Desperate rental times call for desperate rental note-taking
Renting can be difficult at the best of times, and as many around the world can attest, some landlords have little interest in the upkeep of the properties they’re letting, or in those paying hundreds to thousands of dollars a week to reside in them.
And one renter has had enough, deciding it only right to warn whoever might take over their lease after them - a move that Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan wholeheartedly backed, sharing the renter’s cheeky tactics to Facebook for all to see.
“If you’re moving out of a rental and your landlord/agent is showing the property to new prospective tenants,” he wrote, “consider leaving some notes or posters like this in a few prominent locations around the home.
“Legally, an agent or landlord shouldn’t be touching or interfering with them in any way.”
He later edited the post to include that “this is an actual photo from a Brisbane renter”, and to tell everyone that “no, it wasn’t me - I live on a houseboat.”
Attached was an image of the renter’s bold move - a series of notes stuck to what appears to be the inside of a door, each one highlighting a different issue they had faced while living there, with no solutions - or even attempts at one - mentioned.
“NOTE TO SELF,” the first one announced, with the following going on to list everything from recurring mould (a common issue faced by renters), nearby construction and its consequent dust and noise, as well as “non-negotiable” rent rises.
People were quick to join the discussion - most were on the side of the renter, with one popular comment suggesting that “there should be a system that black lists landlords for breach of agreements, the same way tenants can be black listed for damage.
“We also need a website to rate our property managers, landlords and properties.”
“Yep. For far too long Landlords have had free reign to abuse their power with no sort of recording or accountability of their behaviour,” wrote one. “I’ve had some wonderful ones and some horrendous ones.”
“I used to pull prospective tenants aside and fill them in,” shared another.
“A few nervous and cranky landlords in this thread,” quipped one.
Meanwhile, someone only had one thing to run by everyone, “so an artistic ‘beware ye, all ye who enter here’ wouldn't be beyond doing?”
Others failed to see so much as the funny side - without even mentioning the underlying problems the renter and councillor were begging people to address - and instead tried to scare any like-minded renters from trying something similar.
“And good luck with getting a positive rental reference after pulling a stunt like that,” said one.
“If you don’t like the rental property just move on,” one suggested, leading many to suspect that they had never - or at least not in a long time - attempted to secure a rental property.
“What I don't get is.... if something is causing you this much grief..... do it yourself or pay someone, if the realestate don't pay.... meh you can at least move on with your life for a few hundred dollars,” someone else said, apparently unaware of the limitations many renters are faced with when it comes to touching their rental.
Councillor Sriranganathan returned to the post to share comments he’d made to The Courier Mail, adding that “too often, landlords and agents fail to disclose serious property maintenance and amenity issues when a lease is signed so they can trick tenants into paying more rent than a place is worth.
“I think it’s great when outgoing tenants can inform future renters of property defects so they know the issues before they sign the contract. Perhaps there should even be a publicly accessible register where tenants can list maintenance issues that haven’t been rectified in order to hold property managers accountable.
“Unfortunately the minor reforms (to minimum housing standards) … won’t do much to address unrectified maintenance issues, because many tenants are still afraid that if they request repairs or make complaints, their lease won’t be renewed.
“It’s ridiculous to blame chronic maintenance issues on a shortage of tradies. The problem is that landlords who hoard houses are collecting tens of thousands per year in rent, but don’t care enough about their tenants’ welfare to repair dodgy power points or leaking roofs.”
Images: Facebook