Belinda Woods

Review of HouseSmart Finance Pty Ltd

n 7 short months as our Property Manager HouseSmar...

n 7 short months as our Property Manager HouseSmart Real Estate Pty Ltd racked us up a debt of over $12,000 through rent arrears, damage to our property, outstanding bills left by the tenant and property stolen by their maintenance company. Issues experienced include, and are not limited to; - Failure to deal with rent arrears promptly (6 week delay in advising owners tenant was in arrears) - Failure to perform full reference checking on applicant (only checked personal reference, not rental references) - Failure to action maintenance requests promptly (2 months + to fix air conditioner constantly running water and refused to reimburse for excess water usage) - Failure to report issues from inspections (e.g. whole full length blind missing from dining room not reported as missing!) - Failure to invite owners to inspections although requested multiple times verbally and in writing (Advised they forgot even though there was a note left on our file) - Failure to advise tenant we were not renewing lease when directed by owner - Failure to use and properly manage a reputable maintenance company (did not complete job but charged full quoted price and stole $1500 worth of items from our property) - Failure to allow ample time to pay bills (advised on Friday of a $340+ bill due on following Monday). At the end of all of this we only wanted HouseSmart to pay the replacement value of the goods stolen from our property (as they gave authorization to the contractor to take our goods), and for them to pay the excess water bill created from them not actioning a maintenance request for over 8 weeks. They refused to do so unless we relisted the property for rent with them. Considering how far we are in debt because of them, this was definitely not an option. My experience is not isolated and I would highly recommend you search House Smart on the Beechboro Neighbourhood Watch Facebook Page and read the associated posts to get a good understanding of the unprofessional dealings of this business from both landlords and tenants. Also be aware employees have written some of the 5 star ratings on their Facebook page; I believe this is testament to the lack of ethics of HouseSmart and their employees.