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Tenant's Rights · She's On The Money

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Sanatasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: we get started on She's On the Money podcast, I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Hello and welcome to The Money, the podcast for millennials
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: who want financial freedom. Currently thirty one percent of households
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: in Australia are rented, but despite that number being so
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: very significant, surprisingly few of us actually know what our
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: rights are as renters. Through the show today, will be
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: providing a bit of an overview as to where things
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: are at in Australia in twenty twenty two from a
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: renter's perspective. We'll outline exactly what you can and can't
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: do as a tenant, and we'll explain what to do
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: if you run into trouble with your landlord. My name
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: is Georgia King, and joining me as she always does,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: is Miss Victoria Divine.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Hello, Miss Georgia King V.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: It is no secret that life is expensive at the moment.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: And while interest rates are going up, which is impacting homeowners,
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: a lot of people living in rentals are also filling
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: the pinch. Myself included. We're facing rent increases all of
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: that jazz. So to kick us off, can you please
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: provide us a little bit of context as to where
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: things are actually at the moment in the rental space.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I thought you were going to ask about the rising
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: cost of living, and I'm like, really, do I have
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to explain that? Like, I feel like we're all feeling it.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: We all see it. Our coffee prices are now astronomical,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Like you don't even get change for a five or
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: any more GQ, You really don't. I don't actually use cash,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: so it's just when I tap it. But like it
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: feels bad when your coffee is more than five dollars?
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Does?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Like I get it? Like, please don't think that I'm
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: slaying small businesses and think they should lower their prices.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I don't just still hurts though, lut keep your prices up,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: make your margin, get your bank. But you're right, things
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: when it comes to the rental space are getting a
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: little bit more tricky for literally everyone, and rents are
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: certainly feeling it just as much as anyone. Rentals at
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the moment are nine point one percent higher GKING across
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: capital cities and unfairly ten point eight percent higher in
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: regional areas compared to June last year. So that is
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: a gigantic jump from my perspective. So an example, because
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: we love examples, we love numbers, we are stat scalcal
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: If you were paying five hundred dollars a week in rent,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that will jump to an extra fifty bucks a year,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: which at the end of the year is going to
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: cost you two thousand, six hundred dollars more in total.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: That is literally the cost of a holiday to Fiji,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: but ten days in Fiji flights for me, my partner return.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I was looking the other day on luxury escapes. That's
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: what it's going to cost. But the pace of this
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: increase is also the steepest it's been in fourteen years,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: so it's undeniably a very big deal and something we
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: really need to be talking about. So according to Domaine's
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: March rental report, the median rent in Sydney is six
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: hundred bucks. In Melbourne it's four hundred and fifty dollars,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: and in Brisbane it is five hundred dollars, followed by
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Adelaide at four hundred and sixty five, Perth at four
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: hundred and eighty dollars. Hobart. Surprisingly, I'm not surprised, but
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I think everybody else will be five twenty. She's getting up.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: There than Melbourne.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Wait for this camera at seven hundred dollars, in Darwin
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: at six hundred and ten. And that's not what I
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: reckon many would expect. Definitely not, but it's often due
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: to demand and so camera. There aren't that many houses,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and there's lots of government employees with high incomes, so
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a lot of people who own properties. Let's make Hey,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: well the sun is shining right.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: But that's expensive. I'm surprid to see that Melbourne is
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: only for fifty because having I've been looking at rentals
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: for the last six months.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I keep getting the signing my emocks to give
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: you a guaranteur, like, hey, can you please recommend Georgia King.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I'm like, yes, I keep recommending Georgia King give her
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: a house.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Already, but literally you cannot get And to be fair,
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: we're looking in the city and sorry, we have got
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: a house now, but we're looking in like Fitzroy and
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: places like she's so sad, she's a little bougie. But
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: you cannot get anything that has like doors and you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: windows that aren't broken for less than six hundred dollars.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: So for fifty I reckon there's a little bit of
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: mayo on that.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: I'm a little bit further and I'm not going to
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: tell you how much I'm paying in rent because to
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: be honest, I'm a little bit embarrassed because it is
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: quite high because we were quite desperado. So we are
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: currently renovating our house, very privileged position to being very
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: excited about it. But I think I've spoken about this
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: on the podcast with you. Once we did all the
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: numbers and realized that it was actually cheaper to have
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: the trades come in one time and you know, do
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: all the electricity for the whole house instead of like, oh,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: do the front part of the house and then the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: back part of the house, you'd have to pay for
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: two separate sessions, right, Yeah, So our builder worked with
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: us to do the budgets because obviously I'm a budgeting queen,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: or I like to pretend i am. It ended up
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: being far more financially viable for us to actually move
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: out rent during that period of time and have everything
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: done at once. So I didn't expect that because I
