After a string of “nightmare” disputes with their landlord, a Sydney family of four has explained why they would never rent again.
Faye James, 47, and her husband Darrin, 55, were compelled to leave North Curl Curl on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and relocate up the NSW coast when their landlord assessed them a “ridiculous” sum of rent.
The four-person family was paying $1,450 per week to live in a contemporary property with four bedrooms, a pool, and close proximity to the beach.
The couple was informed by real estate brokers on February 2 that the owner’s circumstances had changed and they were preparing to sell the house.
The couple had until March 4 to locate a new place to transfer their two primary-age children and three animals into before their lease expired.
Ms. James told Daily Mail Australia that she hurriedly started the tedious process of looking for a new home and submitted a tonne of applications.
She spent every Wednesday and Saturday at inspections as a busy mother of two and entrepreneur but failed to find anything “good.”
According to Ms. James, “The kids were worried, wondering what was happening and where they were going to reside.”
The property owner had a change of heart only two weeks before their lease was about to expire and suggested the family could stay there.
The only caveat was that their weekly rent would rise by $200 to $1,650.
They were aware of our plight, therefore Ms. James said there was nothing we could do.
The increase was accepted by the pair “under pressure,” but they later regretted it when the NSW floods destroyed some of their most valuable things. The floods caused devastation in hundreds of houses around the state.
According to Ms. James, their pricey studio equipment, which cost over $5,000 and included camera lights and backgrounds, was ruined by water that seeped into their garage.
She said that the mould in her bathroom and her daughter’s bedroom had spread to her prized collection of expensive clothing and accessories.
She asserts that the agent’s claim that the mould was caused by inadequate ventilation in the house is false and that the windows were always open.
The author and nutritionist said she repeatedly urged her real estate agents to remedy the leak in the garage and received assurances that they would.
‘Thank God, the government gave us some money back for disaster assistance, but the landlord should have cut the rent, but they didn’t,’ she claimed.
The pair has concluded that paying off a mortgage would be a better use of their money after becoming weary of paying “ridiculous” sums of rent.
We had become tired of paying rent to our landlord, Ms. James remarked.
The family has given the real estate agent an eight-week notice after purchasing a property along the NSW coastline where it is “far cheaper.”
Ms. James said that they even discovered a family interested in relocating to the region who had seen the home and expressed a desire to assume the lease.
Then, as a show of goodwill, she requested that her landlord forego the break lease cost, which was equal to two weeks’ rent ($3,300), but the landlord refused.
By finding a replacement, Ms. James said she had saved the owner money on marketing expenses and that the renters were excellent tenants who had never missed a rent payment.
She said that her and her husband, who own a rental home in Queensland as an investment, would never treat their renters unfairly.
She told Daily Mail Australia that the situation had been “a total disaster” and that she would have to shift her two children’s schools to a completely other location.
Now that they have their eyes set on the rental tribunal, the couple will start to put together a case to recover damages from the mould and ruined belongings, highlighting the fact that they were forced to pay $200 each week.
The fact that we were fortunate enough to relocate disturbs me, Ms. James added.
“It’s not in the neighbourhood we want to live in, but we may be trapped with these landlords that prey on people’s circumstances,” the renter said.
The freedom of owning a mortgage makes Ms. James happy to be leaving the world of renting behind: “At least we have stability now.”
Schwarz Real Estate, the manager of the family’s previous rental, issued a statement claiming “there was no garage at the property and no leak.”
“Water entered amid extraordinary weather occurrences,” the open carport said.
She claimed that the residential rental agreement expressly specified that the landlord was not responsible for any of the damages and that this was disclosed to Ms. James.
The representative stated, “Mould on personal property is also not a landlord’s duty; this may be claimed under tenants content insurance, presuming they did not have this.”
The bathroom has an exhaust fan, which is its final feature.