this, on the other hand, does suck..
Dec. 13th, 2004 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerThis whole eviction business is obviously still stressing me, in terms of feeling insecure about the new place.
Elaine just had an argument with the new agent about the condition report, ie things that we'd noted that weren't on it like missing light fittings and various marks and burns we don't want to get blamed for. The agent's coming around tomorrow to check out some of the things we mentioned, but was apparently quite shirty in insisting that the light fittings were there, and gave the impression they're going to be belligerent and difficult to work with. I really don't give a toss about some nonexistant fittings, aside from not wanting to end up paying for them, but the knots in my stomach right now are more to do with a fear of upsetting them too much and finding ourselves in this same position in a year's time when the lease comes up again.
This shits me, as i've never been one to take crap from agents, at least on things where we're in the right, but at the moment having had the rug pulled out from under us once has made me paranoid it's going to happen again. It's made me feel powerless and subservient and afraid of stepping on toes, which is not how i intend to live at all. I do not want to be too timid to complain about something for fear they'll decide we're too much of a problem to be worth our rent money (the fact that we got our marching orders within two weeks of our old landlords having to put their hand in their pocket to fix a dangerous gas leak is no small factor in this).
It makes me want to think about buying our own place after all, except that we don't want to live anywhere we could even close to afford to buy. Maybe i just need to get over the shock of this whole thing and get back to the normal mode of "i'll deal fairly with you, you deal fairly with me, and nobody has to get hurt".
Elaine just had an argument with the new agent about the condition report, ie things that we'd noted that weren't on it like missing light fittings and various marks and burns we don't want to get blamed for. The agent's coming around tomorrow to check out some of the things we mentioned, but was apparently quite shirty in insisting that the light fittings were there, and gave the impression they're going to be belligerent and difficult to work with. I really don't give a toss about some nonexistant fittings, aside from not wanting to end up paying for them, but the knots in my stomach right now are more to do with a fear of upsetting them too much and finding ourselves in this same position in a year's time when the lease comes up again.
This shits me, as i've never been one to take crap from agents, at least on things where we're in the right, but at the moment having had the rug pulled out from under us once has made me paranoid it's going to happen again. It's made me feel powerless and subservient and afraid of stepping on toes, which is not how i intend to live at all. I do not want to be too timid to complain about something for fear they'll decide we're too much of a problem to be worth our rent money (the fact that we got our marching orders within two weeks of our old landlords having to put their hand in their pocket to fix a dangerous gas leak is no small factor in this).
It makes me want to think about buying our own place after all, except that we don't want to live anywhere we could even close to afford to buy. Maybe i just need to get over the shock of this whole thing and get back to the normal mode of "i'll deal fairly with you, you deal fairly with me, and nobody has to get hurt".
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 05:13 am (UTC)Do they think you go in there and steal light fittings at the start of a tenancy?
Feh.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:27 am (UTC)Which is exactly what i should be thinking, instead of "oh god, don't make waves". It's really made me realise how this whole event's shaken me up.
It also pisses me off because we shouldn't have to feel so bloody insecure just because we can't afford to buy our own house.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:31 am (UTC)I hope Elaine sorts them out quick smart. I mean really - you work, you pay the rent on time, you're not on the dole. They should be *thankful* to have you as tenants. And I'm not being nasty about people who *are* on the dole - it's just a fact that you'll find it easier to pay the rent in a timely manner.
I'd let them know who's boss. Without you, THEY would have no job.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:26 am (UTC)being in large amounts of debt is lots of fun but I'd rather be paying off my house than someone elses
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:46 am (UTC)We'd never fit in a unit, and (this sort of shit aside) we'd rather pay someone else's mortgage in Fitzroy than our own in Broadmeadows or Bayswater. Simple as that.
Renting's always been fine - we don't trash the place, we pay the rent, they fix stuff (usually) and otherwise leave us alone. This Notice to Vacate business has just shaken up the feeling of security and left us feeling powerless (though if they hadn't given us three times the required notice we'd not have been going quietly, rest assured of that).
I think i just needed to properly realise the way it's made me feel in order to get over it.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:33 am (UTC)They may be used to people trying to get stuff fixed underhandedly so are tarring you with the same brush. Once they realise that your motivation is merely to have these things noted on the report for future reference & not an attempt to needlessly replace items you may not have liked then they will undoubtedly calm down.
*hugs & good luck*
TinaPop
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Date: 2004-12-13 06:12 am (UTC)Change is one thing, but lugging all this crap from one place to another sucks too. I hate the thought of not having control of that.
