I recently had a rental house flooded in a 1 in 100 year flood in Melbourne (early December) It took one month for the assessor to get to the property, thus the carpets, while lifted from the floor, were still in the bedrooms and very smelly. The three tenants moved out for the month claiming they couldn’t stay there. There as nothing in writing. Two of the tenants have since moved on after verbally notifying the agent and myself prior to the flood that they were probably going to move on. I told them to make sure they notify the agent in writing. There was nothing in writing. The third tenant had planned to stay on and get two other people in. 10 minutes after the assessor had been through, I left a message for the remaining tenant that it might be a good idea to get the carpets up and out to get rid of the smell. This was December 28, so no agents open, tradesmen off work etc. He lifted the carpets in one room. He has not been living at the property. The two people who moved out, gave rent to the remaining party for the period up until the end of December. No rent has been paid for December or January. The agent issued a notice to pay rent and be out by Feb 9 (10 weeks owing in all) or face the tribunal. The tenant rang me and doesn’t want to go to the tribunal. Nor do I ‘cos tenants always get a good deal! I suggested he should pay 6 of the 10 weeks as there was no notice in writing about anyone leaving and effectively, I believe that if all the carpets had been pulled up and out, at the end of December concrete on the bedroom floors for a few weeks hardly constitutes “unliveable” conditions. Am I being too harsh? The tenant believes he should only pay two, a maximum of 4 weeks rent.Any thoughts please?
jak, without going into too much specifics of what happened… it’s probably a bit too much to ask the tenant to lift the carpets himself- that’s your responsibility- not his.
If the tenant wants to stay, but feels he had to live in difficult conditions, then it might be a good time to negotiate with him- that is, *if* he seems to be a reliable guy and his intentions are good. If you say 10 weeks rent, and he says 2… can you both live with 5 weeks rent?
If he vacates and you have a few weeks vacancy, plus 1 week letting fee, etc, or on the other side, wrangling with the Tribunal, it may not be the best outcome for you either.
By the way- how’s your carpet? Nice floorboards underneath? And what the hell is your Property Manager doing? I would have imagined they would have been assisting. but i guess they can only do what the owner instructs really.
This is probably a good story that you’ve written, for those buying CF+ houses in flood areas- even though i know yours was an accidental flood, jak. But for those with flood places- you godda wonder, is it worth it?
kay henry
Thanks for the advice kay. I would be satisfied with 5 weeks and yes, I will be replacing the property manager. Not impressed with the overall effort. Even for the assessor to take a month to get there was pretty rank. Yes, floorboards underneath. I have the rest of the house with polished floorboards, but always maintain in Melbourne’s winter, it’s nice to get out of bed and put your feet on some carpet. Flood prone zones…..well, yes, lesson learnt. Guess I won’t be here for the next 1 in 100 year episode!
Thanks for the advice kay. I would be satisfied with 5 weeks and yes, I will be replacing the property manager. Not impressed with the overall effort. Even for the assessor to take a month to get there was pretty rank. Yes, floorboards underneath. I have the rest of the house with polished floorboards, but always maintain in Melbourne’s winter, it’s nice to get out of bed and put your feet on some carpet. Flood prone zones…..well, yes, lesson learnt. Guess I won’t be here for the next 1 in 100 year episode!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
