Hello, I am hoping you can help me. Its a very long and drawn out situation I am dealing with here and I am at a point where I cant handle it anymore! nearly 3 months ago i (luckily) woke up to my heater, pillow, carpet on fire, from putting the fire out I received 2nd degree burns to my feet and hands and nose and bad smoke inhalation - was in the trauma unit for a week then home care was arranged for me until I could pretty much walk again.
Anyway my story gets very tricky, three days before the fire one of my co-tenants (who we had been suffering extreme grief from - the typical nightmare housemate) thankfully gave us 28 days notice and the night before the fire I put an ad up on some housemate websites.
While I was in hosp my parents had taken photos of the damage, emailed the agent to notify him and asked him to inform them of assessment of damage/repairs etc so they could clear the room. When I got out of hosp I called the agent to organize an inspection - he wasn't available for another week - which he then cancelled when I called him to see why he was running late. In my first convo with him he told me it was all going thru insurance. When he did actually inspect the damage he told my mother and myself that the landlord had contacted insurance and it was all underway.
Another 2 weeks go by and no one returns my calls and I don't know when repairs are happening and I am having to turn away potential housemates due to the condition of the house, the soot everywhere and the fact that I was forced to sleep in the lounge room. I call the agent and ask for a rent reduction until repairs are done - he says no - he said its insurance fault and these things take time. I then tell him I am going to take it further and then he suddenly calls me back that night and tells me the insurance company just contacted him and everything has been approved, he will book tradies and call me back with details that Friday... On the Friday i chased him up again and he said nothing could be done yet as he could get hold of the landlord - when I rang him on the Monday he said the same thing.... Another week went by where no one would return my calls. I went to my neighbors house and found out the details of the body corp and called them myself. They informed me that nothing had been lodged, i rang the agent and he said it had nothing to do with them and i was misinformed - it was at 6.5 weeks now without a bedroom/privacy - I asked agent what was happening with the repairs as it had been 3 weeks since he told me he was booking them and he stated that he didn't know what I was talking about or recall any such conversation!!! I was gobsmacked! I gave him exact times and date of the call and pretty much a script of what was said and he denied it!!
I knew I wasn't getting anywhere so i asked him to meet me halfway and at least organize for the cleaning to the room and upstairs to be carried out to ensure it was safe and not hazardous as it was near Xmas i could already see the works wouldn't be completed. That night he sent me a text message approving the cleaning. I organized a cleaning quote and so did he for the next week then they refused to clean the property as it had not been assessed. The landlords assessor then contacted me 3 days later (being 7 weeks after the accident) and inspected 6 days after that. 2 days later the body corps assessor calls me and the claim has just been lodged with them so he too came to inspect the property. I am informed by the landlords assessor and the body corps assessor that the claim has only JUST been lodged... two months after the accident... the next day guys came to remove the carpet to my room and steam clean the rest of the house... that was now a month ago and that is all that has happened... My room is still filled with soot, I have attempted cleaning it but I feel I am getting nowhere (apart from getting soot all over myself), the guys that removed the carpet also left the tack strips everywhere which have proved so so SO unsafe and its now 88 days where by I have been paying rent on a room I cant use, living in the lounge room (which is so unfair on my housemates especially cos i work night shift and they work day shift) and its getting to the point where I actually don't want to go home anymore... I think I have only slept there twice in the last month as I feel so guilty making people tip toe around me - in their own lounge room, and i hate having no privacy... all in all it has brought me down I just cant believe I am still in this situation.. I am trying to fill in a breach of duty notice but I am getting really confused.. do I just send a notice for them to fix damages and once that is done can I claim compensation - can I claim for the extra rent I had to pay due to not being able to rent out the spare room as the repairs hadn't been carried out along with loss of amenity?? or should I or can I claim that now based on a daily figure until the repairs have been carried out??? any advice would be much appreciated... do i need legal advice?
thanks - H-needshelp
Anyway my story gets very tricky, three days before the fire one of my co-tenants (who we had been suffering extreme grief from - the typical nightmare housemate) thankfully gave us 28 days notice and the night before the fire I put an ad up on some housemate websites.
While I was in hosp my parents had taken photos of the damage, emailed the agent to notify him and asked him to inform them of assessment of damage/repairs etc so they could clear the room. When I got out of hosp I called the agent to organize an inspection - he wasn't available for another week - which he then cancelled when I called him to see why he was running late. In my first convo with him he told me it was all going thru insurance. When he did actually inspect the damage he told my mother and myself that the landlord had contacted insurance and it was all underway.
Another 2 weeks go by and no one returns my calls and I don't know when repairs are happening and I am having to turn away potential housemates due to the condition of the house, the soot everywhere and the fact that I was forced to sleep in the lounge room. I call the agent and ask for a rent reduction until repairs are done - he says no - he said its insurance fault and these things take time. I then tell him I am going to take it further and then he suddenly calls me back that night and tells me the insurance company just contacted him and everything has been approved, he will book tradies and call me back with details that Friday... On the Friday i chased him up again and he said nothing could be done yet as he could get hold of the landlord - when I rang him on the Monday he said the same thing.... Another week went by where no one would return my calls. I went to my neighbors house and found out the details of the body corp and called them myself. They informed me that nothing had been lodged, i rang the agent and he said it had nothing to do with them and i was misinformed - it was at 6.5 weeks now without a bedroom/privacy - I asked agent what was happening with the repairs as it had been 3 weeks since he told me he was booking them and he stated that he didn't know what I was talking about or recall any such conversation!!! I was gobsmacked! I gave him exact times and date of the call and pretty much a script of what was said and he denied it!!
I knew I wasn't getting anywhere so i asked him to meet me halfway and at least organize for the cleaning to the room and upstairs to be carried out to ensure it was safe and not hazardous as it was near Xmas i could already see the works wouldn't be completed. That night he sent me a text message approving the cleaning. I organized a cleaning quote and so did he for the next week then they refused to clean the property as it had not been assessed. The landlords assessor then contacted me 3 days later (being 7 weeks after the accident) and inspected 6 days after that. 2 days later the body corps assessor calls me and the claim has just been lodged with them so he too came to inspect the property. I am informed by the landlords assessor and the body corps assessor that the claim has only JUST been lodged... two months after the accident... the next day guys came to remove the carpet to my room and steam clean the rest of the house... that was now a month ago and that is all that has happened... My room is still filled with soot, I have attempted cleaning it but I feel I am getting nowhere (apart from getting soot all over myself), the guys that removed the carpet also left the tack strips everywhere which have proved so so SO unsafe and its now 88 days where by I have been paying rent on a room I cant use, living in the lounge room (which is so unfair on my housemates especially cos i work night shift and they work day shift) and its getting to the point where I actually don't want to go home anymore... I think I have only slept there twice in the last month as I feel so guilty making people tip toe around me - in their own lounge room, and i hate having no privacy... all in all it has brought me down I just cant believe I am still in this situation.. I am trying to fill in a breach of duty notice but I am getting really confused.. do I just send a notice for them to fix damages and once that is done can I claim compensation - can I claim for the extra rent I had to pay due to not being able to rent out the spare room as the repairs hadn't been carried out along with loss of amenity?? or should I or can I claim that now based on a daily figure until the repairs have been carried out??? any advice would be much appreciated... do i need legal advice?
thanks - H-needshelp