Brad Teal Real Estate
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TENANTS BE WEARY...Part 2.
TENANTS BE WEARY...Part 2. For context see Part 1 preview review below As promised in the response from Brad Teal Woodards on Part 1 (linked above) the head of rentals did contact me to resolve this matter. At the time I believed now she was on the case I wouldn't have to take this matter to VCAT, which is what I wanted from the start. Unfortunately, my optimism was short lived. Negotiations began and long story short we settled on an amount of compensation to be paid to me by the landlord. For the record, and to the landlord's benefit, I deducted over $300 from my initial claim in the interest of resolving the matter. Even though we had settled on an amount, rather than arranging the payment to me, this is when the head of rentals introduced costs from a separate issue and notified me that I should be liable for them. As a result, these costs were going to further reduce the amount of compensation paid to me, in favour of the landlord of course. The additional costs in question were billed to the landlord by the body corporate after I vacated the property. The costs were relevant to the removal of hard rubbish (that I admitted was mine) and the cost for accessing security footage. I advised that these costs are an issue separate from the compensation claim and an issue between the landlord and body corporate as, In my opinion, the landlord nor I should liable for these costs. I believe this because, while I was living in the property there was no notice at all about leaving hard rubbish in the bin area being forbidden. Also, during 13-month tenancy the constant presence of hard rubbish in the bin room would lead one to believe that this was the norm, I explained this to the head of rentals and put it in writing for her as requested. Within 20 minutes of me hearing that they were attempting to charge me for removal of hard rubbish I went to the property to remove the furniture myself so I would not be charged, it was already gone. This is when I saw notices advising that anyone leaving hard rubbish would incur costs, these were put up long after I vacated the property therefore there was no way I could have been aware of this. Even after explaining this my agreed amount of compensation still was not paid. I can’t help but think this is yet another example of sneaky tactics, keeping the body corporate costs hidden until the last minute then trying to use them to further reduce the amount of compensation I receive. Unfortunately, off to VCAT.