Yiyuan Xie

Review of Ray White Maroubra, South Coog...

I rented an apartment, Unit 8, 95-97 Mason Street,...

I rented an apartment, Unit 8, 95-97 Mason Street, for 4 years until moving to a house early August. I am so glad I have moved out. Even my neighbour next door were praising me for making the right decision. The house flooded twice in the recent two year. I don t want to recall the details, but I do have the memory of the desperation calling a plumber in the middle of the night, with the unknown, smelling flood coming out of my floor, only to know that the plumber can only come mid day the next day. You feel the torture? That s what I mean. Neither time did the landlord appears, nor contributes anything. Yes, by that I mean I would have to contact with strata, the agent, and plumber myself. The first time I called, the plumber even refused to come because he didn t know who to bill. And, after all, how far would you guess the land owner lives? Two blocks away from the property.

Being a easy going citizen, once it s gone, I let it go. I pay on time and I don t create trouble to others. When I moved out, I spent 460 dollars, and a total day, to hire a professional cleaner cleaned the unit. However, I only got my bond, less 200 dollars, yesterday, 7 weeks after moving.

What happens in the 7 weeks, and to that 200 dollars? Here is the story. After landlord inspecting the unit, I got an email from the agent, Natasha, about a few items to be further done: 2 bulbs replacements (yes, those 75 cents bulbs from Coles) and dumping the remainder garbage the cleaner left. I immediately implemented all these, realising one of the bulb failure was due to the construction issues (again).

The last one is somewhat beyond my understanding. The agent managed to attach to me a photo of the backyard, on which there are two little unknown trees. When I met her, I questioned about the time when the photo was taken, and why didn t the landlord point this out in previous inspections over the 4 years. (The landlord does show up every year after the troubled water) Natasha was not able to answer any of these questions. Despite neither of us know what trees they are, she stressed that the landlord wants the two trees replaced. Then, the following sketches our email conversation.

I: I don t think the landlord informed me about those trees, if he did, then I would have urged him taking it away. No one can afford an unknown plant in his house.

One week later

I: Any updates?

N: The landlord want you to replace the trees, they are palm trees, wood chips and weed matting.

I: Ok, so they are palm trees. They need care, and I am not a gardener. Why didn t the landlord let me know at the first place?

One week later

I: What happened?

N: On the contract, you have the obligation to keep the backyard as the situation when you moved in.

I: I am not sure when the photo was taken. Be it as it may, I am not sure whether it is fair to impose this obligation without a proper care instruction. The landlord should hire a gardener instead of hiding it in the contract. I will enquire with Fair Trading. I will also ask their opinion about the two floods.

N: By all means, go ahead! You are living in the unit, so the flood didn t affect your living. If you trigger a tribunal case, it s more costly than replacing two trees.

Enough been said. I finally got in contact with their manager, Micheal. It takes another 4 weeks for Micheal to eventually charge me 200 dollars for replacing those trees.

I didn t get Faire trading involve, because 200 dollars doesn t make me poor, nor does it make the landlord rich. I have been living there for 4 years, and the last thing I want is to ruin the good memories there with these disgraceful ones, so I don t make any comments either.

I document my experience for the precaution of those potential renters. If you are one of them, stay away from this apartment and this agent.

If you are already living there, be minded there will be flooding or construction failures today or someday.

And please, say hi to the trees in your backyard for me and take good care of them. I don t mind, but the landlord will be watching them.