It's hard finding the balance between not slipping into thinking it's our house and we're going to be there forever, vs being paranoid and thinking we're living on ice which could splinter under us at any time.
We've just gone from one extreme to the other, and have to settle back in the middle again.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 06:14 am (UTC)It's just the (mainly irrational) reaction i found myself having that's thrown me. It'll pass.
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Date: 2004-12-13 05:51 am (UTC)If you roll over now they'll be supplying you with KY till you move out.
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Date: 2004-12-13 06:02 am (UTC);-P
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Date: 2004-12-13 06:08 am (UTC)Yeah, look where it got us with the last lot: They grizzled about the expense whenever anything had to be fixed, so we only bothered them if it was really urgent (somehow we knew to be wary of making the place cost them too much to maintain). Then, when they did have to put their hand in their pocket for something urgent, they mentioned the state of repair of things like the roof to make us feel like it was our fault they were kicking us out (despite having decided before they even came around).
I think it's the state of repair of this place (and what they could get for it if they fixed it up) that's making us paranoid of a repeat performance.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 06:38 am (UTC)Some landlords realise that a rental property is like a car - the better you look after it the longer it lasts. Waiting until the red warning light comes on to fix a problem means it's more expensive to fix.
Other landlords couldn't give a shit. Especially some of the ones who've inherited the property rather than bought it.
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Date: 2004-12-13 06:46 am (UTC)Jay Superfluous
About Landlords . . . remember, the agent gains maximum profits by churning the tenants at the expense of the landlord. One month's worth of missed rental, for the landlord, is going to take up to two years of (presumably increased) rent to recoup . . . the agent, though, gets extra fees for arrangement of the new rental, plus whatever kick-backs from their "preferred supplier" to recoup the bond/make the place presentable. And your Agent, the perfect paradigm of the Evil Fucking Middleman, will try to convince you this is a Good Thing by frightening the Tenants with the Landlord and vice-versa!
I also very much doubt that the landlord himself is in any way Protected by renting through an agent: the $8,000 of damage done to my previous house by the f***wit flatmate I let in through the advice of a friend (no f***ing longer!) doesn't seem to be chasing me (I was the one on the lease) let alone the perpetrator (I comfort myself with the knowledge that revenge is a dish best eaten cold - but that's not going to get any of my stolen and destroyed possessions back, now is it . . .)
My advice: find the Actual Landlord. He'll be on the lease, somewhere. Check him out . . . if he's civilized (and I know YOU are) then get in touch and cut out the middleman.
You're always, always going to be better off dealing with a Person than with a Corporate Entity. Always.
("Excluded Middleware" concepts
c.o. {Strategies Against Arachnitecture})
Anyway, it could be worse, you could have MY life . . . living in one cell-like room in an Ascot Vale Boarding House with 11 other Sad Old Loser Men . . . the alkies . . . the smackies . . . the Viet Vets . . . the loonies . . . the jigsaw puzzlers . . . and worst of all, the gardeners . . .
Not a great Shared Bathroom to dye your hair and do your make-up in (though it is a change to be both the youngest and thinnest of the Excluded Losers around me).
And I'm going to die here, I imagine. No money, no prospects, no redeeming features, no Home For Distressed Goths offering any places in the near future . . . If only I was still a cute little puppy! Somebody would take home for Christmas! . . . . then again, if I had been a kitten, I've have been drowned long since . . .
Pass the word to any Rich Friends, I Will Butle. And Sycophance. For Board and Internet Access . . .
P. S. - been listening to the Screaming Banshee Aircrew yet?
Jay Superfluous
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 10:54 pm (UTC)Yeah, i realise there are a lot worse situations to be in, but it's just the shock that's thrown us a bit, as we didn't see it coming (well, we did know it was always a possibility, but didn't think it would happen). I keep forgetting all this has only come up in the last three weeks - everything is happening so fast it seems like it's been going on for months. We keep reminding ourselves it's just a house move, no big deal, but the fact is we haven't even had time to get our head around it because it was out of the blue.
(We also keep going to say things like "It could be worse, at least.." but we're too paranoid or superstitious to even name any worse things.)
We usually have had no problem with agents (other that some being mercenary bastards when it comes to rent increases) - it's the owners that we've often found to be stingy and haphazard when it comes to maintenance. We actually prefer to have an intermediary sometimes.
No KMFDM for us - we're too busy shifting (and i'm really quite over the whole "industrial rock" genre anyway). I can't remember who/what Screaming Banshee Aircrew is either.