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: was kind of like, oh, let's just start with the kitchen,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: then maybe we'll do a bathroom. And so we've ended
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: up biting the bullet to save more money in the
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: long term. But it meant we needed to find a
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: short term rental one that was really challenging to do.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: And two it means I'm paying literally double what the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: medium rent in Melbourne is at the moment. And the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: house has so many issues, Like if you're following me
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: on Instagram, you've seen that our aducted heating flooded and
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: when our landlord came over have look and help me
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: fix it, he was like, oh, you could just use
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: this small reverse cycle that's in the kitchen at the
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: other end of the house to heat the whole house.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: What maybe our shower flooded and has put mold onto
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: the carpet in the bedroom. That's obviously a massive issue.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: They're like, oh, no worries, We're just going to use
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: you know, like waterproofing paint. They just painted the base
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: of our shower instead of fixing it. They painted the
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: base of our shower with straight waterproofer, which if you're
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: not a builder you probably don't understand. But imagine a
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: shower that's tiled and someone's coming with bright blue paint
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: and painted the floor of the shower. So not only
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: is it not aesthetically pleasing, I don't even know if
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: that's legal.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: That is crazy, But I guess that's what we're going
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: to get today figuring out our right.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's where this is come from, right, And maybe
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: some people at She's on the Money you have been
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: talking about their rental experiences and have been like, do
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: you know what we should do a whole podcast on
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: the issue.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Definitely, And also we should say up the top hashtag
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: not all landlords. I feel like they may be going
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: to get a bit of a rough trot in today's episode.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: We see you beautiful landlords that do the right thing
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: by their tenants, but a lot of them don't. So
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: just acknowledging that up the top as well. This is
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: maybe a little bit of a dumb question, but is
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: rent going up purely because of interest rates increasing and
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: landlords needing to meet it in the middle, I guess.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Look, I think that there's a number of reasons rent
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: is increasing. That is definitely part of it. Homeowners are
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: definitely paying more on their mortgages. As a homeowner, I
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: definitely can be By the way, if I was a landlord,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: which one day, I would love to be a landlord,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: no matter how much slack I'm going to get in
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: the community for doing a landlord, I would love to
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: be a landlord. I think i'd be really good. I
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: think you'd be a grandlord. I'd be like, oh, you
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: need a new window, I'm going to help you. You
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: want a heat on? That seems I can, right. But
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: people are paying more on their mortgages, and unfortunately that
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: does mean that they have to find ways to, you know,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: get more income to cover the mortgage otherwise they are out.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: So they need to recoup those fun somewhere, and unfortunately
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: tenants often have to shoulder that cost. Many landlords also
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: g as you might know, paused rent during COVID for
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: compassionate reasons, so people are probably making up for a
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: little bit of lost time. I remember when I used
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: to rent full time and our rent would probably go
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: up at like one percent or two percent each year,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: and I'd be like, yeah, whatever, it's in line with
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: inflation and always hurt a little bit. But if during
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: COVID your landlord didn't put it up and then now
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: they're putting it up five percent and you've been there
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: for three years, Like I'm not saying it's fair, it
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: will just hit you a little bit harder. It's such
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: a steep jump, right, Yeah, Okay.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: Let's move on a little bit here and jump into
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: chatting about renters' rights. Where are we at in twenty
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: twenty two. If I'm not mistaken, I feel like there
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: have been some changes in recent times.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: There have been.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: My favorite is that you are now in Victoria allowed pets.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know ye all around all of the states,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: but I know that you're now allowed pets, which is
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: probably my favorite change. But before we dive in, I
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: think it's really important to state that it does very
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: state to state. So the best thing you can do
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: is head onto your state based website and have a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: look at what your rights might be and how these vary. Obviously,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: if you're based outside of Victoria, it's a good idea
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: to do your own research and double check the information
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: that we're going to provide today, not necessarily because we haven't,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: just because we wouldn't want you to go and take
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: things as gospel and I find yourself in a little
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: bit of a pickle. That's not what we are about. So,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: as you mentioned before, g there have been recent changes,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: and over the last three years, I feel like we've
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: gone really far ahead in comparison to where we used
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: to be, and things have become, from my perspective, a
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: little bit more fair for everybody. Renters now have a
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: few more rights than they used to, which from my
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: perspective is pretty great. It's great money weak good. Absolutely.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: The changes and established rights that I think would be
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: most relevant to our community include the following. So the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: first one I've written down is that you can make
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: modifications to your home. So now without permission, you can
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: do things like put hooks up so you can hang
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: paintings and put screws in the wall for shelves. Where
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: As if you have friended before you know that this
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: was an issue. I remember in one of my first
