First off, the course. 8 hours of nothing but MS SQL – so intensive there’s no time to apply what you’ve learnt. My head is swimming with SELECT, INSERT’s, UPDATE’s, DROP’s; will have to find some time somewhere to install the trial and play around before all the information gets tangled in a ball I can never undo. The teacher, from Monash Gippsland, is good, especially given the conditions.
The course is in what looks to be a private residence in a very 70’s area of Endeavour Hills. Apparently if they have enough numbers, which they never do ’cause they don’t market the courses, they hold them in the city. We have three PC’s set up on rickety tables with one 33k modem connected. The room seems to be a deserted lounge room lined with that lovely 70’s creation, panelling. The curtains are burnt orange and let’s not talk about the carpet.
And not talking about carpets leads me neatly on to the second part of the day.
Barlow McEwan and Tribe. The agents who did nothing to ensure the quiet enjoyment of our property, the agents who couldn’t get keys cut, the agents who took three days to respond when our fence fell down, the agents who don’t return calls, the agents who don’t respond to faxes, the agents who don’t send a fax when you request one, the agents who never once responded in writing to any of written requests. I’m sure you get a picture.
These agents called today and told me the place was a mess. They tried to tell us they would have to replace the carpet. They tried to tell us the kitchen wasn’t clean. They tried to tell us we damaged the garage we had no access to. They have threatened to take all of our bond. She even asked if we had painted the walls! In all my years of renting, that’s 17 now, I have never had any of my bond kept.
I requested she put in writing her concerns and to fax them to me. Surprise, surprise when there was no fax waiting upong my arrival home.
Just when we thought we were rid of them, and today was the official end of lease day, they have dragged us back in.
Now that’s just horrible! This is beginning to sound more like harrassment–no! TORTURE!–than a difficult business closing! It’s just not right! Grrrrrr!
&… re the lawyers… I could probably wing a favour from the solicitors firm where my mother works.
Good, another REA to boycott along with Stockdale and Leggo. I could tell you the horror story concerning THIS house that I’m living in now. Geebus. Get thee to the tenant union. You guys had an agreement re the carpet and the kitchen was just about spotless the last time I saw it. What a load of rubbish. If you need me to witness anything or make a statement about the events of the moveout day to these gits, just say so – will happily oblige.
Oh… here it is… 3.25pm the next day and they’ve just called me for the fax number. Typical that it’s now almost 24 hours since the original request for the information to be faxed to us and I’m sure it *is* that difficult to look the number up on our record.
*Rips hair out*
Do you have any friends that are lawyers? We had an agent try to withhold our bond once (similar grounds) and I got my friend, who works for a high-priced Big Scary Law Firm, to write them an aggressively lawyerly letter. Big surprise, 2 days later my bond came winging back to me.
I agree with Justine too, the Tenants Union could probably help, but for sheer lets-play-threaten-nasty-consequences-and-make-agents-shit-emselves, a lawyer’s letter can’t be beat.
Tony: two words “Tenants Union” – http://www.tuv.org.au/
Also see here
http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/cbav/fairsite.nsf/pages/of_homesrent_bond_dispute
I have never in my life known such arseholes.
Never.
And I work in customer service.
real estate agents truly are the antichrist. because mine are so evil i am seriously considering that if i move back to perth i will not pay my last month’s rent because i know they will keep my bond anyway. they haven’t done a speck of work on the unit in the six years i have been here and i am sure they will keep it so they can repaint the walls, replace the carpet and blinds etc all on my dime and not their own. sheesh!
If I were in the right frame of mind
and I had been done over by these idiots as badly as you have
and I could afford to forfeit the bond
and I was buying my own place and didn’t care about getting onto a bad renters database
…then I’d be sorely tempted to tell them to fuck off.