Hi,
I am currently renting a house in Dunedin. I have been living in the house since January, and have had small minor problems throughout the year. Over the past few weeks, it has however been a different story.
Many things have been left unresolved and have just came out all at once.
The first major problem is how the landlord has chosen to rent her property. The house is a 7 bedroom house. The landlord in my opinion is being very greedy and renting out the rooms individually. We pay separately and also paid separate bonds to the landlord. She moved in people she liked and made us all sign the same lease, which I felt very unusual. Sadly after a few problems occurred 4 of the tenants did a runner. We have been told by the landlord that we are all liable. I got angry at this since I thought we were paying separately. If we were all paying together for a fixed price for the whole hose I would understand, but It feels like we are renting rooms and not the whole house. Tenancy Services were not clear on this matter to me, and told me it was illegal, and something about not being allowed to have her cake and eat t too. Is this true? Or do I need to pay for the rent of those who left?
Since I moved in, rodents have been living in the ceiling. I alerted the landlord who did absolutely nothing. Sadly when the giant flooding in Dunedin occurred, our house had a leak, and the rats moved from between the flooring and ceiling, into the house itself and more importantly the kitchen. The landlord turned up one day unannounced and looked around the house. She said that she saw some dirty dishes and some rubbish bags on the floor. She said that is why the rats moved in, and that it is all our fault. The reason we had rubbish bags on the floor is because we were getting it ready for the next morning for collection and didn't want it outside in the rain all night (one of us works as a rubbish collector and said it is nice not to play with wet bags). And as for the plates, I don't see 2 bowls and a few wine glasses attracting a family of rats. Also i should mention that the landlord came around 2 weeks after the rats moved in. At the time is was clean and the rats scared me as they invaded my kitchen and sadly went over my newly bought food and food I was preparing to cook. The landlord blamed me when i said this and said I should have immediately put the food away instead of leaving it out. I feel that she is twisting everything to make it look like I am responsible for everything.
Now this is the biggest problem (sorry if it is getting lengthy ). When the flooding occurred, the house began to leak. Because of it, one bathroom was completely disabled and the second was undesirable to access (bathrooms on ground floor). to access it you needed to walk through water saturated carpet and avoid water pouring down from the ceiling. We lived with it for 2 weeks before the landlord finally came around and unblocked the guttering. (Weird how a blocked gutter can do this). This caused a lot of damage to the house. My allergies began to play up and I at one point was rushed to the hospital since my throat closed. I have since slept at the house 5-6 nights over the past few months. I told the landlord and asked if we could discus me being released from the lease based on the fact it is unlivable for me, and that I have put up with so much. The landlord quickly went berserk on me and started (this is where it began) blaming me for all the problems with the house. She was very unprofessional and turned a calm discussion into an abusive argument (This happened tonight). I told her if she doesn't try to either repair the house or release me, I would ask the TT to help release me. To this she indirectly threatened that it is my word against hers and that I am just a stupid University student who no one would believe. (Believe me, i was shocked she could word something like that indirectly as well) I feel like she is using me being a student to her advantage.
I am very afraid at the moment. I feel like the landlord is taking advantage of my kind-nature. I feel I have been very sensible and respectful towards her, yet she hasn't been back in return. I have rented at many different places before in other cities and NEVER had a problem. In fact on landlord liked me so much she begged me not to go and offered me the place $20 cheaper a week. (Lucky me I guess ) I have never been to the TT, and matters have never been this bad, I am very unsure as to what to do, and how to build my case.
p.s almost forgot, she never lodged my bond. Major shock haa
Any advice or moral support would be helpful. I recently got diagnosed with depression after the death of my fiance this year, and this burden added on has been very hard on me. Thank you so much in advance.
Sorry forgot to mention originally. I get the feeling the landlord is going to try and take me to the TT as well. I know I have applied first, but I feel she has twisted the story so well that she could convince someone It was my wrong doing. She even convinced me until I sat down and actually realized that she just blamed me for everything with no responsibility.