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: houses g I had used those you know, those command
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: like sticky strips that don't leave any issue. I would
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: put those on the wall and off the paint. Well, no,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I didn't have that issue that I remember. Probably did though,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and just probably ignored it. I do remember filling in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: a hole in an old house where I had put
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: a screw with toothpaste before I left though, so probably
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: don't tell my old property manager, But I remember having
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: a property manager come in and she's like, you need
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: to take that painting down. I was like, it's being
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: held up one It was a really cheap, very light
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: ikea canvas. I was like, oh, it's being held up
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: with command strips. And she's like, I don't care to
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: ruin the wall, take it down. And I was like, okay,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: now what is so now you can do that? Money
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: means decorating win. I think that's so important because obviously,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: if you can make modifications like that, you can not
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: only add like nice touches to your house, but it
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: means you can put up like sheers or whatever you
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: want that makes your house feel a little bit more
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: like your own. Yeah, and I think that's important, like
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: you should feel like that is your home. Next, obviously
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: my favorite, you can have pets, but you do need
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to seek the permission from the owner of the property
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: before doing so, so basically the landlord needs a very
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: good reason to refuse you. Now, so that's excellent news
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: for our dog o loving friends. Also, there's no such
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: thing as pet bond, by the way, that doesn't exist.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: So if your landlord or your agents suggests that polanitly
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: tell them that you absolutely will not be paying that,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: and that is not a thing I like it. The
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: laws actually state that you don't necessarily have to tell them,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: but I would definitely tell them plate safe, do the
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: right thing. You don't want to end up in a pickle.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: But instead of them being able to say in a
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: lease you can't have a pet, they actually have to
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: have a very very good reason to not have one,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and I can't think of one. So next on the
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: list is we now have quote minimum standards, which means
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: the rental needs to have a fixed heater, cough and
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: curtains and blinds in bedrooms and living areas. Sure, I
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: know that's not the case for Sydney though, because I
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: was talking to one of my girlfriends who lives in
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Sydney recently about this whole heater conundrum that I have
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: been going through, and she's like, oh, like you are
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: lucky they have standards because in Sydney yollow. Really you
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: got mold, not their problem, right.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: That is naughty.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: You got mold, no worries, no blind Do you better
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: pay for them? No heater? Well you can go to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: came up by your own.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: Geez, Louise. That's not good, I know, right, my passion.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: There's also new bond limits, so your agent or your
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: landlord can't ask for more than one month's worth of
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: rent as the bond, especially if your rent is nine
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: hundred dollars or less. If you had rent that was
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: more than nine hundred dollars a week, you must be
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: you'd be killing it.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: This one is interesting because I definitely just paid a
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: bond that was like time and a half of what
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: we paid per month. That's good to know that I've
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: been there.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: It's actually good point. I think that in my rental
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I definitely have paid more than one month's Oh spicy content.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I hope our property managers do not listen to our
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: podcast up, I screen on a little bit of our people.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: All right, So the next one obviously goes back to
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: my mold comment, but it's basically, if you have mold,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: a broken air conditioner, or damp issues, that's now classified
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: as urgent repairs. I mean by the classification that our
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: government gave us, not by the classification that my real
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: estate agent seems to live by. The last on my
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: list g that I want to share today is that
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: the notice agents or your landlord needs to give your
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: renters before the sales inspections happen if they're planning on
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: selling your house has increased, which I think is really
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: important because historically I have had friends where they have
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: been like, oh my God, Like I have to clean
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: my apartment because my landlord just told me that they're
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: selling the apartment and they're having inspections this week.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: So I feel like that puts you under unnecessary pressure.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: But also I feel like standard rules apply. Just use
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: your nails, and if you're not comfortable with something, even
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: if you've looked it up on the website and it
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: doesn't say anything about it, just tell your property manager
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: you're uncomfortable with it, and see where you go. From there,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: I feel like knowing your rights is also about really
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: having a level of confidence to be like, I don't
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: feel comfortable with this. Is there's something else we can
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: do or an agreement we can come to, And I
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: think that that's really fair too.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, brilliant. Okay, what do we do v if something
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: goes wrong at our place, like there's.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: A leak or we're going to rite, we're going to write.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Also if like the stovetop stops working, like how do
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: you know what you're meant to.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Meant to do? Exactly? Here we go. So if the
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: repair required isn't your fault, so you didn't break it,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: the rental provider is actually required to organize and pay
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: for the repair. If the damage was your fault, though,
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: it's likely that you're going to need to cover those costs,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: so obviously have a look at it when it comes
