"Nooooo!" you're probably thinking. That's what I'm thinking too, mate. I didn't want to blog another post because that would mean yet another shitty thing has happened! And I went three whole weeks without blogging in the Crypt!!!
Just when I thought everything was over, just when I thought I was finally freed of the stupidity of this moving business and could finally sit back and enjoy my fantastic apartment...
Recap: Remember the carpet damages
1) Multiple burns with hair straightener in the bedroom (probably more than 10 so you can see this was obviously NOT accidental) with one HUGE burn and weird massive green stain in the bedroom not removable by professional clean. (Sorry, burns not so obvious in the pics - was tempted to cut out and keep the actual CARPET as evidence)
2) And then there was the big white stain/ bleached section in the living room.
Anyways remember how I said I told the real estate agent and he initially just ignored my question regarding it, so I told him I was going to put in a query to my landlord insurer Terri Scheer. So I get a reply from the insurer saying to put in a report along with a whole list of documents. So I ask the Melcorp agent for the documents, after which he tells me oh, the tenants are compensating me $200. I tell him that's fine, I still need the documents as I'm still putting in the report.
That's when it gets dodgier. At first the Melcorp agent replies me saying there is NO existing entry/exit report or any of the other requested documents for the apartment. How can this be? (What kind of rental agency as you running, a black market one???) It was really dodgy sounding to me, but anyway I sent in the report to Terri Scheer stating the docs were requested from the agent but not provided to me.
A while later, I get a reply from Terri Scheer saying they NEED those documents or else they can't process the claim. So I email the agent back (and had to email him TWICE - second time to remind him!!!) asking him about the documents again and hmmm why were there now entry/exit documents etc? And it's not even like he hadn't done them, the documents were from 2009!!!! WTF.
That was a while ago. And last week I got a somewhat not-so-happy sounding phone call from Terri Scheer asking what did I do with the bond money? I was really surprised and I told them I have no idea because I don't have any control over that. The Terri Scheer agent explains to me they have found that the tenants would have been liable for the $2800+ cost of repairing the carpet in the bedroom and living room (that I had already replaced at my own expense obviously) and there was more than enough in the $6000+ bond the tenants paid to cover those damages, however the rental agent has already released the bond to the tenants.
I so have enough of this whole fiasco! I have spoken and looked this up with the Consumer Affairs Victoria and found out that there is only a 10 business day time limit to sort out the bond, and since it is now well beyond that time period the only way I can ask for review of compensation is to put in a request for a VCAT hearing. @_@ And I don't even know if the tenants are still here.
At the same time, the rep at Consumer Affairs Victoria also referred me to the Estate Agents Resolution Service (EARS) to discuss the conduct of the real estate agent. They weren't particularly helpful either - they just suggested I could apply for a VCAT hearing about compensation for about $38, and bring up the conduct of the real estate agent and the documents with the agency itself. Riiight... I'm sure the boss or whoever it is in charge of the whole agency would be super interested to hear about it (a.k.a. don't give a shit). Another interesting fact the EARS agent told me was that I actually didn't have to wait for my landlord insurer to decide the tenants were liable before applying for a VCAT hearing - of course having their statement would be useful, but I could have applied to the VCAT hearing for an amount of the bond for compensation without it as soon as they moved out.
Hmph... this is a joke I tell ya. I had no idea that the compensation would come out directly from the bond - I was under the impression that the tenants would have to settle that separately. I also had no idea until the Melcorp agent sent me the documents (that I had requested for multiple times) that the bond was a HUGE $6000+. Lastly I had no idea that there was only 10 days after the tenants vacated to sort out the bond. I mean I did email the Consumer Affairs Victoria regarding this initially, and they did send me a link to the VCAT website for determination - however it said nothing there as well about the 10 day time frame. And what was the point of having landlord insurance if all they could do was determine that the damages were coming out of the bond, and the time frame it took to actually get approval (not to mention delays in getting the whole truckload of documents - whether it was deliberate or not from the real estate agent I suspect because he may have already sent out the tenants' bond claim form) is beyond 10 days, after which the time limit to sort out the bond would expire???
I rest my case. When doing my research on this ages ago, I realised there are tons of sites on rights of tenants but nothing much to refer to for landlords. And there's no legal guidelines out there on real estate agent conduct, so I think a lot of that they can just get away with by saying "our agency doesn't have that policy." End of story.
$200 compensation for damages to the carpet is a real laugh. It can literally buy 6 inches of carpet... yes did the agent expect us to cut out the damaged bits and just replace it with new carpet like a patchwork quilt?
Anyway, after this life's experience, I'm a little older and wiser from it, and my advice to anyone looking to buy would be:
1) Get everything in writing. Do not let the real estate agent assure you very confidently "yes, yes we will look after everything; Don't worry, we will fix up everything - the tenants will pay for the damages. The apartment will be professionally cleaned before we hand over the keys!" Bullshit. As soon as the place is yours, out come their true colours.
2) Find out what the bond is. The EARS rep told me the landlord usually won't be told what the amount is unless you ask. Find out if there is enough bond there if there are damages you want to seek compensation out of.
3) After the tenant leaves, there is only a TEN business day time limit to sort out the bond. Once the bond has been released it cannot be claimed again, but you can still hold the tenants liable for damages they caused whilst on the property and apply for a VCAT compensation claim.
4) Don't know what's the point in having landlord insurance. Sure didn't do me much good, did it?
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