Unrealistic notice period & 'picky' landlord

[gremlin]

Okay...so Ive been renting this property for 20 months, keep on renewing tenancy.
Tenancy was due to end 10th of April '11.
I informed the Management agency that I want to leave the premises end of last year, giving 2 months notice, as my brother had moved out down to the South Island & I found the house too expensive & large for me being a single fill-time employed Mom.
As I live right by the CBD the house would be snapped up ASAP.
Anyways, Management agent asked landlord but landlord stated "NO WAY" she refused to let me out.

No problem, would just have to wait it out.

Monday 14th of Feb received e-mail from Agent saying inspection & show-through of someone on the 16th as I was not interested in renewing the lease. On 16th of February the Management agent sent me an e-mail telling me that she had found someone and I had to be out on the 9th of March '11.
I couldnt meet the Wednesday as have to work full time so I was told then to get out by the 5th / 6th of March.
This is all by E-MAIL

So that is complaint number one.
Have you ever tried to find a place in 2,5 weeks? That is looking for a place from scratch including working full time including packing up boxes.
Freak the stress & strain I have been through. Wont even go there but practically nervous breakdown I swear hectic!


Then....I have carpets cleaned, there are two stains that I knew about, never took photo's which I should have. I drove past today & see carpet cleaning company there & the Rental agent wants to charge me again so I have to pay for TWO carpet cleans @ over $100 each!! One spot I swear it irritates me!

Then....I moved in (have move in photos as evidence provided by Rental agent) to a 'garden' with just grass & clover. Hours & hours & hundreds of bux later loads of flowers, daisies, cosmos, brush, moss etc. etc. and she complains that there is a bit of weeds in between.
Seriously!!!

And....yeah I know that my daughter had blue-tak on the door as she put up some posters & she wants to charge me for varnish for the FEW (and I mean few) spots caused. House is COVERED all over the wall with thousands of nail-marks from previous tenants (have photo evidence) and she is complaining about a few marks on the door.


Well....I want to know do I have a leg to stand on here?
I dont mind about the door, I can see how that is not normal wear & tear.

But to have the carpets done again & for me to pay for the entire clean.
And to give me 2,5 weeks notice! and to complain & cause me more undue stress about a couple of weeks you know what its like in Kiwi-land with the rains you cant keep up with weed-management.

Would appreciate any comments negative or positive. Need to know if Im being a pedantic pain in the a$$

Thanx guys & gals

[Keithw]

When you say you kept renewing the tenancy, was that fixed terms each time ?
You say the agreement was due to end April, but you were asked to leave March ?
By the sound of it you could have insisted on staying until then if you wanted to.
But if you agreed to the 2.5weeks - even tho you didnt have to, it was your choice in the end so you probably dont have any comeback, except as a negotiating point.

As far as carpets go, these are always an issue. The Law doesnt actually require you to have them cleaned, they must simply be in a "reasonable state of cleanliness"
Of course that always varies depending on who is judging. but if you can show that you had them cleaned & they were in a reasonable state of cleanliness, then any additional cleaning that the agent or landlord choose to do is at thier expense, not yours.
I would say it is a similar situation with the garden, if you left it in a better state than it was when you moved in - complete with weeds, then there can be no complaints.
Unfortunately the number of hours you spent in the garden & price of flowers are not really relevant, as again they were your choice, and you may have now actually changed the garden from what was a low maintenance (run the lawn mower or weedeater over it) garden, to one requiring maintenance - weeding etc.

I dispair when I hear tenant stories of apparent abuse by agents, as it taints all landords and agents.

Dig your heals in over any second carpet cleaning cost & garden weeding cost. Take it to the tenancy tribunal if required, pointing out that you voluntarily moved out before you were required to.