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: to you know, my examples, I had nothing to do
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: with those, thank god. They would have been really expensive
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: for repairs. But if you have broken it, as I've
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: always said to just friends and family that have rented before,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: they're like, oh I broke x y Z, I probably
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: should call my real estate agent. I know this probably
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: isn't the most kosher recommendation, but they're going to go
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: through people who are arguably far more expensive. So maybe
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: if your dad knows how to do things, maybe he
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: could pop in and fix that door, Or if you've
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: got a handy friend who could rehang the curtains that
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: you accidentally pulled down, Definitely see if you can do
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: that first before alerting them in saying that. Obviously, transparency
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: is everything. We're not saying lie. Definitely just see if
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: there's a cheaper option, because we're all about saving money
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: instead of getting a massive bill from our real estate
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: agent who went with the easiest and usually most expensive
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: option one. Okay, before we actually go and fix things, though, gee,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: the first thing you need to figure out is where
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: eether or not that repair required is urgent or non urgent,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: as that's going to actually impact how quickly the repairs
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: are legally required to be made. If it is urgent,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: that is something that makes it literally unsafe for you
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: to live there. So an example of this is a
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: gas leak, a broken toilet, a serious roof leak, a
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: flooded heater. Yeah, these repairs are actually required to be
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: made immediately, like you need to get in contact with
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: your real estate agent and go hey, cool, you need
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: to fix this asap. I mean we can be kind.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: We're not like you need to be like, hey, please
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: help this. So, yes, white flag. If you don't get
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: a response quickly, you can actually organize the repairs yourself,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and your landlord or agent is going to need to
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: reimburse you within seven days of you giving written notice
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: of the repairs that were required. Do not though you
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: can't go wild with this. Twenty five hundred dollars is
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the maximum amount for a repair that you can actually
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: pass on to them if you're planning to organize it
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: yourself in an emergency circumstance. Anything more than that and
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: they might go Georgia King, that's ridiculous. Yeah, okay, which
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I think is fair. Like there needs to be capturle.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: And stuff, Yeah for sure, Otherwise would all be getting
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: I don't know, Smeg ovens and.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah on oven broke, I need a brand new Smeg one.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. Tell me about non urgent repairs. Face.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: So, when it comes to non urgent repairs, this is
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: anything that needs fixing but doesn't necessarily make your home unsafe.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: So an example of this this is happening to me
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: at the moment. Dishwasher that is not working, or a
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: handle that's come off the door. Non urgent repairs need
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: to be sorted within fourteen days of a written request though,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: so there is a time limit that's gone take you
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: two weeks.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but that's reasonable. But I, in my experience.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Has been broken in for three months. Yes, so that's good.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I have all broken They sent someone to fix it
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the other day. I think they just opened the door
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: and closed it. Charge it for it because it's not
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: any better.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: It's just so bad that, like so many landlords are
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: clearly and not landlords, I feel like it's maybe also
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: agents as well that just are not adhering.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: To these laws.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: Because let me tell you, I've had many issues that
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: have not been sorted within fourteen days.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: But do you know what the issue here is is
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: so many times you just don't know your rights exactly.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: So if I said that your dishwasher was broken, you'd
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: be like, yeah, I've emailed them about it, they haven't
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: done anything. It's so annoying. Like Georgia, you can report them, yeah,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: like you can take that to VCA, you can take
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: it further. But the thing is, most people aren't willing
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: to do that, and most real estate agents they know
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: you don't know that exactly. I've got more important things
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: to do, Like I've got you know, other tenants to
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: get in because they all work on commission, right, So
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: like they're not going to prioritize your fixed dishwasher when
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: they actually want to get bums on seats in other houses, right,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Like they've got priorities. And I can completely understand from
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: a business perspective why they're making those decisions. But that's
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: just not fair. And in saying that, it's probably worth
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: noting here again you already made this point. It's not
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: all property managers, it's not all real estate agents, and
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: like people are only ever going to talk about this
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: stuff when it comes up, and it is actually a
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: sticky topic, Like we're not going to talk about it
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: when our landlord is doing the right thing. Yeah, Like
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to go to dinner and be like,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: do you know what I did today, Georgia. I had
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: a really great chat with my landlord, really respect my
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: house in my living situation. Like it's just not going
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to happen yet. So if you are a property manager
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: and you're like, I don't do any of this stuff, Victorotte, like,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: we see you, we know you don't. But unfortunately, in
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: our community there are too many people having negative experiences
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: and in our team having negative experiences, which has led
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: us to being like, you know what, We're going to
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: do an entire episode on this because we want to
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: know our right exactly right. Well, preen up, we are, prenup. Yeah,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: be on this.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: I was going to ask you this a little further
