One of my tenants had a routine inspection and we received the regular letter telling us there were a few minor issues and that there was a bad leak under the sink that needed urgent attention.
Hubby goes to have a look and comes back a couple of hours later to collect more tools and me. I get there and he has completely removed the shelf in the cupboard under the sink as well as the base, but left the rotting kickboard and door where they are. The floor is covered in water and the cork varnished tiles have lifted badly. He has pulled up some of them, however towards the middle of the room they are stuck solid. At the end of the room they are lifting also.
Apparently the drain was not connected. The newer plastic pipe is a bit smaller than the older imperial ones and when it was connected, whoever did it just inserted the pipe into the other one and did not seal it up. This was not apparent as this connection was underneath the kitchen in the space where the kickback is. Whenever she uses her sink, the water just empties onto the floor. She admitted that it has been like this for around 3 months and did nothing about it. I'd even like to bet that it is worse than Rumpled's swamppy bathroom from another thread, because not only is the whole area a quagmire, it is very badly mouldy. So bad, in fact, that I have no idea what to do.
The first thing I notice is the smell of mould and that the floors are kind of squishy. I go outside to ring the PM. She knew it was bad, but not this bad. She comes out straight away and takes photos.
We talked about the fact that the middle of the floor was somewhat drier than either end. Obviously the sink was the cause of one end, but the tenant's fridge, we are sure is the cause at the other end. We open it and notice the bottom crisper is full of water, and the freezer is full of funny looking icy stuff. PM takes photo's of this before she calls tenant into the room and asks point blank if the fridge leaks, and tenant says "no", which is an outright lie.
We study the area and open the cupboards and notice there is heavy mould in the cupboards on which her "stuff" is sitting. PM tells the tenant to remove all her stuff from the cupboards so they can air & dry out and that we will come back next week to see if there is anything we can do. She has been given strict instructions not to use the kitchen and to have the windows open when at home as well as keeping the kitchen cupboards open.
I really need her out of there as soon as possible as obviously the mould issue needs to be dealt with. How to deal with it, I don't know. I have no idea how far it has spread. The whole room really needs to be gutted. I can't have her living there while we do that, besides, she would only wreck any new stuff that is done to the place.
Now, I am faced with a problem. What to do?? If I try to evict her, the PM says that she will not move and it will have to go to tribunal. No-one will touch her once they see her record of haphazid payments AS WELL as this. She will be listed on TICA, and won't find it easy to get another place to live. Depending on who is the judge at tribunal will depend on the outcome. With the bad mould in place, it could backfire and I be held liable should she get sick, and have to pay damages. I'm not liking that option.
We could leave her there & give a huge $50pw rent rise, to force her out, however, again we will have to wait for the tribunal. Not great either.
BTW, another example of the mentality of this woman. She told Hubby that the smoke extinguisher did not work. He took it down to look at it. Instead of a 9v battery, there were 2 AA batteries squished in side by side. I wonder why it didn't work?
So, has anyone got any advice about how I should deal with this? What are the legal issues? Is it likely to be covered by insurance, I'm with NRMA, by the way?
Please Dazz, don't bother replying with your smug replies about the folly of Resi, that is antagonistic, not constructive.
Hubby goes to have a look and comes back a couple of hours later to collect more tools and me. I get there and he has completely removed the shelf in the cupboard under the sink as well as the base, but left the rotting kickboard and door where they are. The floor is covered in water and the cork varnished tiles have lifted badly. He has pulled up some of them, however towards the middle of the room they are stuck solid. At the end of the room they are lifting also.
Apparently the drain was not connected. The newer plastic pipe is a bit smaller than the older imperial ones and when it was connected, whoever did it just inserted the pipe into the other one and did not seal it up. This was not apparent as this connection was underneath the kitchen in the space where the kickback is. Whenever she uses her sink, the water just empties onto the floor. She admitted that it has been like this for around 3 months and did nothing about it. I'd even like to bet that it is worse than Rumpled's swamppy bathroom from another thread, because not only is the whole area a quagmire, it is very badly mouldy. So bad, in fact, that I have no idea what to do.
The first thing I notice is the smell of mould and that the floors are kind of squishy. I go outside to ring the PM. She knew it was bad, but not this bad. She comes out straight away and takes photos.
We talked about the fact that the middle of the floor was somewhat drier than either end. Obviously the sink was the cause of one end, but the tenant's fridge, we are sure is the cause at the other end. We open it and notice the bottom crisper is full of water, and the freezer is full of funny looking icy stuff. PM takes photo's of this before she calls tenant into the room and asks point blank if the fridge leaks, and tenant says "no", which is an outright lie.
We study the area and open the cupboards and notice there is heavy mould in the cupboards on which her "stuff" is sitting. PM tells the tenant to remove all her stuff from the cupboards so they can air & dry out and that we will come back next week to see if there is anything we can do. She has been given strict instructions not to use the kitchen and to have the windows open when at home as well as keeping the kitchen cupboards open.
I really need her out of there as soon as possible as obviously the mould issue needs to be dealt with. How to deal with it, I don't know. I have no idea how far it has spread. The whole room really needs to be gutted. I can't have her living there while we do that, besides, she would only wreck any new stuff that is done to the place.
Now, I am faced with a problem. What to do?? If I try to evict her, the PM says that she will not move and it will have to go to tribunal. No-one will touch her once they see her record of haphazid payments AS WELL as this. She will be listed on TICA, and won't find it easy to get another place to live. Depending on who is the judge at tribunal will depend on the outcome. With the bad mould in place, it could backfire and I be held liable should she get sick, and have to pay damages. I'm not liking that option.
We could leave her there & give a huge $50pw rent rise, to force her out, however, again we will have to wait for the tribunal. Not great either.
BTW, another example of the mentality of this woman. She told Hubby that the smoke extinguisher did not work. He took it down to look at it. Instead of a 9v battery, there were 2 AA batteries squished in side by side. I wonder why it didn't work?
So, has anyone got any advice about how I should deal with this? What are the legal issues? Is it likely to be covered by insurance, I'm with NRMA, by the way?
Please Dazz, don't bother replying with your smug replies about the folly of Resi, that is antagonistic, not constructive.
Heavy condensation and a drippy roof in a small *tiled* room with a floor drain and impermeable surfaces is going to be way drier than running water in a room with no floor drain and porous surfaces (and porous cupboards) any day. Kitchens are only designed to get wet in a very small area.
