Part 4: Two sides to every tale

This is the fourth part of a series we are running on Gartea Property Management. Alice has been dealing with Ms Van Beek, a property manager. She has asked us to publish her side of the story. We are happy to oblige.

The tenant has always paid her rent in a correct manner. Since she has moved in, the unit has a new dish washer, new sink, new dryer, cook-top and range hood. I believe she has been very well looked after in regards to her surroundings. The unit was clean, freshly painted and new carpet was laid prior to her moving furniture into the unit. The tenant checked off and signed an entry condition report. This happened in mid December 2013. Regarding allegations about the angles of photos, I have a large number taken prior to her moving in and these will stand up to any scrutiny.  

In April she started asking for her bed bugs to be treated quoting it's the landlord's responsibility to treat of bedbugs. I obliged by sending in professional pest control in April, then May and early July, then late July. She has been given sixty day notice to vacate the premises, as she was breached in late September for the cleanliness of her unit. In September, we were suppose to carry out the inspection and termite inspection, we walked in and her unit was extremely dirty, Alice said we could not do it as she is not ready. The unit was still very dirty, inside the kitchen cupboards were very dirty, the garage was filled up with bags and bags of rubbish and clutter and old mattresses.

I also noticed one bedroom the mattress had no cover on it and the condition of the mattress is alarming, old and dirty looking and torn. The notice was served because the tiled floor was so dirty and greasy, a far cry from how clean it was from when she moved in. Eventually I issued her with a notice to leave without grounds rather than renewing her lease. So she has to vacate and find another accommodation by end of December. If they can’t keep a unit in some basic form of "liveability" you cannot expect things to run smooth.

Alice did not know there was to be an inspection on that day. This is a clear breach of right of entry laws that require notice to be given.

Ms Van Beek has supplied us with photos as proof of her claims. There's only one problem. They are photos of an entirely different house.

Compare this with photos of the house actually in question.

 

Ms Van Beek has probably been getting away with this for years. When you go to tribunal, always make sure that you view the photos given to the member. She has also supplied us with pictures of the house being cleaned. But we don't know if they are of Alice's house or if they were taken at that time. Time stamps can be faked.

 

 

Ms Van Beek has also supplied us with a photo of the garage. Compare it to what the garage actually looks like. I suspect most garages would probably look like this. There is nothing stopping property managers from trying to use old photos of the premises.

 

 

Ms Van Beek has also supplied before and after photos of the hallway carpet. She claims this is proof of new carpet being laid down. This is incorrect. The new carpets were installed AFTER Alice moved in and not BEFORE and that's why they got bedbugs.

 

 

 

Dearie me, whatever happened to wear and tear. After two years, any hallway would probably look like this.

This is a really serious issue. Fake photos can be used to cover up fraud. If the money isn't going to cleaning, where is it going? How does a tenant even know if funds have been applied to the property? In practice, the power to breach a tenant for lack of cleanliness can be abused. The real photos show that the premises are in good condition.

We will keep you updated on any developments.

Postscript. Ms Van Beek admits she made a mistake "accidentally" forwarding the wrong photos.

  

 

Part 3: Bedbugs

This is the third part of a series we are running on Gartea Property Management. Alice has been dealing with Bonnie Van Beek, the property manager. In the second part we looked at how property managers keep tenants browbeaten. In this part, we are reveal how property managers avoid their statutory duty to provide health and safe properties.

Under s 185 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld), landlords must ensure that premises are fit for tenants to live in, and not in breach of health and safety laws.

Here are some of the photos of how we have been affected by the bed bugs. These are the bites me and my baby received. This was the first time she paid for the Pest control professional to come in.

 

The landlord paid for the first few times for the pest control guy to come in but now refuses to pay for it anymore and says that it is my responsibility. The bed bugs have not completely gone and now my furniture is infected which I will have to get rid of when I move out. I have spoken to neighbours, who have said, the previous tenant before me complained of bedbugs. I also spoke to the previous tenants from the unit adjoined to us, and they also complained about bed bugs. The landlord refuses to believe it and said that I must have brought them here. I have never, ever had bed bugs. I have been told by the pest control professional that it definitely is bedbug excrement and I have the photo’s to prove that it.

 

She has also refused to pay the pest control guy again for taking care of the bed bug problem even though it was here before I moved in, and so now I will be put out of pocket because I am paying for a problem that was never mine. I will get the pest control guy to come in myself (because the landlord will not pay for it) and I will get him to write a statement to say that it is bed bugs. She also tried to say that it was my responsibility for all pest control because of the by-laws but she left out the parts where it says that it is only if it is in a pest free state before moving in.

 

Residents are usually unable to contact former tenants to confirm whether the bedbug infestation existed before they moved in. Property managers are unlikely to provide contact details to tenants because this would support their case. Alice was lucky because the previous tenants had spoken to their neighbours. Including special contractual clauses making pests the tenant's responsibility is a deliberate strategy. It often confuses tenants who might be unaware of their rights under the Act.

Postscript. Ms Van Beek claims this photos is evidence that the bedbugs came from the tenant's furniture. Somehow we doubt that very much. All we see is an old torn mattress.