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: down the show, but I'm going to bring it up
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: now because it does tie in perfectly. When I had
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: my issues with our landing loyalty, yeah, and it was
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: the property agent who I had many, many issues with.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: I suggested that perhaps we wouldn't pay RENTTI spy.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: And you had the most cooked situation.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: It was horrible and he was not getting shipped done
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: and I had to be pern about it.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: No.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: But I feel like maybe I will, Sam, if you're
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: listening anyway. But the point is I felt like I
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: didn't have any leverage to use. I felt like I
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: had no power because he was basically like George, if
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: you don't pay your rent or if you like threaten
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: me in any way that's going to come up against
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: your record for future rentals. So you don't want to
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: be doing that, little missy. And I was like, it's
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: ok you have no power.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, so in this situation, you absolutely do have
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: the power. Yeah, And he would just be intimidating you. However,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: it is really important to note that even though we
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: do definitely have tenants, right, obviously you can have a
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: little black mark put against your name and it might
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: come up. And I'm not saying that this is a
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: good thing. I just hear this. In the real estate industry.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I seem to hire a lot of people who have
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: worked in real estate into She's on the money, who
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: I think want to work in a similar space but
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: maybe have a different impact. And so I talked to
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: them a lot about it. And you know, real estate
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: agents do talk. They're friends with other real estate agents.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And you know, as much as I don't want this
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: to be true, like if you had a negative experience
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: with one company and you're moving within the same suburb, like,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: they do talk. They'll be like, oh, hey, do you
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: know Georgia King, Oh yeah, she was a pain in
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: the ass. All right, Well, maybe we just won't give
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: her the least. And I know that that's not right
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: and it definitely is illegal, but it doesn't mean it's
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: not happening because if they're all texting each other and
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: helping each other out, like it's like a friends group chat,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: right exactly, I'm going to talk smack about you, j king,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: you're going to do it. I'm going to do it.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about it.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: But also, you literally have to put down a rental reference,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: so you have to put your last property manager on
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: any applications for me to property.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: You can just say that I was your landlord and
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: we just did it direct just like yeat them straight out.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I'll be like, yep, she rented from me. She was
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: flipping perfect.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: That is what I need to hear. Okay, Well, the
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: one more question before for the break in terms of
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: increases to rent, which we spoke about at the start
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: of the show, when can landlords actually do that, Like
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: can it be in the middle of a tendency and
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: how big can they increase be or is there really
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: no limit?
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: So rent now there's a new law. Rent can now
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: only be increased once during a twelve month period. Before
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: the changes over the last couple of years. That has
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: increased from once every six months. So I remember in
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: my last rental they were increasing it every six months
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and I actually went back and said no and it worked.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: They were like, oh, We're going to put the rent
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: up to this and I was like, oh, no, I
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: actually don't agree with that. And it did require a
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: little bit of research. So on the real estate dot
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: com dot au app and on the domain app, what
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you can do is go and look up leases in
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: your area, but you can actually just do current location.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: And I found it so easy because I was like,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: all right, I just filtered it by you know, I
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: had a two bedroom house, I had one bathroom, it
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: had you know, a car park. I just filtered that
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: and then did in my area. And I was like, okay, cool,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: because I'm pretty sure on my last property, I was
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: paying like five hundred dollars a week rent and that
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: was pretty good for the area that we were in.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: But each time that they were putting it up, I
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: remember it went up five hundred, then it was five
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: twenty five, and then it was five point fifty. That
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: became a little bit big. And I remember when I
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: got to five fifty and I was like okay, like, yeah,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I'll accept that. But when they were like, oh, it's
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: going up to five seventy five, I was like, do
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: you know what? No, absolutely not. So I went on
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: the apps and I looked up similar properties in the
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: area and I was like, no, you're not actually going
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: to put this up because here are all these other
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: properties that are five hundred dollars a week. I'm already
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: paying five fifty. Not trying to beat you down, but
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: definitely can't increase it. And the real estate agent came
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: back and said, yeah, I just passed this by the landlord.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Because often your property manager is just the messenger. Yeah.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: They're not the person going oh, just put it up. Yeah.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: They just want their job to be easy. They don't
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: want to have to find new tenants if they don't
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: have to. So they were like, oh, with a messenger up.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: We did go back to the landlord and they've agreed
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: they won't put it up, and I was like, great,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: it was worth doing that. So it's not just about
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: knowing your rights, it's about going like, oh, what if
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I do push back on this decision that they're making.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: It worked for me, why would not work for you? Okay?
