We have had two things happen this past week which I thought I would share because I am interested when real life issues pop up and are put here on SS so that I know how others would deal with these things.
We self-manage, so both these issues have come directly to us as owners. I don't know how they would be treated if they had been directed to a property manager, and would love to hear the opinions of the PMs here in this regard.
1. Urban Cowboy did insulation quotes on several properties for us back in January. He had a lot of trouble getting access to the "princess" tenant property. He was not getting calls returned, and had real issues getting into the roof to measure and quote. This held up all the quotes and finally, when he gained access, he was able to get quotes to us for several houses, which we accepted.
The day we accepted the quotes (or the day after?) the government froze everything, so nothing more has been done. We were hoping that as we had accepted the quotes, that we may still be able to have the jobs done, but as time goes by, that looks less likely, so we will go back to the drawing board and wait until the government offers another scheme. Meanwhile, the tenants in those houses are no worse off. We don't plan on paying for insulation ourselves.
The one tenant who has asked twice now about "when is the insulation coming?" is...... guess which one?....... the princess tenant who blocked access.
Just this week my brother got the question again when he was mowing the yard. He plans on letting them know that as it took several weeks to gain access, that the reason they (and everyone else who was looking forward to having insulation) will now miss out is PURELY because they blocked access until they were good and ready. At the time, Urban Cowboy and I discussed delivering an "entry" notice, but it didn't come to that.
I take a small delight in knowing that these tenants are the ones who are now probably wishing they had been more co-operative .
2. Received a letter Friday demanding payment of $638 for half of our share of 20m of fencing that is to be "repaired" at a total cost of $6388. Of course, this is 72m of fencing around a unit complex of which 20m joins our back yard, and is not a repair, but seemingly a brand new fence. We popped over to the IP to see that the fence is perfectly fine, with two palings needing re-nailing but with, I reckon, another ten years left in it. It is a sound, solid timber fence. The neighbours, seeing us in the yard, also expressed their shock at the tone of their letter and immediate thoughts of "get stuffed".
I spoke to the neighbours last night, and they also are not prepared to pay for replacement of the fence at the rear of their property. We have a letter ready to go to the estate agent, who I believe, may not have even seen the fence, but is writing to us on behalf of the body corporate of the unit complex behind our houses.
We plan on sending a couple of photos with our letter to show that the fence is in good condition. I believe there may be parts of the fence that require fixing/replacing, but certainly not the 20 metres at the rear of our property or the neighbouring property. To replace this section would mean pulling down a perfectly good fence. It is not brand new, but certainly has a lot of years left in it.
If they want a brand new fence for reasons of aesthetics, they can jolly well pay for it themselves.
I don't know if we will have a fight on our hands regarding the fence, but I believe photos proving the fence is fine should stand us in good stead.
To be honest, the most upsetting part is the way the letter of demand was written. The estate agent needs a lesson in good manners and letter writing. If the letter was nicer, the outcome would be no different, but the tone of the letter made me initially think "get stuffed" too, like the neighbour, so it wasn't just me .
I would love to know what would have happened if I had a limit of say $700 on repairs with a PM. Would they actually go and look at the fence? I would hope so, but curious now?
We self-manage, so both these issues have come directly to us as owners. I don't know how they would be treated if they had been directed to a property manager, and would love to hear the opinions of the PMs here in this regard.
1. Urban Cowboy did insulation quotes on several properties for us back in January. He had a lot of trouble getting access to the "princess" tenant property. He was not getting calls returned, and had real issues getting into the roof to measure and quote. This held up all the quotes and finally, when he gained access, he was able to get quotes to us for several houses, which we accepted.
The day we accepted the quotes (or the day after?) the government froze everything, so nothing more has been done. We were hoping that as we had accepted the quotes, that we may still be able to have the jobs done, but as time goes by, that looks less likely, so we will go back to the drawing board and wait until the government offers another scheme. Meanwhile, the tenants in those houses are no worse off. We don't plan on paying for insulation ourselves.
The one tenant who has asked twice now about "when is the insulation coming?" is...... guess which one?....... the princess tenant who blocked access.
Just this week my brother got the question again when he was mowing the yard. He plans on letting them know that as it took several weeks to gain access, that the reason they (and everyone else who was looking forward to having insulation) will now miss out is PURELY because they blocked access until they were good and ready. At the time, Urban Cowboy and I discussed delivering an "entry" notice, but it didn't come to that.
I take a small delight in knowing that these tenants are the ones who are now probably wishing they had been more co-operative .
2. Received a letter Friday demanding payment of $638 for half of our share of 20m of fencing that is to be "repaired" at a total cost of $6388. Of course, this is 72m of fencing around a unit complex of which 20m joins our back yard, and is not a repair, but seemingly a brand new fence. We popped over to the IP to see that the fence is perfectly fine, with two palings needing re-nailing but with, I reckon, another ten years left in it. It is a sound, solid timber fence. The neighbours, seeing us in the yard, also expressed their shock at the tone of their letter and immediate thoughts of "get stuffed".
I spoke to the neighbours last night, and they also are not prepared to pay for replacement of the fence at the rear of their property. We have a letter ready to go to the estate agent, who I believe, may not have even seen the fence, but is writing to us on behalf of the body corporate of the unit complex behind our houses.
We plan on sending a couple of photos with our letter to show that the fence is in good condition. I believe there may be parts of the fence that require fixing/replacing, but certainly not the 20 metres at the rear of our property or the neighbouring property. To replace this section would mean pulling down a perfectly good fence. It is not brand new, but certainly has a lot of years left in it.
If they want a brand new fence for reasons of aesthetics, they can jolly well pay for it themselves.
I don't know if we will have a fight on our hands regarding the fence, but I believe photos proving the fence is fine should stand us in good stead.
To be honest, the most upsetting part is the way the letter of demand was written. The estate agent needs a lesson in good manners and letter writing. If the letter was nicer, the outcome would be no different, but the tone of the letter made me initially think "get stuffed" too, like the neighbour, so it wasn't just me .
I would love to know what would have happened if I had a limit of say $700 on repairs with a PM. Would they actually go and look at the fence? I would hope so, but curious now?