I hope something better's going to come for you soon. I'm sure it won't be forever.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 06:49 am (UTC)Report it to the Tenants Union. No action, just ask them to make a note of it. If you can ask for David Imber. Tell him I recommended him ;-)
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Date: 2004-12-13 10:14 pm (UTC)They found out the owner had removed the light fittings after the initial condition report was complied (to 'make it easier for us to change the bulbs' - hrm, something tells us we'd better watch this lot).
So that's sorted, though an apology for practically calling us liars and thieves might be nice. (We won't hold our breath).
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Date: 2004-12-14 03:18 am (UTC)That's truly awful. I'd be documenting all this. Seriously, having to move house is troublesome enough. Why they would want to make lives difficult for people who are paying them money is just ludricrous.
Unless of course they're testing your mettle.. :/
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Date: 2004-12-15 12:55 am (UTC)Jeesus. Cuz you like living with bare bulbs. some people are truly fucked.
I remember a house we lived in, in Collingwood. Had a lovely open fireplace. We took it on the grounds that it was the only heating in the place, and we could use it.
The day we picked up the keys and signed the lease they informed us that as the previous tenants were asshats and had burnt the mantlepiece, we weren't allowed to use it. Oh, and that they'd install electric heating.
Which they *eventually* did, putting it on the wrong wall, and then had to come back and change it. Bah.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 09:43 am (UTC)And like you, I'm hesitant to ask for things to be fixed, as I'm trying to stay under the radar (I mean small things, like changing the lightbulbs on the stairway, which I'm unable to do unless I develop Spiderman-like powers sometime soon). So I can very much sympathise with your feelings, and I do hope that everything works out ok. And I also hope you'll both be very happy in your new place.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 10:47 pm (UTC)We've always been of the opinion that, while it's someone else's house (and hence we have to look after it for them), it's also our *home* and we should be able to live comfortably and have our privacy (i believe 'quiet enjoyment' is the proper term) and also that, as long as we don't damage the place, how we live and want to make it look is none of their business.
That's why it shocked me yesterday to find myself having panicked thoughts of rushing around taking down all our skull ornaments and gargoyles, as if it was an inspection of *us* and the slightest little thing they didn't approve of would see us turfed out at the first opportunity. It's utter bullshit, but i hadn't realised how irrationally paranoid being told to vacate the old place has left me. Probably just because it's the first time it's happened to us, and some little part of me still thinks we did something wrong to make it happen (even though i know it's just about money).
Sometimes i forget that all of this has only just happened over the last three weeks or so. It feel like it's been going on for months, but in reality we still haven't had time for it all to sink in.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 10:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 11:13 pm (UTC)I think it's just brought it home to us that we *can* be evicted (whether through any fault of our own or not) as we've never had it happen before. We haven't even had proper inspections at our last place for over six years, so we've probably become quite blase about things like picture hooks in the walls (though this had nothing to do with being asked to leave, as they hadn't been around to notice).
It's made us more hesitant again about things like putting nails in walls etc (as well as nervous about our feline entourage being a little larger than we let on) but my reaction yesterday was quite out of proportion and really made me realise how shitscared this had made me about having it happen again (not that it's the end of the world - i mean we found a new place in three days, so it's not that hard). Once i realised that, it was okay, but it's all been so hectic and we really haven't had time to stop and get our heads around it, so i guess we're still 'in shock' to some degree.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 11:35 pm (UTC)Mmm, here's to knowing your rights.
If we hadn't been given three times the required notice to vacate this last place, we'd be challenging the 'No Specific Reason' notice on the grounds of being in reprisal for exercising our rights (in this case getting a dangerous gas leak fixed). Don't know what sort of case we'd have, but we wouldn't be going quietly.
As it is, we found a place and are moving on, so goodbye and good luck to them (and by 'good luck' i know i really mean 'i hope the next tenants trash the place').
(I shouldn't say things like that, as part of me is convinced this whole thing has happened as a karmic payback/lesson after hoping all the fuckwits who voted for Johnny Howard lost their home to interest rate rises).
no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 12:02 am (UTC)They were over the light fittings, but that's been cleared up now (the owner apparently took them down, to 'make it easier for us to change the bulbs' - okaaaay). The agent's coming around today to check over some of the extra things we noted, but i think she's just shitty because Elaine scrawled all over the thing with extra stuff we found (though when they take it to the extent of *counting* the number of scratches on a mantlepiece, it kind of begs the same scrutiny).
But the suggestion of getting the Tenants Union to keep a record of things is a good one. I didn't know they would do that.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:56 am (UTC)