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: In saying that if you're on a fixed term rental agreement,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: the percentage amount or however the rent increased is calculated,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: needs to be outlined in your rental agreement. So always
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: go back to your rental agreement. I feel like that's
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: the thing that you just stuff in the bottom or
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: in the bottom drawer, like you know how it goes
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: cutlery draw. Then you've obviously got your tool flippers. Then
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: you've got the draw for your like glad wrap. Then
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: bottom draw where all of the rogue elastic bands are
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: where the the batteries that you've kept the battery the batteries.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Do you keep super glue in that drawes? I keep
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: superglue in that string from time to time. Yes, Dicky
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: tape the duct tape that you used when you moved
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: three years ago. So that's where my least agreement was. Same,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: remember it, keep it there and bring it out when
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: you need to, and make make sure that you know
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: what is outlined in your agreement, because sometimes people will
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: say things and you go, ah h, you can't do
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: that because the agreement you gave me doesn't say that
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: at all. So tenants I EU should be aware of
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: the potential increase that you might be up for, because
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: it should be in your rental agreement. If not, have
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: a little conversation with your property manager.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: Nice.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: The other thing I would say here before I go on,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: because there's actually two other points I want to make
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: is my favorite way of communicating with property managers is
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in writing.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: One.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: It's less confrontational, but to get a paper trail, and
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: if the proverbial hits the fan, you can actually just
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: go cool, save these emails, sender vcat and you're in
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: a better position if it's always via the phone and
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: you're feeling like you're in a bit of a pickle
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: and your property manager prefers to communicate via phone because
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: some of them do do a little journal entry. Just
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: write down the conversation you had, keep note of it,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: because I guarantee they didn't, and if push comes to
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: shove and you need to bring it up, you can
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: be like, well, on the ninth of the twelfth, I
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: did this, and I had this conversation with you, and
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: this is what was the outcome of it. You've documented it.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: My favorite way to document, as I've said a million
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: times before, is to email yourself because it gets timestamped. Nice.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: So instead of being like, oh, I just made this
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: up today because I decided no, no, no, it's like, well,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: here is the proof that I emailed it to myself
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: on the day of that phone call. It was fresh.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: That was what happened in the phone call. Anyway, I
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: won't go on and on. So the law doesn't stipulate
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: how much rent can go up, but the foremost common
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: ways are in accordance with CPI, the state wide Rental index,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: which would exist and be different for different states and territories.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Buy a fixed percentage increase or buy a fixed dollar amount.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: So my experience that I was talking about before they
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: just did fixed dollar amount. They weren't talking about percentages
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: or CPI. They were just I guess, seeing what they
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: could get.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I didn't really appreciate that, and I let them know
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: that politely, of course, because you know what we do,
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: cheese on the money. Kill people with kind that's it.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: That's the way toways kill them with kindness. Also, the
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: landlord or your property manager is actually required to give
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: tenants sixty days notice that there's going to be a
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: rental increase before putting it into effect. So if your
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: landlord messages you and said, hey, I'm putting the rent up.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Don't stress too much. You actually do have two months
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: and that's why it's smart to go back to them
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: and go, hey, like, maybe I can't afford this. Please
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: know that everything in the entire world's negotiable. I mean,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: you can't go to Kohl's and be like, I don't
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: really want to pay this for my Cabriy cream eggs. Yes,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: but what interested you think of and Jesse she is
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: obsessed with them. But you can go back and have
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: a bit of negotiation time. But also sixty days as
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: a renter. I know it feels like short notice, but
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: also don't let people take the mickey. Maybe it is
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: time like you did g to find a new rental.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Literally, well that's what happened with us. Sorry to bring
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: it back to us, but when I asked for a
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: rent decrease, they were like actually increasing the rent and
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: you're like.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: What absolutely not. One of my girlfriends, Rose, actually she
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: was renting and this was actually international. Yeah, so this
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: was in Canada. When she lived in Canada. She was
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: renting on I think like the fourteenth floor of an
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: apartment complex and on the like sixteenth floor. So the
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: higher you get an apartment usually the more bougie, like
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: the rent is. She saw on the sixteenth floor that
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: it was like one hundred dollars less or something for
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: a better apartment. So she was like, I don't want
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: to move. I just want a better deal on the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: apartment I've got, because that's a nightmare. They didn't do it.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: They were like no, like you can have your rent
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: and she's like, okay, cool, I'll just move upstairs. So
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: she just moved after you go, no moving costs because
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: she just had her mates put it in the elevator.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that experience is pretty common because I think
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: landlords just go, nah, she won't do it.
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: Then you do it, yeah, and then it feels quite good.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: Let's take a little break here, but on the other side,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: we're going to be chatting about what to do if
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: things do turn a little bit hairy between you and
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: your landlord slash agents. So don't go anywhere, VD. Let's
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: jump straight back into it when it does come time
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: to leave our rental exactly how schmik does our house
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: actually need to be. Just to bring it back to
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: myself once again, I have spent maybe twelve hours, probably
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: more literally scrubbing hands, knees.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: It's literally the worst, isn't It's so bad?
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: And it's different doing a whole house compared to like
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: just your bedroom when someone else moves in or whatever
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: it may be. But I'm paranoid that they're going to
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: ask us to have it professionally cleaned, even though we've
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: spent so much time doing it. So how clean does it?
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Actually came to me when I moved out and I
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: was like, are you taking the meet because when we
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: moved out of our townhouse when we purchased, yeah, I
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: was like, yeah, okay, no worries. I didn't have time.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: She's on the money. Was crazy. We paid a professional
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: cleaner and we still got feedback they were like, oh,
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: this stovetop hasn't been cleaned properly. And I was like,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: I was a little bit salty because I was like,
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: has this professional not done what they needed to do?
