follow up after the initial repair, to see if everything was ok.


This property is disgusting.
I wouldn't want a tenant living in it..or my property in that condition.
 
Great post Kathryn. I've been enjoying your posts from afar for some time now ;-)

As per my post in this instance I'm the Tennant. I'm also an investor.

In this instance in the exact alleged scenario as portrayed in that piece of sensationalism I did the right thing. And so did the agent.

So I feel that somehow 'everybody tells the story to suit themselves' is certainally afoot here.

To clarify I'm the tenant of a property in Sydney unrelated to the story but the scenario is same.
 
Last edited:
Had a leaking shower also

I had a leaking shower and the carpets were wet and skirting boards rotting in an IP.
I got mega seal http://www.megaseal.com.au/images/brochure.pdf to completely remove all the tiles from the shower and seal the walls and floor and then put the tiles back.
Cost me a lot of money but the shower for about 8 years now has not leaked ever again through the walls or floor.

Sometimes you got to spend a lot of money to get it fixed properly .

I just had termite treatment at $1500 and the ceiling falling down $1500 to repair and $900 for trees causing ceiling fall down to be removed.
 
Ed Barton said:
mind sharing your side of the story?
Click to expand...

Our side is simple. We knew nothing about these issues, nothing. First we ever heard was last week.

The quote in the TT story that we would get someone to look at the leak and didnt, is a complete lie. The top part of the shower in the story that shows the tenant going in and pulling it away has nothing at all to do with the leak. That was replaced some time ago. It appears to be not fixed in at the top (which I was unaware of), but you will see the shower head is below this area. It has been discovered the leak is coming from the base of the shower, an issue that we have never been contacted about.

PM claims to have done everything they should have and acted on any request from the tenant. We have approved any work the PM has ever discussed with us and paid for any invoice presented to us from the Real Estate.

Had this leak been reported to us months ago, we would not be in the escualted position we are in today.

My last routine inspection in May states the property is in Very Good or Excellent condition in all areas.
 
I'd be awful pee'd off at the REA if I were you. What were they doing at the inspection???

I have been a tenant where I have reported issues to the REA only for them to never pass that info along. Then again, a tenant that goes to TT rather then tribunnal, you have to wonder how much info they actually did pass along to the REA.
 
If I was a tenant, I'd make sure all my maintenance requests were done by email. I keep a copy of everything.

Did this tenant have any proof of reporting it?
 
GeorgeMidnight said:
Our side is simple. We knew nothing about these issues, nothing. First we ever heard was last week.

The quote in the TT story that we would get someone to look at the leak and didnt, is a complete lie. The top part of the shower in the story that shows the tenant going in and pulling it away has nothing at all to do with the leak. That was replaced some time ago. It appears to be not fixed in at the top (which I was unaware of), but you will see the shower head is below this area. It has been discovered the leak is coming from the base of the shower, an issue that we have never been contacted about.

PM claims to have done everything they should have and acted on any request from the tenant. We have approved any work the PM has ever discussed with us and paid for any invoice presented to us from the Real Estate.

Had this leak been reported to us months ago, we would not be in the escualted position we are in today.

My last routine inspection in May states the property is in Very Good or Excellent condition in all areas.
Click to expand...

Wow... I would be seriously fuming if the PM didn't notify me straight away. We had an issue sometime back with a water leak as well and the tenants had phoned the PM who then got to us all within about half an hour.

The video does suggest Ray White is at fault by apologising and offering the $1000 voucher, but the overall story seems to portray the landlord is at fault.
 
GeorgeMidnight said:
You are a good landlord, you have fixed any maintenane request ever advised to you, you are patient with late rent, your agent as far as you are aware has done everything they should have.

Then you turn on the TV and see a story televised that has left you $1000's of dollars out of pocket for something you knew nothing about.

(see tenant mould story)

http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/video#
Click to expand...

You say this is the first you have heard of it is on the news. Well now you know about it, you need to get off your butt and take immediate action to get YOUR property in a fit state to rent.

Contact your insurance company as to what action you can take if its a leaking pipe however if its a from lack of maintenance and no leaking pipe I assume insurance will not cover the cost.

I would also email your PM and request all paperwork from the tenant and what are the true facts of this situation and what action the PM have done to fix the situation. You indicate you have paid out $1000s to fix the situation, what have you paid out on?

From what I saw this has been a long time in happening, be interesting what paperwork has been sent by the tenant (if any) after May. Either the tenant has not been forthcoming with issues, the PM has not been doing the job on your behalf or you have gone the cheaper option in a hope it will fix the problem possibly from advise from PM.

I can see this will not be the end of this matter if the tenant starts to claim health issues to her and son as well as cloths etc etc. You will want to get all the facts ASAP and maybe see a solisitor and see what your option are.

I think its a bit strange people have a PM to manage these things get request from the LL to fix any issues and people want the LL to follow up to make sure it gets done. If this is the case why am I paying a PM if I have to do the follow up on issues may as well self manage save the 7% fees etc etc.

Brian
 
GeorgeMidnight said:
Our side is simple. We knew nothing about these issues, nothing. First we ever heard was last week.


PM claims to have done everything they should have and acted on any request from the tenant. We have approved any work the PM has ever discussed with us and paid for any invoice presented to us from the Real Estate.

Had this leak been reported to us months ago, we would not be in the escualted position we are in today.

My last routine inspection in May states the property is in Very Good or Excellent condition in all areas.
Click to expand...

Before TT did this story, did they attempt to contact your PM for their/your side? The fact your PM is offering a Coles certificate, to me admits guilt.
When was this approved work, and paid invoice presented to you?

At first you state this is the first you have heard of it, and then you state there were paid invoices. I guess it needs to be determined when this work was done.

The tenant in this story, also has a lot to answer for.
For them to allow this house to get to this condition, is unacceptable.
To just say there are health issues now, and moving to her mum's couch is her way of trying to evade blame..IMO.

I suppose the PM, if found to have not acted on the maintenance concerns, have in their contact absolving themselves from any liability?

In the end the tenant and PM will walk away...with the LL paying for all the damage.Whether the insurance covers this..I don't know.
 
kathryn d said:
Before TT did this story, did they attempt to contact your PM for their/your side? The fact your PM is offering a Coles certificate, to me admits guilt.
When was this approved work, and paid invoice presented to you?

At first you state this is the first you have heard of it, and then you state there were paid invoices. I guess it needs to be determined when this work was done.
Click to expand...

The approved work was for other matters. Any other maintenance request presented to us during this tenants tenancy we have approved. Not once was a maintenance request presented to us for a leaking shower that was coming through the floor, into the hallway and bedroom. We would have approved such a request to be corrected immediately. There is NO benefit to us to leave a situation like this esculate the way it has.

I believe the intention of the Coles voucher was presented by the show in a way that did look like an admission of guilt, this I was very disappointed in. We had nothing to do with this voucher gift. Yes the PM was contacted by the show and parts of the story negotiated through their lawyers. The way it was advised to me it was going to be presented was not what I saw aired.
 
George, I only just got to watch the video. The usual TV stuff, showing the ceiling of the other property, while talking about your issue.
Looking at the video, it does look as if the leaking had been going on for some time. Was the eventual cause identified? If it was a pipe or some such, then I believe you may have a claim against the building insurer. In this case, in QLD the building insurer would have covered temporary accommodation, while a repair effected, and driers installed to speedilly remove the moisture from the floor/building. We recently had one unit, flood the one below, so using that experience as an example.
On the other hand, if leaking had been reported in the past, perhaps the tradie involved may have to shoulder some responsibility.
Either way, it does sound like you need some one to take responsibility and fix this.
 
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