So far renting out our lovely Tasmanian house has proven surprisingly frustrating. As I mentioned in my previous posts we don’t intend to live in the house right now so we have gone through a real estate agent (the same agent that we purchased the house from) to rent the house out. We dropped in to see the property manager the last Tuesday we were at the house and placed our house on the market for lease. We had a call today from the property manager and she said that she showed someone through the house today and that the house is a mess and needs to be tidied up. I was taken aback by this because we hadn’t left the place in a mess - we had left the house how we had found it when we took possession. I sort of made a “please explain” kind of noise and she went on to say that there was an empty tissue box and empty toilet rolls in the bin in the toilet, that the toilet hadn’t been cleaned, that the oven had crumbs in and the grill had burnt cheese in it, that the microwave had splatters all over it, that the shelf in the bathroom was dusty, that there was a hairbrush and a tube of toothpaste left in the bathroom, that the curtain rod in the second bedroom had fall onto the floor, that the carpets didn’t look as if they had been steam cleaned, that there were bags of garden waste in the shed, and some more stupid little things.

I found it very difficult to get a word in edgeways but I felt it necessary to defend myself. Yes the curtain rod did fall down while we were there and it was too high for us to put back up without a ladder. Yes we did put empty toilet rolls into the bin and yes there were bags of garden rubbish in the shed because that’s the ivy that we took down while we were there. She didn’t believe me that the carpets had been steam cleaned before we took possession and she seemed generally very adamant that the place was in quite a state. I had the phone on speaker phone and when I hung up from the call I looked at Tim and said “What is this woman on about?!”. We were both really confused, especially seeing as though the house wasn’t untidy. I thought that she was supposed to be on our side! Geez!! Not at all what we were expecting.

Then half an hour later she rang back and said that with the house in the state it is in she is thinking of offering the tenant 2 days rent-free as compensation for the tenant having to clean the place! We couldn’t believe it. Tim and I looked at each other like “umm no!!”. I cross my heart that there’s nothing wrong with the way the house has been presented – its tidy, left the way that we found it (which by the way was completely to our satisfaction, although there were little things hanging around – like the hairbrush and the toothpaste the woman mentioned). The house is completely inhabitable, its not a filfh pit and I guarantee you it is neater and tidier than previous rental houses that we’ve had to move into! As far as I’m concerned that place is ready to be moved into – even my sister (who is a princess) would move into that house. But anyway, being long-term renters ourselves, any renter knows that you always need to spend a day cleaning it before you move your stuff in! Or at least I do because I’m anal that way J Anyway, I called the woman back and told her not to offer any rent-free period to the tenant (especially seeing as though they hadn’t complained about anything and they hadn’t requested a rent-free period!) and told her that as a renter myself, I have never ever been handed a rent-free period on a platter by an agent – we have ALWAYS had to approach the agnet and ask for it! Throughout the conversation I had to raise my voice in order to be completely understood but I think by the time the conversation was over we were on the same page – but what an unexpected shit fight to get there!

Anyway, after bagging out the house, the upshot of it all is that she has found a tenant for us. He’s a 37 year old man with a 7 year old son and his sister is coming to live with them in the house. He’s a gardener and comes with good referenes. He pays his rent on time and looks after the houses that he’s lived in. He’ll move into the house in two days time.