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: Like I paid for this. So I went over and
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: I was like, what on earth? Like this is not
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: gonna get cleaner. I obviously cleaned it. I like was
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: there with even domestos, like scrubbing it, my hands smelt
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: like domestos for days and then they were like, oh, yeah,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: thank you for doing that, and I was like, I
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: still don't understand. I think it was like a power
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: trip thing. Anyway, I don't love the smell of domestos
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: on my hands for days. Not great. But contrary to
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: popular belief, and despite what any agent might tell you,
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Georgia King, you aren't actually required to have your property
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: professionally cleaned. Yes, you don't have to do that at all.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: All you have to do is return it to the
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: condition that it was in when you took over the
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: keys and you got that lease. And you get to
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: also take into consideration wear and tear, because obviously, life happens.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Although most people will have been told that their carpets
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: need to be steam cleaned before vacating, that's actually untrue, crazy,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: we actually have to do that. You can push back
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: against your agent if they're asking you to do that,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: and you can push back against your agent even if
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: it's in your rental contract. Really like, oh, actually, you
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: can't enforce them because even if it's in the contract,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: the law actually overrides whatever is in your contract. So
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: remember that. And if they do need a proper clean though,
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: like you know, get them cleaned. Like in the house
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: that I'm currently renting, we have carpets, I would say
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: we're pretty clean. We do have a cleaner that comes
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: every week. Like that's so self indulgent, but it's like
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: the best thing we've ever done, and I could not
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: function as a human without it. So let's just be
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: honest here. But we have a professional cleaner coming in
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: every single week. So, like George, our carpets are in
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: good condition. But because I have pets, I am going
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: to get them professionally clean when we leave without question.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: It's fine. However, if you're not in that circumstance and
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: you're like, these carpets are fine, push back, my friends,
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: steam cleaning just speno. That's three or four hundred dollars.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: It's so much money.
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's naughty.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: You're looking a bit salty. Did you have to pay
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: for profession have done.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: That in the past. I've been so badly burned me.
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: What would you say? The most common issues are that
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: Renter's face bond claims.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Yep, trying to get your bond back is not pulling
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: teeth from my experience and all of my friends experience,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: and the experience of cheese on the money, it seems leases,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: repairs are maintenance, rent increases, suck and vacate notices other
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: main qualms that consume a VIG deal with.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: In terms of bond returns, Victoria, how long do landlords
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: or agents have to return that money to us?
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: So if you lodge, your bond return and landlord has
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: absolutely no reason to make a claim because don't forget
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: that the bond exists for a good reason. Like if
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: you're a little bit of a pickly person and you've
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: maybe not done the right thing, that bond exists so
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: they can be like, oh my gosh, Jeeking had five
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: cats and they have weed on the carpet, and we
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: now need to replace the carpet. That's what your bond
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: is for. So if it's valid, then I understand why
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: they're trying to claim in saying that you do need
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: to be really careful with your bond. So if g
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: let's use your five cats example, and they needed to
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: replace the carpet, your property manager will likely approach you
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: before you know making a bond claim and be like, gee,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: we actually need to replace the carpets. Do you want
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: to pay for that? The answer is usually if you
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: can afford it, yes, because then you can always say
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: on future lease agreements or future rental applications that, know,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: you've never had bond taken away from it. Okay, applied
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: for a property recently and I guarantee there would have
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: been a box to say I have always been refunded
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: my bond in full.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: True.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: So it's important to know that. Don't just be like, oh, whatever,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: they can take it out of my bond, because that's
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: actually documentary and could put you in a pickle when
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: applying for future houses because you know as a landlord.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: I'm not a landlord yet, but if I was a landlord,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: I would want to be in a position where I'm like,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: I don't want G if she's not got her bond
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: back every time, because you don't know the semantics of
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: why that's the case. It could have just been like
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: G being lazy and not wanting to do something, but
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: I would literally pay for it. So important to know that.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: But if you lodge your bond return, a landlord has
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: no reason to make a claim against your bond. It
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: will take anywhere between fourteen and twenty days. The most
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: common approach, though, is that your landlord or your agent
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: is going to lodge the claim and in that case
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: the bond will be paid within one business day if
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: using OURBTA online so hope, the online platform that your
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: bond would have gone through. The landlord or agent can
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: then only start the claim and get the ball rolling
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: once all tenants have agreed on how the bond should
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: be divided, and they have to start claims within ten
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: business days of the lease ending. So there are actually
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: some things around it. If your bond's taking months to
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: get back, which we have heard in the She's on
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: the mining community before, inappropriate, inappropriate, inappropriate, incorrect. The landlord
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: might also landlord's such a weird word, isn't it.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: The landlord, The land lord, the lord of the land,
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: the king of the house.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: Like, sit down, sit down. You're a homeowner and you're
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: letting me leave in your house? Well yeah, equals in
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: this house landlord? Why not? Land lady, land lady.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: I am the land lady.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: One day I'll be a land lady. Anyway, the landlord,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: they might make a claim for compensation if the property
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: is damaged. Fair cool, fair cool, don't be a silly willie.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: And if you fail to pay any remaining rent, it
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: might be taken out of your bond. And if the
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: house isn't reasonably clean, or you've made alterations to the
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: house without asking, they need to be returned to how
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: they were. So you know how we said before, Oh
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: now it's great you can put photo frames up, and
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: you know you can put shelves up. Be aware that
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: if you don't have your landlord's permission for that, which
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: you don't need, yep, you do have to return it
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: to the original quality that it was at before. So
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: you need to take down the shelf and patch up
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: those holes. Do not take my recommendation and fill them
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: full of toothpaste like twenty year old victory, because that's
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: actually inappropriate and I would say illegal. Did I get
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: away with it though?
