Hilarious tenant complaints

Yeah, in her mind there was probably nothing wrong with not paying rent for weeks on end - I had a lot of problems when I was working in emergency housing with trying to convey to people that it's actually your responsibility to keep up with the rent - nobody else's. Unfortunately there's too many people out there with gambling issues/drug problems or who just can't handle money... people just out of jail (in particular) couldn't seem to get their heads around doing simple things that we take for granted like buying a tram ticket or weekly budgeting.

The other consistent problem was in trying to get people to advocate for themselves and organise payment plans with their agent etc. once they fell behind. Often people felt too ashamed to negotiate or just hoped the problem would go away by itself (it won't!). My experience was that the majority of agents/landlords were actually really accommodating with regards to paying off arrears and were happy to get the arrears paid in instalments - but the problem was in getting the tenant to both agree to the extra payments AND keep the schedule up. And unfortunately once you've been behind in the rent there's a high chance that you'll do it again down the track.

As I said earlier, I've seen both sides.

 

How about the property manager telling the tenant to wait until Monday to have the power back on? Illegal much? Anyway, once consumer protection threatened to fine them if the power wasn't back on by COB (Friday), the LL came and fixed the problem because he is a licensed electrician. Still annoys me that the PM and the LL carried on like that in the first place.

 

My (overseas student) tenants complained that the smoke alarm wouldn't turn off. Property is just around the corner. I go over, smoke alarm is still going off 15 minutes later. Took it down, noticing a wet patch on the ceiling. Water leak? No. Tenants got sick of it going off every time they burned their toast, so they would throw water at it to 'cool it down' and make it stop beeping. Water had fried the electronics. Lucky it wasn't hard wired.

 

Name and shame @Ben Chifley , it's the only way.

 

Tenant upset that she didn't receive the electric payback for the solar panels on the roof.
Had to explain that it was a hot water solar system.

 

Had a new tenant move in during the middle of the week and I arranged to install a new washing line on the following Saturday.

The tenant believed I was the handyman and proceeded to ***** about the landlord even though everything they requested had been attended to immediately.

Needless to say they were a pain in the butt throughout their tenancy and did not get their lease renewed.

 

Only one request below but really just A few wtf moments when I was working in PM:

- the pigeons keen coming (balcony)
- during open inspection, can you please tell me the purpose of this room? Regarding the toilet downstairs
- asked a tenant during a routine if she wanted me to take shoes off. "Yes please, I like to eat off the ground sometimes" I didn't want to ask
- complaining that the range good isn't working, they didn't even try to slide it out
-walking out of a routine a tenant grabs a small chunk of my hair and tells me I have nice hair. I said thanks! And left lol

 

Blonde test. It went straight over your head (& still does).

 

Thanks @Scott No Mates , def wasn't. She had just come from India and she def wasn't blonde testing

 

Like that @Esh - literal and not pulling your leg.

 

I had an interesting/ridiculous complaint from tenants though this is awhile back, that our neighbours were often very noisy during some 'vigorous exercising' and the tenants had rung some glass companies to see how much double glazing a window would be and wanted us to pay for it. I kid you not. True story.

 

We laugh at this but the house behind our PPOR is a rental and the tenants that lived there 6 or 7 years ago used to have a go mid afternoon on the last Saturday of each month like clockwork. The whole neighbourhood could hear it! Not pleasant.

 

The best tenant complaint we've had was 6 months after a tenant moved in (12 month lease) we removed a couple of dead trees from the front of the property. The tenant then complained about one of the trees along the back fence supposedly causing allergy issues for her child and demanded the tree be removed. She had no medical evidence of this, had not consulted a doctor etc, just said that her friend had said some trees can cause issues and that her friend's landlord had removed all trees off their property. The best thing is on the other side of the back fence are a few more of the same tree so even if there were medical evidence supporting an allergy to said tree, removing our tree wouldn't make a lick of difference with so many others in proximity.

We asked the tree cutting guys to provide a quote for the tenant and approved its removal provided it was solely at their expense. Fast forward another 7 months to present day and nothing has happened. The tenant has even renewed their lease for another 12 months. Must be a hell of a nasty tree! ;-)

 

Had one that wanted to be reimbursed gas and electricity bills because the light globes, oven, air cons, etc were all briefly tested during the initial property condition report.

 

Send them a cheque for $0.000001 cent and bounce it ....so they get a dishonor fee...so will you though.

 

Had a new tenant move in a couple of weeks ago. PM sent me an email to say "there was no hot water in the bathroom vanity and the shower was leaking. Did I want to send a plumber?." I decided to pay a visit and see for myself. There was hot water in the vanity. The blue/red little button that was under the tap was turned the wrong way around and all the tenant had to do was turn the tap to the left. The shower leak was a missing seal at the bottom of the door. Replaced seal, tested shower all good. This is an upmarket apartment let to a "professional". Again it proves that you need to check the problem before getting tradies in.

Cheers
Charlotte30

 

Had one tenant express concern that she thought electricity was 'escaping' through one of the backyard steel veranda posts as it got hot during sunny days, but the other post in the shade stayed cold. She was afraid the electricity might jump out and electrocute her dog if it peed on the pole.

I couldn't get annoyed, though I was a little more disappointed in humanity that day.

 

Got one now that has sent me a breach notice because they want their fence replaced within 5 days. Next door is a house under construction and aren't able to access the site so can't do anything. A brand new fence is going up at completion of construction but that's not good enough apparently.

 

In a block of flat the OC advised:
"I’ve been advised that the resident in Unit NN at the above property is smoking cigars in the unit which has left a strong odor throughout the stairwell and is getting into other people’s apartments. Apparently it is strong enough to have forced residents to repaint their properties."

The unit NN PM is being asked to investigate. The claim does not sound credible - why spend maybe $4000 on painting with all the hassle of doing so when the OC can be asked early in the smoking history? Note that the flat next door has been advertised for leasing for a few months (stilll vacant), and maybe the LL wants to recoup some costs. Note also the OC's plural residents - two or more residents (LLs?) have allegedly repainted. Last time I visited NN it was looking fine, no smoke. Will be visiting the stairwell tomorrow.

This will be hard to prove, and the results of the PM investigation are awaited with interest. Can't see me paying for repainting on such flimsy evidence.