Rachel Braude

Review of Raine & Horne Newtown

I m not usually one to leave google reviews but my...

I m not usually one to leave google reviews but my tenancy with Raine and Horne Newtown was such a nightmare I have to discourage anyone from using them. Both Capri Ford and Nicole Howell contributed to our tenancy being this bad through extremely poor communication skills as well as becoming rude, aggressive and at times emotionally abusive when basic things were questioned.

To begin with, the day we moved in we were informed that several minor repairs needed to be done and this would occur soon . Upon moving in, these minor repairs included a broken dryer, a broken dishwasher, a collapsed ceiling frame and a broken door handle to a balcony. I was naturally quite upset that these repairs hadn t been finalised before our move in date as I was told the previous tenants would be moving out over a week beforehand. I asked if the repairs could be rushed forward and was met with a stream of excuses. As this was my first time renting a property, I decided to get my mother involved as she has a legal background as well as years of experience with both renting and owning properties. After my mother spoke to Capri, I had a handyman calling me and arriving at the property within an hour. The ceiling and door handle were instantly fixed, at least comforting me that I could sleep safely on King St that night. The dryer and dishwasher took significantly longer but surprisingly, that is a minor detail overall.

Capri then proceeded to contact me the next day, accusing my mother of being rude and inferring that I was childish to get her involved. She constantly stated that she had to break protocol to get these repairs done and several other people were disadvantaged due to this. I obviously was very confronted by this as I thought it was my basic right to move into a property that was fully functioning and assumed this would be a priority. I also didn t expect to be personally attacked for getting someone with more experience than me involved. This was not the last time during our tenancy that both Capri and Nicole decided to insult me for involving my mother.

Throughout our stay, we received extremely poor communication from both parties. Mould started growing on the bathroom roof after a storm and while someone did come to inspect the building reasonably quickly, we were told afterwards someone would be in contact to clean the mould (an obvious health hazard). This never occurred.

We also requested permission to install NBN during our stay - multiple calls and emails regarding this were never responded to. We d also been informed multiple times by Capri before moving in that the property was a STRICT 6 MONTHS LEASE ONLY . She only bothered to inform us that we were allowed to stay after I d applied for numerous other properties and had requested a rental ledger from her 3 weeks before our lease had ended.

Finally, upon moving out, we were informed that the battery in the remote which controlled the bedroom lights and fan needed to be changed. This was working perfectly before we left, the buttons often had to be held down for a short period to work so I imagine this was the problem. Nicole informed me that it would be a grand total of $71 for a 9V battery change apparently I should be grateful for this because the electrician was called out for another reason so the landlord would be halving the costs with me. I naturally disputed the need for an electrician to change a battery and thus this ridiculous cost and was then threatened to be taken to NCAT over it.

Eventually, I gave in to paying this $71 overall a small price to pay to be completely done with this nightmare of an agency. I have never known anyone to be so incompetent and resort to aggression and emotional abuse upon being questioned by a customer. I thoroughly encourage anyone considering renting a property managed by Raine and Horne Newtown to reconsider as it is just not worth the emotional stress.