I am currently renting a house in Dunedin. I have been living in the house since January, and have had small minor problems throughout the year. Over the past few weeks, it has however been a different story.
Many things have been left unresolved and have just came out all at once.
The first major problem is how the landlord has chosen to rent her property. The house is a 7 bedroom house. The landlord in my opinion is being very greedy and renting out the rooms individually. We pay separately and also paid separate bonds to the landlord. She moved in people she liked and made us all sign the same lease, which I felt very unusual. Sadly after a few problems occurred 4 of the tenants did a runner. We have been told by the landlord that we are all liable. I got angry at this since I thought we were paying separately. If we were all paying together for a fixed price for the whole hose I would understand, but It feels like we are renting rooms and not the whole house. Tenancy Services were not clear on this matter to me, and told me it was illegal, and something about not being allowed to have her cake and eat t too. Is this true? Or do I need to pay for the rent of those who left?
Since I moved in, rodents have been living in the ceiling. I alerted the landlord who did absolutely nothing. Sadly when the giant flooding in Dunedin occurred, our house had a leak, and the rats moved from between the flooring and ceiling, into the house itself and more importantly the kitchen. The landlord turned up one day unannounced and looked around the house. She said that she saw some dirty dishes and some rubbish bags on the floor. She said that is why the rats moved in, and that it is all our fault. The reason we had rubbish bags on the floor is because we were getting it ready for the next morning for collection and didn't want it outside in the rain all night (one of us works as a rubbish collector and said it is nice not to play with wet bags). And as for the plates, I don't see 2 bowls and a few wine glasses attracting a family of rats. Also i should mention that the landlord came around 2 weeks after the rats moved in. At the time is was clean and the rats scared me as they invaded my kitchen and sadly went over my newly bought food and food I was preparing to cook. The landlord blamed me when i said this and said I should have immediately put the food away instead of leaving it out. I feel that she is twisting everything to make it look like I am responsible for everything.
Now this is the biggest problem (sorry if it is getting lengthy ). When the flooding occurred, the house began to leak. Because of it, one bathroom was completely disabled and the second was undesirable to access (bathrooms on ground floor). to access it you needed to walk through water saturated carpet and avoid water pouring down from the ceiling. We lived with it for 2 weeks before the landlord finally came around and unblocked the guttering. (Weird how a blocked gutter can do this). This caused a lot of damage to the house. My allergies began to play up and I at one point was rushed to the hospital since my throat closed. I have since slept at the house 5-6 nights over the past few months. I told the landlord and asked if we could discus me being released from the lease based on the fact it is unlivable for me, and that I have put up with so much. The landlord quickly went berserk on me and started (this is where it began) blaming me for all the problems with the house. She was very unprofessional and turned a calm discussion into an abusive argument (This happened tonight). I told her if she doesn't try to either repair the house or release me, I would ask the TT to help release me. To this she indirectly threatened that it is my word against hers and that I am just a stupid University student who no one would believe. (Believe me, i was shocked she could word something like that indirectly as well) I feel like she is using me being a student to her advantage.
I am very afraid at the moment. I feel like the landlord is taking advantage of my kind-nature. I feel I have been very sensible and respectful towards her, yet she hasn't been back in return. I have rented at many different places before in other cities and NEVER had a problem. In fact on landlord liked me so much she begged me not to go and offered me the place $20 cheaper a week. (Lucky me I guess ) I have never been to the TT, and matters have never been this bad, I am very unsure as to what to do, and how to build my case.
p.s almost forgot, she never lodged my bond. Major shock haa
Any advice or moral support would be helpful. I recently got diagnosed with depression after the death of my fiance this year, and this burden added on has been very hard on me. Thank you so much in advance.
Sorry forgot to mention originally. I get the feeling the landlord is going to try and take me to the TT as well. I know I have applied first, but I feel she has twisted the story so well that she could convince someone It was my wrong doing. She even convinced me until I sat down and actually realized that she just blamed me for everything with no responsibility.
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