Morning all,
I'm after a bit of advice on how to proceed with my current situation. We are breaking our lease on a unit in Darwin and currently looking for someone to move in. We fly out of Darwin next Saturday so obviously we need it let before then. A guy that lives above me inquired about the property because he had to be out of his apartment this week. He pays the same rent as I do, has a stable government job and has been in the building for over 3 years. He applied over a week ago and the property manager told me the day he applied that he looked good for the place she just needed to check his references. He contacted me yesterday saying it was too late to organise moving into our apartment and he had to go else where. He said ours was his first option as it was an easy move but the agent had not contacted him at all so he couldn't take it. I rang the agent straight away and asked what was the go with his application, she responded "I'm still waiting on his references". I told her to ring the guy and let him know how his application was going…She rang him and told him that the application was approved?!?! but he had already committed to some where else.
I feel as a result of her inaction to chase up the references we have lost a very good potential tenant. Is a week too long to be waiting on references? I have had property managers contact within 2 days with a successful/unsuccessful answer. I'm sure there is something that says the agent must take all reasonable action to let the apartment and I feel she has not done so.
In general she is very slow to respond to any maintenance issues and very hard to contact, the whole experience has been very unpleasant.
The rental market here is very slow at the moment and that may have been our last chance at getting someone in before we leave. We are committed by the contract to pay rent till the end of the lease period or until someone moves in. If no one will take over we are considering just not paying rent and being black listed. We have purchased a place in our home town and can't see ourselves renting ever again. Are there any other ramifications of taking this step other than being black listed?
The whole situation is very frustrating and hopefully we can get sorted soon. Any thoughts on how to proveed would be much appreciated. Cheers
This is the property managers fault for not following up on the references. These do not take a week – <moderator: delete language>. I would argue that we found the best possible tenant and the prop. manager screwed it up, end of story, so rent is not due. See you at arbitration court…. that's if you can be bothered.
Ian
http://www.theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info, Tools & Resources for Investors … with a Sense of Humour.Thanks sapphire. <moderator: delete language>. I have spoken to consumer affairs this morning regarding the issue and they have been very helpful. They said that we should try and sort it out between ourselves and the property manager and to tell her that we are going to the Commissioner of Tennancies about it. That usually gets them into gear and if not then follow through with it. She said she believed that our application to the commissioner would be strong so see how we go…
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