Psyber wrote:"
However, the agent and I are very firm that when tenants leave the house and garden has to be restored to the condition it was in when they moved in.
Had to laugh at this.
We have just moved from a shitty rental in South Yarra that had a jungle for a backyard when we moved in.
After getting permission from the agent, we cleared five trailer loads of green waste and made a nice fenced off vegie garden and made room for an outdoor setting and the BBQ. It was quite pleasant in the end. Unfortunately, the house itself was total crap, we couldn't drink the water from the kitchen tap as the pipes were contaminated, the bathroom lights were connected to a double adapter in the laundry and the landlord was a DIY kinda guy that couldn't give a shit about fixing things, but could give a shit about coming into the front yard on a Sunday morning to pick the figs and lemons off the trees there "This is my fruit, not your fruit"
About 2 months before the lease expired, we got notice that the Agents had been replaced and all future dealings were to go through a new company. This didn't worry us because as soon as the lease expired we were outta there! Fast forward two weeks and the landlord is refusing to refund the bond ($2300) because
The garden is not in the same condition as when the property was leased
It actually made it to the tribunal, because the landlord said that the agents hadn't given us permission and he was right. The current agents hadn't, and he insisted that they had been the agents for the duration of the lease! We had to produce the email from the previous agents that stated that they had spoken to the landlord and received permission for us to clear out the back yard. It got thrown out pretty fast after that, but it amazed me how far this shitty landlord was willing to go to try and screw us out of our bond!
We are now living in a great old terrace house in North Melb that is bigger, has a wonderful ready made back garden and costs $50 a week less, plus the new landlord has already installed a brand new stove, no questions asked, after the old one gave up the ghost a few days into the lease because, and I quote, "I just want you to be happy in the house".
Talk about going from one extreme to the other!