[groovymomma]

Heya

I fully agree with KeithW. Definitely push for it, it is not right that us tenants get treated like that especially when we do everything right, even things that aren't required.
Another idea would be to refer back to the first inspection before you moved in and point any things out that are better off than when you first moved in.
Definitely go to tenancy and stand up for yourself! I am in the same situation at the moment, however our couple of stains apparantly demanded a replace of the entire carpet throughout the house at a cost of 4500. Ummm yeah i think NOT!
Kia Kaha stand tall and dont let them walk all over you. Also i would recommend filing a formal complaint against your agent, every single one helps cause if she's this rude to you then you probably are not the only one thats pissed off! LOL
Good Luck

[gremlin]

Hiya, thanx for that Keith.
Yeah no problem on tenancy side, it was fixed term & I kept on renewing.

I know what you mean as it has tainted me towards rental agents in New Zealand totally. I must be honest, been in the country for 2,5 years & had just overly rude Management agents from the get to its like you owe them the world & its like they going sooooo out of their way to accommodate you.
When, in fact, we pay their rent. I know alot about the charge side as I work as an auditor & have a few rental & sales estate agents books that I audit periodically. (So i know about the charges on rental & maintenance, put it that way).

It just kills me how you also get charged this letting fee, which to me basically guarantees you have good service. Well, if something is wrong then its a major hassle & a beg & plead for it to be fixed. Like the light fitting in the bathroom rusted & fell to pieces. RUSTED! Took the pieces of the light & dropped off by Agent & she asked about what light bulbs I was using. On hearing it was the Energy Savers she blamed the energy saver light bulbs for causing the light fitting to 'break'.

Oh p-ah-lease!!!

Oh well....no time to moan. Just wanted to ask some advice on the carpet cleaning as I feel that its totally unjust.

[Keys]

If it's a fixed term tenancy Let them know you'll be out at the end of the term Thank them for their correspondance so far but you have just found out that, no matter what you have previously signed, you're still entitled to stay for the duration of the fixed term. At the end say something like have a nice day. Be pleasant.

[Keys]

Oh well....no time to moan. Just wanted to ask some advice on the carpet cleaning as I feel that its totally unjust.

Ignore the request for carpet cleaning. Suggest to them that they are in breach of the RTA on two points so far. Each one punishable by fines not exceeding $1000.

[gremlin]

Thanx Keys
What two points? I know about the giving notice point but what else?


You see if I was someone who was destroying the house, throwing parties, not paying rent or complaining I would understand but nope, I recon she found a friend that wanted to move in.

Sorry forgot to mention that I am none of the above.

It just irks me that I went through sooo much stress. I couldnt get time off work either as we had a number of external off-site audits books so flat out at work. I swear, I feel like Ive just been through a divorce.

[Keys]

Let's assume you have given them your email as an address for service.

Monday 14th of Feb received e-mail from Agent saying inspection & show-through of someone on the 16th

Not long enough. It's also an inspection so that's off the cards for another 4 weeks.

On 16th of February the Management agent sent me an e-mail telling me that she had found someone and I had to be out on the 9th of March '11.
I couldnt meet the Wednesday as have to work full time so I was told then to get out by the 5th / 6th of March.

Tisk tisk. Attempting to remove your right to quiet enjoyment.

Then....I have carpets cleaned,

I'll make an educated guess that the carpet cleaning clause is in the tenancy agreement.

[DeanAshby]

I hope you did follow some of the advises above. You should really stay stern and not simply give in to the landlord just because she has found a new tenant. If the tenancy term is fixed, then even the landlord needs to abide by it. If not, at least give you a reasonable notice period which definitely requires more than just 2.5 weeks (you can't even get a storage space within that period). And I can totally relate to your situation regarding the not-so-friendly weather in Australia that adds on to the stress. Hope you had handled your situation well.

[Maccachic]

Whats with all these storage place comments do I sense a spam post comming??

[DeanAshby]

Now we know that we should always play smart and take photos of all the nooks and crannies of the house that we are going to rent on the very first day. This way, when such unwanted circumstances occur with such an unreasonable landlord, we have proof to back ourselves up! 2.5 weeks is really absurd unless you don't own many things like ONLY clothes. Else, it is obviously impossible. The bulky items certainly need storage with that short timespan. Hope you dealt with her well.

[DazRaz]

It was 2 years ago...let it die.