Post your ridiculous PM/tenant requests here!

Received this today: $470 for a new door handle!



Received this two days ago, $910 for three blinds (all standard widths).



Finding good PMs is so difficult, glad two out of four of mine are really good (obviously these quotes are from the okay and the bad ones)!

Do you have any requests that have left you questioning PMs' or tenants' common sense?

 

I once had a tenant take me to tribunal because the rain in the down pipe was keeping them awake. It was unseasonal weather, lots of rain. They won. I had to compensate them x number of weeks rent. This was in New Zealand.

 

Is the door handle made out of a precious metal!? Fortunately, I have been pretty good with maintenance requests as they have been pretty reasonable.

One of my property manager annoyed me recently about my request to raise the rent of a commercial property by CPI 3.2% as per contract and provided me silly examples of vacant properties to scare me off from raising the rent.

 

6 hours labour!

Definitely worth asking for a photo of the current handle and the existing hole size!

And post it here. They could easily be wrong about not being replaceable.

I had a tradie cut the wrong size hole for a handle I supplied for my IP! He then tried to fix it by buying a handle from Bunnings and didn’t think I would notice.

 

I sympathise, though I have to report that the dripping in my PPOR downpipe from condensation was so bad that I tried all sorts of things.

Eventually had to angle the downpipe away from the wall to stop the ‘thunk’ of the drips. It was like water torture. Hard to describe until you’ve experienced it for hours…

 

yeah PM and contractors really pump the prices, seems lately that small single items they will bill you for a whole day , regardless.

I had one quote from PM to service/fix a hot water system and it was nearly $2500 , I ended up finding someone to look at it first, turns out it was a $15 magnet part and one hour to fix. Then the PM gets a bit upset because they think you dont trust them, and they wonder why?

another time the garden needed a clean out and the place was between tenants, PM quote for bin and work was nearly 5k! I ended up getting a bin for $150 and 2 days work..

oh another doozie: when rona first came a tenant asked for a 50% reduction in rent on lease renewal, had to reply saying no this isnt commercial and your rent is already below market value, thankfully they resigned, nice try though, i guess.

 

The tenant isn't going to vacate mid-lease and face loss of 3 months bond, moving costs, fitout etc for the sake of $100-$200/month.

 

I agree with you Scott and you are right as it's still mid lease. The tenants have been in this location for a number of years and their business has actually gone up by 20 to 30% during COVID. I think I was particularly cheesed off because to the strong resistance of the request.

 

I had a client tell me they queried a repair cost on water heater. It was over $2500. Apparently the tenant wanted a aircon and had his mates business quote the PM. The water heater didnt need any work. PM insisted to see the heater and tenant hosed beside it...leaving the hose there !! Called their bluff by telling them a independent plumber would be called out and if it was OK they would need to pay.

 

Don't get me started..

- Garage door motor error code xxx. PM sent out a tradesman who quoted $2300 for a replacement motor and changing the whole mechanism. With a quick google search, it turned out error code meant a service reminder and a restart was all it needed to function again properly.
- Roof leak. Quote came out for $4500 for replacing flashing under all the roof valleys. Photos indicated leaf build up in the valleys that caused water inflow in an extreme weather event. Got the gutters and valleys cleaned for $250 and now do it yearly. It has been 7 years without any issues.
- Tenant didn't want a tree removed because they loved trees. This tree was scheduled to be removed before they moved in due to structural danger to house and they knew it at the start of tenancy.
- Tenant locked out of property, called the agent who sent in a locksmith and I was sent a $450 invoice.
- Tenant tried to get rid of their old mattress by claiming they found it under the house. Too bad next door neighbour had seen them trying to shove the mattress under the house and had mentioned this previously while discussing something else.
- Tenant sent us a list of little things around the house (loose screws on the knobs, missing grout on couple of times and few other non-urgent trivial things), They made a fuss about how urgent everything was so we sent a handyman. A week later they complained that how it took handyman few hours and two trips to fix everything. They wanted a credit on their rent because it affected quiet enjoyment of the house.
- $700 quote for supplying a missing AC remote which PM thought was quite reasonable because two call outs needed (one to identify the remote, other to test it working). Ordered a universal remote from Amazon for $20 and delivered next day to tenants thanks to Amazon prime.

And most interesting of all:

Previous tenants leave the property with 17 dead lights. PM forgets to deduct the money from their bond and orders a handyman to replace the lights. New tenants already moved in and replaced the lights before handyman gets there two weeks later. They email PM with a receipt and get a credit. She forgets to cancel the handyman work order who goes couple of weeks later and invoices $450 nonetheless. After two years, tenants leave and show the entry report with 17 dead lights and same PM just forwards us the exit condition report with a note that lights weren't their responsibility because that's how they got it.

It took my wife two hours to go through previous emails and realise we were going to be paying for same lights 4 times because it was easier for PM to just send us an invoice.

 

$260 for one smoke alarm install (Battery operated) on Airtasker
Can you change the powerpoint(s) because my child is scared of them

 

Each of your interaction with your PM is so relatable and classic. Lol.

Out of 10 there would 2 such landlords who would resist and question back the PM. Imagine how many requests with trades such PMs will get through with their landlords.

If anyone in property management could shed some light on how the PMs get paid in the industry besides their usual wages.

Curious to know if they PM get any additional payment based on additional maintenance related works they complete/perform for their managed properties.

 

Incentives for new business (new properties under management).

The agency agreement will show whether the agent has declared any commission received from suppliers.

 

Just wages

Nope

 

A mate had been charged a fee for a tradie to come in and show a tenant how to start an oven.

 

Spoiler: TLDR

Call a plumber.

I received a call late this afternoon "hot water isn't working".

The occupant is a little old lady.

Initial thoughts, the property has 2 instantaneous hws, it's not critical as there's hot water to the shower/basins but not the kitchen, dishwasher uses cold water.

Why 2 hws? - one is battery ignition in case of blackout, the other is 240v. A bit of planned obsolescence.

I went over, checked MSB - all good, no tripped breakers. Removed the cover of the battery operated unit - dang big active wasp's nest inside.

Resolved that problem in an ecologically friendly way

Next, look for battery - NFI where it's located (no, it isn't the 240v unit - I checked that too ).

I gave up on that course of action, so next item was to check for ignition....yep it sparked & lit the flame.

Scratches head

Flame then goes out

Conclusion - call the plumber.

Geez, the hide of some people - call me at home after hours, expect immediate attention, inspection & rectification then has to remind me that she owns the house & is she's my mother.

 

I had a PM ask me about installing air condition for a tenancy. Its a pretty low-rent place, meets the needs of a certain market. I asked for her advice, and quotes for how much it would be (along with the 3 other tenancies in those properties).

Got a call from the PM manager a day or so later saying basically "you're not going to buy aircons for these places, are you?", so at least they had the checks and balances in place.

 

I had a tenant request I reimburse them for the parking fines they got for parking on the street because I didn’t tell them they couldn’t park there. The house came with a double garage and double width driveway. Whatever council parking restrictions are in place are not my problem - I didn’t rent them the street. What was more amazing was that the agent actually forwarded to me and asked me to pay.

 

Shocking

 

And one more .. one tenant wanted to get out of a fixed lease as they couldn’t get NBN from Telstra on the address because Telstra had run out of ports in the local exchange and they didn’t trust other companies.