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: But TLDR. Of all of that, your landlord or your
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: agent isn't actually allowed to claim for reasonable wear and tear.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: So if it's like, oh, well this looks pretty used,
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: or there's like you know where on the carpet from
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: where you've walked in and out, it's like, well, I've
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: cleaned it, it was looked after. That's actually reasonable we're
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: in tear. And also if I'm pretty sure if the
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: carpet's more than ten years old, they can't make any
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: claim on it. Oh really Yeah.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: My next question to you was what actually is fair?
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: But really, whatever is considered to be reasonable use of
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: a property. Yeah, so faded curtains like that happens all
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: the time because sunlight bleaches everything, a few marks on
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: the walls, damage from environmental forces, but if anything's actually
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: broken or damaged, then you might need to cover the
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: cost of that. So I think that's quite fair when
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: it comes down to it. But also some agents might
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: be like, that's beyond where in tear, like, okay, we'll
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: get a second villain call consumer. But according to Consumer VIC,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: it's what most people think is fair, though the law
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: doesn't actually define it, which is why I said.
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: Like you're hearing it.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: People just ask or get a second opinion. And if
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: there's a disagreement between you and your landlord or your
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: agent on what is reasonable, then escalating that decision to
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: VCAT all your state's equivalent can actually help figure that out.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: I see. Also historically, I don't mean to be a Karen.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: A sound like a Karen. You also sound like a Karen.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: We are characters who we are as people not necessarily
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: escalating it to VCAT without letting them know. I think
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: sometimes sending a nicely kindly worded email being like, Hi, Georgia,
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for that. Unfortunately, like this hasn't
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: been resolved in a reasonable period of time. I'd love
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: to work it out between us. If there's anything I
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: can do to help you, let me know. Otherwise I
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: might have to just engage VCAT and see what my
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: rights are. So weird. Things usually jump real quick after that,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: so feel free to use that first because it's obviously
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: less process, but also lodge a claim, so I found
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: out recently with VCAT cost seventy dollars.
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: Oh does it? I don't know why I know that,
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: I say interesting. For your final question for today, if
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: we are having issues with our asian or our landlord,
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: what can we actually do.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: We're going for breakfast with your friends, you can have
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: a lot, you can have a can get on the
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: mic and on the mic, do an entire podcast about it.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: But if you're not able to sort things out by
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: chatting with your agent or your landlord, which i'd always
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: recommend first, like please don't just go report people if
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: they don't even know that there's an issue, Like I'm
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: just very much about open lines of communication and if
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: your communication hasn't been respected then we can take it further.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: But you can get in touch with consumer dot VIC,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: dot gov dot AU who can guide you. Obviously, if
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: you just google tenant rights and your state, it should
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: come up who your local body is and use them.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: If that doesn't help, you can escalate things by going
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: to VCAT, which is aka the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: And if you are going to it's really important to
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: make sure that you have evidence for your case. So
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: as I said before, we document everything. We make sure
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: that we have photos and videos. We make sure that
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: you know if you're saying that your shower is leaking,
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: you are taking lots of photos because it's easy for
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: people to go, well, she has no proof and we
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: fixed it. Yes, So make sure that you document everything.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: And as I said before, if it was a phone call,
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: just send yourself a quick email being like, hey had
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: a phone call with Georgia today, told Georgo about my
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: leaky shower, and my leaky shower did this, this and this.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: They said they'd get back to me by X day.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: Like it's not hard, but I promise you, if you
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: want to make sure that your rights are upheld, we
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: actually have to have documentation. They will expect it. So
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: obviously keep hold of any of that because it might
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: help get your disputes settled faster. Perfect ve DA.
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: So I feel like moral of the story, we have
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: more rights than we think we do. We need to
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: stand up for ourselves.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: Money win, money Win.
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: See you on Friday by guys.
• 40:00
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• 40:03
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• 40:07
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• 40:10
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